This animation shows a magnetic reconnection event with proton aurora data from the IMAGE spacecraft. (Photo concept courtesy of NASA)
The Space Surveillance Network has been tracking space objects since 1957 when the Soviets opened the space age with the launch of Sputnik I. Since then, the SSN has tracked more than 24,500 space objects orbiting Earth.
Of that number, the SSN currently tracks more than 8,000 orbiting objects.
The rest have re-entered Earth’s turbulent atmosphere and disintegrated, or survived re-enty and impacted the Earth. The space objects now orbiting Earth range from satellites weighting several tons to pieces of spent rocket bodies weighing only 10 pounds.
About seven percent of the space objects are operational satellites, the rest are debris. USSPACECOM is primarily interested in the active satellites, but also tracks space debris. The SSN tracks space objects which are 10 centimeters in diameter (baseball size) or larger.
SSN Sensors
The SSN uses a “predictive” technique to monitor space objects; it spot checks them rather than tracking them continually. This technique is used because of the limits of the SSN (number of sensors, geographic distribution, capability, and availability).
When service members go out on patrol, they keep a weather eye out for any dangers or unknown variables that might impact the mission. When space surveillance specialists go out on the job, they’re keeping an eye on the skies, and in more ways than one.
A beautiful prominence eruption producing a coronal mass ejection (CME) shot off the east limb (left side) of the sun on April 16, 2012. Such eruptions are often associated with solar flares, and in this case an M1 class (medium-sized) flare occurred at the same time, peaking at 1:45 PM EDT. The CME was not aimed toward Earth. (From NASA Goddard)
Space surveillance is a critical part of USSPACECOM‘s mission and involves detecting, tracking, cataloging and identifying man-made objects orbiting Earth, i.e. active/inactive satellites, spent rocket bodies, or fragmentation debris.
Space surveillance can predict when and where a decaying space object will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and prevent a returning space object. To radar, these can look like a missile, and even trigger a false alarm from missile-attack warning sensors of the U.S. and other countries.
Therefore, it’s important that we monitor the skies as much as we monitor anything that impacts us as a nation, and in this case, as a planet.
Space surveillance can also chart the present position of space objects and plot their anticipated orbital paths. This means detecting new man-made objects in space, producing a running catalog of man-made space objects, determining which country owns a re-entering space object, and informing NASA whether or not objects may interfere with the space shuttle and Russian Mir space station orbits.
The command accomplishes these tasks through its Space Surveillance Network (SSN) of U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force operated, ground-based radar’s and optical sensors at 25 sites worldwide.
One of the things that affects our satellites – and something we have to be cognizant of – is space weather, and specifically, solar weather. Dr. Alex Young, Solar Physicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, explains how the sun is making scientific waves in our daily lives.
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Disclaimer: The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense of this website or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sites, the Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this DoD website.
We are getting closer and closer to the laser beam, I can feel it. A military scientist operates a laser in a test environment. The United states Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate conducts research on a variety of solid-state and chemical lasers. (U.S. Air Force)
I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.
The Navy…is getting LASER WEAPONS.
Eventually.
Okay, so it’s not right this second, but ONR is working to make it a reality. To help sailors defeat small boat threats and aerial targets without using bullets, the Office of Naval Research (ONR)wants to develop a solid-state laser weapon prototype that will demonstrate multi-mission capabilities aboard a Navy ship.
“We believe it’s time to move forward with solid-state lasers and shift the focus from limited demonstrations to weapon prototype development and related technology advancement,” said Peter Morrison, program officer of the Solid-State Laser Technology Maturation (SSL-TM) program.
ONR will host an industry day May 16 to provide the research and development community with information about the program. A Broad Agency Announcement is expected to be released thereafter to solicit proposals and bids.
The Navy’s long history of advancing directed-energy technology has yielded kilowatt-scale lasers capable of being employed as weapons. Among the programs, the Maritime Laser Demonstration developed a proof-of-concept technology that was tested at sea aboard a decommissioned Navy ship.
The demonstrator was able to disable a small boat target: (more…)
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is awarding more than $160,000 in scholarships to a group of young scientists and engineers competing at Intel ISEF 2012, May 13-18 in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) competition draws more than 1,500 students in grades 9 to 12 to showcase their independent research projects and vie for scholarships contributed by government, industry and academia.
“ONR is actively investing in the future by providing scholarships to these students, who represent some of the best and brightest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” said Dr. Anthony Junior, director, Department of the Navy Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Minority Institutions Program office. “They’re exactly the type of sharp, high achievers that we’ll need to solve problems for the Navy, Marine Corps and the nation.”
ONR’s prize money provides $8,000 Tuition Scholarship Awards to 17 top finishers, plus three awards in the amount of $4,000 each to participants with original research in critical, naval-relevant scientific areas, such as electrical engineering, environmental engineering and microbiology.
Disclaimer: The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense of this website or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sites, the Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this DoD website.
Testing Webb Telescope‘s OSIM and BIA Instruments – The OTE (Optical Telescope Element) Simulator or OSIM wrapped in a silver blanket on a platform, being lowered down into a vacuum chamber (called the Space Environment Simulator, or SES) by a crane to be tested to withstand the cold temperatures of space. (Photo Credit NASA Goddard/Chris Gunn)
Navy personnel are setting a positive example for young people in Yokosuka, Japan, by teaching the importance of science, technology, engineering and math as it relates to everyday life. How did they do that? Real world experience, of course. Seabees demonstrated the importance and uses of math and science to girls from the Yokosuka Middle School.
Even building a Japanese lantern takes math skills:
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Disclaimer: The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense of this website or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sites, the Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this DoD website.
This shows the locations of the STEREO-A and -B spacecraft in 2011 relative to the Sun, Earth, and SDO spacecraft. (Photo: U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)
Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory have discovered a previously unreported solar feature – Coronal Cells – where high-temperature coronal emission is confined to discrete plumes that extend upward from unipolar concentrations of magnetic flux.
The NRL researchers think that future studies of these cellular regions will lead to an improved understanding of magnetic field line reconnection at the boundaries of coronal holes, and how these changes are transmitted outward into the solar wind. This research is published in the March 20 issue of the Astrophysical Journal.
NASA provided financial support through their Heliophysics Guest Investigator Program and their Living With a Star Program.
Drs. Neil Sheeley and Harry Warren, researchers in NRL’s Space Science Division, describe these Coronal Cells as appearing in discrete bundles “like candles on a birthday cake.” The researchers discovered the cells in ultraviolet emission lines formed at temperatures around one-million degrees Kelvin.
Although the researchers made their discovery using high-resolution images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), they also observed the cells on ultraviolet images from STEREO-A and -B spacecraft recently, and from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) in 2000 near the previous sunspot maximum. In addition, they used Doppler images, constructed from the Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on the Hinode spacecraft, to deduce that the outflow is faster at the centers of the cells than at their boundaries.
The researchers used time-lapse sequences of Fe XII 193 Å coronal images to follow these special regions as they were carried across the solar disk by the 27-day solar rotation.
According to the Department of Defense, 1,453 service members have lost limbs since the start of the wars in 2001. Of those, 82% were lower extremity injuries. In spite of this, some wounded warriors are not letting their lack of limbs slow down their stride…literally.
Thanks to some advancements in technology, some of these injured troops have returned to active duty. A few of them even went back to the war. How’s that possible? Injured troops at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center are trying out a new type of computerized prosthetic that’s helping them to walk tall in more ways than one.
VA researchers constantly strive to improve the construction of prostheses, using leading edge technologies such as robotics, tissue engineering, and nanotechnology to create lighter limbs that closely mimic their natural counterparts. The integration of body, mind, and machine is a major guiding principle as VA specialists design and build artificial limbs that look, feel, and respond like natural arms and legs.
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