US Space Force to create software for integrating orbital tracking data — Breaking Defense
On Maui, the US Space Force plans to develop a prototype software environment for automatically integrating data from commercial and military systems tracking space objects. The project’s goal is to obtain information more quickly about the situation in near-Earth orbit, including new debris clouds or large numbers of newly launched satellites, Breaking Defense reports.
The prototype will be launched in the fall
Mission Delta 2 commander Colonel Barry Crocker said that the prototype software environment is planned to be launched later this fall. The unit is also to create a minimum viable product that can be quickly put into operation.
Mission Delta 2 is responsible for organizing, training, and equipping personnel for space domain awareness operations. It includes the 18th and 19th Space Defense Squadrons, which operate a network of space surveillance telescopes and radars in different parts of the world, as well as software systems for analyzing data on space objects.
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Data timeliness
According to Crocker, the new system should prioritize data timeliness rather than only their maximum accuracy. The prototype may use less detailed but faster observations and analytics provided by commercial companies.
Currently, the Space Force receives commercial data through the Joint Commercial Operations unit and stores it in the cloud-based Unified Data Library. However, these data are not integrated directly into operational space domain awareness computer systems: they function in a parallel system.
US Space Command commander General Stephen Whiting said that automatically combining commercial data with existing systems could help close gaps in the capabilities for tracking and precisely targeting satellites of potential adversaries. A separate software environment is also being created to ensure that commercial data do not reduce the accuracy of military tracking needed for orbital collision avoidance tasks.
