U.S. Space Force testing software for tracking orbiting satellites to improve space surveillance
MAUI, Hawaii – The U.S. Space Force is testing software that not only could improve the accuracy of its current system for tracking satellites and dangerous junk in space, but also enable actual tracking in near real time to keep tabs on adversary spacecraft seeking to hide from prying eyes. Breaking Defense reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
21 Sept. 2021 -- The software package was developed at MITRE Corp. in McLean, Va., and moved to Space Systems Command (SSC) in July for operational prototyping after two years of internal MITRE development and testing, says MITRE senior systems analyst Bob Carden.
The Sensor Network Autonomous Resilient Extensible (SNARE) software “improves positional awareness of objects in space,” Carden says. The MITRE SNARE test against 1,000 randomly chosen orbiting targets show it could provide an average improvement of the accuracy of space objects of 0.8 to 3 kilometers.
SNARE also cut six hours out of the average time it takes current systems to re-find an object after it maneuvers, which is crucial to U.S. military capability to keep tabs on maneuverable satellites, such as those being tested by Russia and China.
John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
