First DARC Site: AUKUS ...The first of three DARC sites is planned for Western Australia and is expected to be online by 2026.
The choice of Australia for the first DARC site comes as military tensions continue to rise in the Indo-Pacific region that covers both the Indian and Pacific oceans
The mechanism in this location will largely be aimed at countering a rising Chinese military presence.
The new system planned to watch over this part of space is known as the "Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability," or DARC.
DARC will provide 24-hour, all-weather radar coverage around the globe for the three nations that make up what's known as theAUKUS security partnership.
The agreement is "accelerating capabilities that provide trilateral partners with advanced technology to identify emerging threats in space," according to a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)statementpublished Dec. 1.
US Space Force plans global radar to 'identify emerging threats' in distant Earth orbit
The announcement adds to Space Force's increased focus on space domain awareness.
The highly-advanced Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) transmit and receive arrays being tested at White Sands Missile Range in 2021.(Image credit: U.S. Space Force/Craig Weiman/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory)
The United States, United Kingdom and Australia have signed an agreement to develop a deep space radar capable of keeping an eye on what's happening in geosynchronous orbit.
Found around 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above Earth, this region is one of the most distant areas in which satellites operate.
Interestingly, each spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit always hovers over the same area of Earth by matching the duration of its orbit to the rate at which our planet rotates once relative to stars in the background. . .
The announcement adds to Space Force's increased focus on what is known as space domain awareness, which boils down to the ability to identify, track and keep watch over the various objects in orbit around Earth. "As the space domain rapidly evolves, we must continue taking deliberate steps to ensure our collective ability to operate safely, and our nations are uniquely positioned to provide that capability on a global scale," said U.S. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman in a Space Force statement announcing the DARC agreement.
Space Force conducted successful tests of a technology demonstrator for the upcoming DARC system in 2021 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, according to a Space Force statement.
The first of three DARC sites is planned for Western Australia and is expected to be online by 2026. All three sites should be online by 2030, according to Space Force's statement. They are expected to cost a total of $1 billion..
China currently owns and operates roughly half of the world's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) spy satellites,""most of which could support monitoring, tracking and targeting of U.S. and allied forces worldwide, especially throughout the Indo-Pacific region," according to a 2023DoD reportissued to the U.S. congress.
"Recent improvements to the PRC's space-based ISR capabilities emphasize the development, procurement, and use of increasingly capable satellites with digital camera technology as well as space-based radar for all-weather, 24-hour coverage,"the report continues.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), China's military has been using hundreds of these satellites to collect intelligence about military training exercises the U.S. has conducted with its partners in the region.
In October 2023, some of these satellites were maneuvered "within hundreds of meters of colliding with an Australian satellite," ABC reported.
"We were worried about the potential for creating debris,"an Australian military official told ABC. "It was an interesting situation to work out."
Other Chinese satellites high in geosynchronous orbits have been making close approaches to American satellites suspected to be operated by the U.S. Space Force.
To keep an eye on these specific types of activities in geosynchronous orbit, Space Force has launched secretive spacecraft design to serve as "watchdogs" over its own satellites and is tapping private companies to help it accelerate technologies to help it respond to emerging threats in space.
SpaceX, US Space Force set to launch secretive X-37B space plane on Dec. 10
A Falcon Heavy rocket is scheduled to launch the robotic vehicle at 8:14 p.m. EST on Sunday (Dec. 10).
The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility shortly after touching down on Nov. 12, 2022.(Image credit: U.S. Space Force/Staff Sgt. Adam Shanks)The first five X-37B missions launched atop United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets, and the most recent one flew aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. OTV-7 will be the first to use the powerful Falcon Heavy.
The U.S. Space Force's mysterious X-37B space plane is just about ready to take flight for the seventh time.
TheSpace ForceandSpaceX"are making final preparations" for the planned Sunday evening (Dec. 10) launch of the roboticX-37B, Space Force officials said in an emailed update today (Dec. 7).
The space plane is scheduled to lift off atop aFalcon Heavyrocket from NASA'sKennedy Space Centerin Florida during a 10-minute window that opens at 8:14 p.m. EST (0114 GMT on Dec. 11).
It's unclear how long the coming flight, OTV-7, will last; the Space Force releases few details about X-37B missions, as most of their payloads are classified. Some of this gear is likely to be novel reconnaissance instruments; military officials have long said that the X-37B is used primarily as a testbed for new technologies. . .
An X-37B space plane is shown encapsulated in the payload fairing of its SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket ahead of a planned Dec. 10, 2023 launch. (Image credit: Boeing)
No comments:
Post a Comment