Let’s talk about SSA.
That’s Space Situational Awareness. It’s a military term meaning full knowledge of what is going
on in the space domain. Joint
Chiefs of Staff Publication 3-14, Space Operations, often referred to as JP
3-14, is the Department of Defense’s fundamental statement of how the US will
use space to support US warfighting commands[1]. Since SSA is primarily a military
mission, we’ll go there for the official definition:
SSA is
fundamental to conducting space operations. It is a key component for space
control because it is the enabler, or foundation, for accomplishing all other
space control tasks. SSA involves characterizing, as completely as necessary,
the space capabilities operating within the terrestrial environment and the
space domain. It includes components of ISR[2];
environmental monitoring, analysis, and reporting; and warning functions. SSA
leverages space surveillance, collection, and processing of space intelligence
data; synthesis of the status of US and cooperative satellite systems; collection
of US, allied, and coalition space readiness; and analysis of the space domain. It also incorporates the use of
intelligence sources to provide insight into adversary use of space
capabilities and their threats to our space capabilities while in turn
contributing to the JFC’s[3]
ability to understand enemy intent.[4]
Before we talk about how all this information is collected,
processed, and used, let’s talk a bit about the definition. Perhaps the most important sentence in
the definition is the first one: SSA is fundamental to conducting space
operations. This is a powerful statement. While one can launch rockets, put
satellites into orbit, and use them for ground operations, it’s very difficult
if you don’t know where your satellite is and what’s happening to it. And to do that, you need to surveil space, that is, track all the
satellites and debris you can. You
need to know the current and future natural
space environment and how it affects your space systems. You need reconnaissance of satellites to understand what’s happening to
them. And you need to collect health and status information on your
satellites. This information
begins to provide comprehensive SSA that is of value to the Joint Force
Component Commander of Space (JFCC SPACE) who is the JFC for the entire space
domain[5].
Per JP 3-14, SSA supports the following key military objectives:
·
Ensure space
operations and spaceflight safety. SSA provides the infrastructure that
ensures that US space operators understand the conditions that could adversely
impact successful space operations and spaceflight safety (i.e., collision
avoidance).
·
Implement
international treaties and agreements. SSA is a means by which compliance, via
attribution, can be verified and by which violations can be detected.
·
Protect space
capabilities. The ability of the US to monitor all space activity enables
protection of space capabilities, helps deter others from initiating attacks against
space and terrestrial capabilities, and assures allies of continuing US support
during times of peace, crisis, and conflict.
·
Protect military
operations and national interests. SSA supports and enhances military
operations.
Given those uses, let’s pick apart the definition of
SSA. It’s components are often
defined as Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, Space Environment, and
Blue Force Status (ISRE&BF).
·
·
Intelligence is provided by the National
intelligence community. As noted
above, it is the ability to understand objects and actions in space. Due to its sensitive nature, we won’t
discuss this in any detail.
·
Surveillance is space surveillance, which is the
ability to maintain custody of resident space objects (RSOs) – satellites and
debris – in orbit. This is done by
tracking radars and telescopes scattered throughout the US and around the
globe.
·
Reconnaissance is the ability to view individual
satellites to understand their external characteristics. For example, if one obtained an image
of Satellite A on one pass which showed all its pieces attached and in the
right orientation and then obtained an image of the same satellite on another
pass which showed a solar panel missing, it would be clear that something was
definitely amiss.
·
Space Environment awareness is the knowledge of
the natural environment and its affect on space systems. Today, the focus is on the
electromagnetic environment, since it has the most impact on space
systems. Solar flares, coronal
mass ejections, and the subsequent changes in the Earth’s electromagnetic field
can seriously affect a satellite’s functioning.
·
Blue Force Status is the knowledge of the health
and status of US space systems.
This is usually defined as operational
capability (OPSCAP) and systems
capability (SYSCAP). The most
basic level of awareness is whether the systems is fully, partially, or not
mission capable – whether a system is green, yellow, or red. OPSCAP and SYSCAP are usually reported
by the unit or organization which controls and/or flies the asset. Space systems are satellites, ground
facilities such as radars, telescopes, launch pads or satellite control
stations, and the radio links between them.
The discussion so far has addressed the military
aspect of SSA and rightly so. SSA
as discussed above is a critical part of the Joint forces’ ability to fight –
it’s the US’s asymmetrical advantage in today’s competitive world. However, SSA is also crucial to civil
and commercial space operations and for the same reasons. The key issue here is safety of
flight. The obvious example is
manned space flight such as the ISS and its Soyuz taxis. However, there are also billions of
dollars of civil, scientific, and commercial satellites on orbit and their
owner/operators all need similar information about their satellites and the
environment in which they’re operating.
A key issue is collision avoidance. The 2007 Chinese antisatellite test and the 2009
Iridium-Cosmos collision publicly highlighted the need to know exactly where RSOs are and where they
are going. Communications
satellite operators are particularly worried about this. Their satellites are in geosynchronous
orbit[6],
the satellites and their transportation to their orbital slot costs hundreds of
millions of dollars, and the revenue stream the owner/operators anticipate runs
well above that – billions over the satellite’s life span. They are very interested in where their
satellite is and what RSOs nearby could threaten it. Telstar 401 is a good example of a threatening RSO. Launched in 1993, it was destroyed by a
magnetic storm in 1997. It is now
uncontrollable. It’s orbit swings
back and forth between two highly populated orbital slots. Clearly, the owner/operators of other
active comsats near Telstar 401 want to know what the chances of collision with
Telstar 401 are. Information like
this is so important in today’s congested space environment that US Strategic
Command, the owner of military space forces, routinely provides orbital
positional data and information on potential collisions to commercial and
foreign government entities that request it. But more on that in another post.
This post has given a good initial insight into what
SSA is, why it’s important, and some idea of how it’s used. Future posts will look at some
components and uses of SSA in more detail – coming soon in this space!
TK Roberts
[1] Joint
Publication 3-14, Space Operations,
January 6, 2009; Chapter 2, para 15.
Available from the website of the Federation of American Scientists
[2] ISR is
Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, the ability to use information
from the National intelligence community to understand objects and actions in
space.
[3] The JFC is
the Joint Force Commander, the US military commander of a large area of
operations. The US Central
Command, including Afghanistan, has a JFC responsible for all military
operations in his area.
[5] Today JFCC
SPACE is Lt Gen Susan Helms. She
is also Commander, 14th Air Force, part of Air Force Space Command.
[6] Broadly
speaking, one in which the satellite’s orbital velocity is exactly the same as
the Earth’s rotational velocity.
The result is that the satellite appears to hover over a particular spot
on Earth – a 22,500 mile high radio and TV tower.
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