Uncued detection provides a continuous "curtain" of radar pulses forming a "fence" that enables detection, tracking and determination of objects' orbits without prior knowledge of their existence or location. The system will improve space situational awareness by detecting and tracking objects such as commercial and military satellites and debris from break-up events at a higher accuracy. Coverage will extend down to just above the horizon to handle low-inclination orbits.
This will significantly increase our capability to provide predictive and actionable space situational awareness for the nation. The Space Fence is designed to provide assured coverage at low earth orbit for objects as small as 10 cm. The system will also support cued searches and uncued surveillance at medium earth orbit and above. The increased Space Fence sensitivity, coupled with the increased computing capabilities of the JSpOC Mission System, will yield a greater understanding of the space operating environment and associated threats.
About workers will live on island during the construction period, which is expected to be ongoing until February Once the construction is complete, the Air Force will begin conducting acceptance testing. The projected initial operational capability is fiscal year The contract also includes an option for procuring a second radar site. The Space Fence will expand that to , objects or more by using two strategically placed ground radars, with the first one to be located on Kwajalein and the second to be located in Australia if further procurement allows for it.
Air Force in September Government representatives met with Lockheed Martin engineers in Moorestown to review the Space Fence S-band radar system design, which will detect, track, and catalog orbital objects in space more than 1.
The three-day CDR was preceded by the delivery of 21, pages of design documents, and an eight-day Design Walkthrough, to ensure the system will meet performance requirements. The CDR event featured the demonstration of a small-scale system built with end-item components that detected and tracked orbiting space objects. Air Force with a flexible system capable of adapting to future missions requiring new tracking and coverage approaches.
We look forward to continuing our successful partnerships with the U. Within the Space Fence radar open architecture design, Lockheed Martin uses the latest monolithic microwave integrated circuit technology, including Gallium Nitride GaN semiconductor materials.
GaN provides a number of significant advantages for active phased array radar systems, including higher power density, greater efficiency and significantly improved reliability over previous technologies. Lockheed Martin has a decade of investment and significant experience in successfully developing GaN-based products. Lockheed Martin is able to procure mature technology that is commercially available, aided by significant investment occurring in the marketplace in areas such as cell phone infrastructure and LED design.
This is in alignment with the recent release of Better Buying power 3. The sensor site installation will include an on-site operations center and an annex to the current island power plant that will ensure the Space Fence system has everything necessary to provide continuous Space Situational Awareness.
Once construction is complete, Space Fence will go through testing and validation before its initial operating capability occurs in late Air Force Space Fence radar system. With the array structure complete, the General Dynamics Space Fence team will carefully dismantle the ,pound steel structure and ship it to Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, for reassembly and integration into the Space Fence system.
The structure was built at General Dynamics' Wortham, Texas, precision manufacturing facility. Subscribe Now! Sign In Sign Out. Home :: Space :: Systems :: Space Surveillance Site maintained by: John Pike. The U. The first track and the new test facility means we are one step closer to delivering a dramatic tenfold improvement in space situational awareness and orbital monitoring capability.
The space station crew has conducted at least 25 avoidance maneuvers to avoid space junk. Space junk traveling at speeds of nearly eight miles per second passed the station four times in Long before Space Fence begins S-band radar tracking of objects from its site on a narrow island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Lockheed Martin engineers and U. Air Force personnel are testing and training on a scaled-down version of the system from the comfort of New Jersey.
The test facility is used for early validation of hardware, firmware and software that will enable the Space Fence system to detect, track, and catalog orbital objects that facilitates the prediction and prevention of collisions in space.
The test site will also provide early lessons learned on installation of the S-band ground-based radar, support maintenance training and allow engineers to test verification procedures.
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