NOTE:  The USAF Battlelab Plan for 1998 contains the following:
                    UFO is an acronym where "U" stands for UHF
                    "F" stands for Follow and "O" stands for On   (referring to a type of satellite)
                    This explains the need for the terminology  UER/UCT.
                    It's the latest wrinkle which REALLY muddies the waters!



USAF BATTLELAB TO IMPROVE SATELLITE DETECTION

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     By David Atkinson
     Defense Weekly 10 August 1998

     While the Air Force knows where almost all objects in low-earth
     orbit are, it doesn't know exactly where--so the service
     wants to improve the way it detects and tracks objects in orbit.

     In order to support the Air Force's space control mission,
     which aims to secure freedom of maneuver in orbital space for
     the United States and its allies, the
     Air Force's Space Battlelab at Schreiver AFB, Colo., is
     undertaking several studies to improve both initial detection
     of orbiting bodies, the way the environment acts on them, and
     the methods used to better predict where the objects will be
     at any given time.

     "Several initiatives are being worked on in space surveillance,"
     Lt. Col. Robert Bivins, Commander of the Air Force Battlelab,
     told Defense Daily in a recent telephone interview.

     The Air Force currently tracks more than 8,000 objects in
     orbit. Most are debris, but a large number are satellites,
     both U.S. and foreign. In the future, some will belong to or
     provide services to enemy states or organizations.

     One program, known as Satellite Tracking using Ambient Radio
     Frequency (STAR), would use highly sensitive passive
     listening systems to pinpoint the position of satellites
     by their reflection of common commercial television and radio
     signals.

     "The goal is to see a fairly small-sized target out to
     1,000 kilometers," Bivens said.

     In April, the STAR program began tracking representative
     satellites using a large passive array in rural Maryland. The
     program is in the design study phase for both fixed and
     mobile systems. One of the goals of the program is to free
     satellite detection from the large, fixed arrays now used and
     make the process both passive and world-wide.

     "This is a way, if we were able to put passive detectors
     around the world, we would have better situational awareness
     [in space]," Bivins said.

     [Passive in this sense means no radiated signals that can be
     detected by an enemy.]

     A final government analysis of whether the program merits
     additional research is scheduled for November.

     Finding the satellites, however, is not the only problem. The
     data and methodology used to track and predict the position
     of objects in space can also be improved, Bivins said.

     First, the Space Battlelab is examining whether using
     increased processing power to compute the position of an
     orbital body will dramatically improve the accuracy of
     the track.

     "Based on our radar capability, we can only be so accurate,"
     Bivins said. The program looks to increase the number of
     times per minute that data on objects is collected. "Right
     now, we do one observation a minute as it passes through the
     SSN [Space Surveillance Network]. If we increase that
     exponentially, it should improve our predictions." But,
     Bivins pointed out, that will only work if the data put into
     the prediction is accurate.

     One way that the battlelab is seeking to improve that data is
     through the Modified Atmospheric Density Model (MADM)
     initiative. This effort will try to improve the modeling of
     the effects of atmospheric drag and solar environments on the
     path of satellites.

     The battlelab is using data from well-known objects in orbit
     to determine differences between actual and predicted paths.
     The differences can then be extrapolated back and used to
     model the environmental effects on other objects in similar
     orbital paths.

     "Based on our radar capability, we can only be so accurate,"
     Bivins said. "The hope is that the environmental prediction
     will allow us to improve our accuracy."

     That accuracy will not only allow the U.S. Space Command to
     keep an eye on its own systems, but will also make the
     targeting of hostile satellites easier.

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LOSING A FRIEND
VINNIE'S UNTIMELY DEATH
VINNIE'S INTERROGATIONS

SATELLITE INFORMATION
ALIEN INVASION
CANCER DETECTION
COSMIC CONSPIRACY
EOS: NEXT GENERATION
GPS FROM THE USAF
PACHYDERM PATROL
RAPID TARGETING CAPABILITY
SATELLITE OR UFO?
SPACE WARS


UFO RELATED
AREA 51
FOO FIGHTER
WHAT'S A UER?
UFO SHOT DOWN
USAF UFO RELEASE

UFOs & ASTRONAUTS-1    ASTRONAUTS-2
GORDON COOPER-1    COOPER-2

THE MOON
MOON FACTS
WATER ON THE MOON

GENERAL
AIR FORCE READINESS    
AIR FORCE ROCKET LAUNCH    
HYPERSONIC MISSILE    
MICROCHIP IMPLANTS
RUSSIAN BOMBS
TITAN ROCKET EXPLODES

ROSWELL
J.BOND JOHNSON
SYMBOLS?
1947 PHOTOS
Scan 2    Scan 3    Scan 4    
Scan 5    Scan 6    Scan 7                
MORE SCANS                



RONALD REGEHR
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