Talk:United States Space Surveillance Network

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[edit] SPACETRACK

I'm not sure whether SPACETRACK is an old name for the same system, if it's a specific subset of the United States Space Surveillance Network, or if it's an independent system. It would be nice to clarify that and merge if necessary. There does seem to be a lot of historical material in the SPACETRACK article which could just as well belong here; perhaps it would be useful to have a central history article if these systems are not related. I wasn't able to find a lot of information on the web terribly easily, but here are the best links I found so far:

-- Beland 00:26, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Indeed, SPACETRACK and the Space Surveillance Network are related. SPACETRACK was the origin of SSN and this nomenclature is still used in the DoD budget process, where a portion of the USAF budget for the line item "SPACETRACK" is devoted to the SSN. But SPACETRACK includes additional items as well. So, they aren't the same.

For example, look at the DoD budget detail for 2002 available at - http://www.js.pentagon.mil/descriptivesum/Y2003/AirForce/0305910F.pdf You'll see that the program identified as "SPACETRACK" budgeted for fiscal years 2001-2007 includes 4 items - 4279 Have Stare Radar, 4791 GEODSS Sustainment, 4930 Space Based Space Surveillance, and 5011 Space Situational Awareness Initiatives.

You'll see that according to this budget request, "The SPACETRACK program element represents a worldwide Space Surveillance Network (SSN) of dedicated, collateral, and contributing electro-optical, passive radio frequency (RF) and radar sensors. The SSN is tasked to provide space object identification and cataloging, satellite attack warning, timely notification to U.S. forces of satellite fly-over, space treaty monitoring, and scientific and technical intelligence gathering. The continued increase in satellite and orbital debris populations, as well as the increasing diversity in launch trajectories, non-standard orbits, and geosynchronous altitudes, necessitates continued modernization of the SSN to meet existing and future requirements and ensure their cost-effective supportability. The resources and responsibility for completing the HAVE STARE Radar System development were transferred to SPACETRACK from an intelligence program per Congressional direction in FY93."

From year to year, in the budgeting process, the SPACETRACK responsibilities have varied with various components in addition to the SSN.

The rationale for a separate Wikipedia item/page for "Spacetrack" is that this term has no generally available resource to explain its origin, history, technology, and present status. Many of us have worked on various aspects of SPACETRACK and it seems a pity that its identity was not translated into a coherent and accurate summary of its aims and achievements.

So, for these reasons I would favor a separate identity for SPACETRACK with links to related programs and components in the Wikipedia.

Thanks, mv