Prototype Space Fence Now Tracking Actual Orbital Debris 33
coondoggie writes "Lockheed Martin says the prototype system it is developing to track all manner of space debris is now tracking actual orbiting space objects. The Space Fence prototype includes new ground-based radars and other technologies to enhance the way the U.S. detects, tracks, measures and catalogs orbiting objects and space debris with improved accuracy, better timeliness and increased surveillance coverage. 'Space Fence will detect, track and catalog over 200,000 orbiting objects and help transform space situational awareness from being reactive to predictive. The Air Force will have more time to anticipate events potentially impacting space assets and missions. Our net-centric design approach allows Space Fence to be easily integrated into the broader U.S. Space Surveillance Network of sensors already operated by the Air Force.'"
Finally (Score:2, Funny)
The Earth can yell "get off my lawn" and have it mean something.
Re: (Score:3)
The Earth can yell "get off my lawn" and have it mean something.
Too late, 200,000 kids already on the lawn.
we're gonna need a bigger lawn
Re: (Score:3)
Yes, but will it keep the space kids off our space lawn?
Weird name (Score:5, Insightful)
Seems like a better name would be "SpaceWatch" or something. The word "Fence" implies it can block debris . When I think of tracking I typically don't think of fences.
Still, sounds like a neat project.
It was their 2nd choice. (Score:5, Funny)
MPAA ruled out their first choice, so they use the closest synonyms they could find:
Sky->Space, Net->Fence.
Re:Weird name (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Seems like a better name would be "SpaceWatch" or something. The word "Fence" implies it can block debris . When I think of tracking I typically don't think of fences.
Still, sounds like a neat project.
It's putting me in mine of Opus's Star Wars project, tying billions of dollars together in space to form a big net. Oliver Wendell Jones tries to sell congress on it, "Whaddya think? Too goofy?" -- Followed by newspaper headlines: THEY BOUGHT IT!
Re: (Score:1)
Its called a fence b/c the radar scans a slice of the sky and in 'uncued' mode detects items that cross the fence or a sclice of sky, not a volume. But with the S band, can then 'cue' and follow the item to get better tracking data with updates...
Re: (Score:2)
I think the "fence" refers to the structure of the transmitting antennas.
Re: (Score:1)
What we really need (Score:3)
Is Megamaid [photobucket.com]
What one man calls, "obiting space debris" . . . (Score:5, Insightful)
. . . another man calls, "my spy satellite" . . .
As in:
"Hey, you destroyed my spy satellite!"
"Oh, sorry, it looked like space debris to me. I was just trying to tidy up a bit."
Makes sense... (Score:2)
It's called a "fence" because it's bistatic radar (Score:5, Informative)
This "fence" system, like some earlier fence systems, is called that because it's a bistatic (or multistatic) radar. The transmitters and receivers are at different locations, and the transmitted beam is not steered. Targets are located by time differences between what's received at multiple receivers. The previous system [wikipedia.org] had three transmitter sites and six receiver sites, spread across the US.
Fence systems are somewhat specialized, but a good way to find everything that crosses the fence volume. Once the RF gear is in place, it's mostly a processing problem. Unlike regular radars, there's no useful information without correlating multiple receiving stations.
Re:It's called a "fence" because it's bistatic rad (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
Right now there are close to 500,000 pieces of debris larger than 1 cm in low-earth orbit. The space fence will try to catch 200,000 of those. The data processing problem is huge - you have to determine that the piece of space junk that crossed the fence is the same that crossed the fence on the next pass. When you have 200-500k pieces, that means that there are at least four objects per square degree - the moon is about half a degree so there is always (on average) one piece of space debris in front of
Holy Junk! (Score:4, Interesting)
That summary ignores we already have that!
It only sounds interesting if you A) Don't know that we've had that capability since NORAD tracked Sputnik with similar projects done by every major space administration on Earth, or B) Didn't bother reading the infrastructure proposed.
And now, the troll that has a joke for, "Holy Junk!"
RTFA is Not Allowed on Slashdot (Score:2)
Yes, but the reason why it's of interest isn't actually explained in the summary. I realise now, however, that I said, "Didn't." when I meant, "Did;" so, fair enough, but I stand behind the title of this reply.
Space superiority. (Score:4, Interesting)
We will soon reach a point where not having such predictive capabilities will doom any launched vehicle to a debris collision. Its interesting to think that such a program provides so much space superiority over other nations.
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We will soon reach a point where not having such predictive capabilities will doom any launched vehicle to a debris collision. Its interesting to think that such a program provides so much space superiority over other nations.
It's also interesting to think that blasting several rockets into orbit, then exploding them to create more debris is a rung reachable by even the lowliest of space faring nations.
Tracking and collecting space junk could become very important if even one such nation decides: "If I can't have it, no one can!"
IIRC, China tested their capability to create space debris [spacewar.com] by destroying a satellite.
Re: (Score:2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag50ct3EBxQ [youtube.com]
Obligatory video link (Score:3)
Here is the LM YouTube video regarding Space Fence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SJdN90vT04 [youtube.com]