Space Security Index

Space Security 2011
52
2010 Development
Commercial satellite operators continue eorts to share data with each other to improve safety
In July, the Space Data Association (SDA) announced initial operations of its Space Data
Center. e SDA is a non-prot association of satellite operators created to facilitate the
controlled, reliable, and ecient sharing of SSA data to improve the safety of satellite
operations. e SDC combines information on the location and operation of participants’
satellites with other sources of SSA data and provides safety-related services to participants.
e initial operating capability announced in July included automated conjunction
assessment for 126 satellites in GEO, and provided participants with web-based access to
this information. 76 Full capability for the Space Data Center was expected in the rst quarter
of 2011, and is to include radio frequency interference mitigation, automated warnings of
possible collisions, and avoidance maneuver planning assistance for participating satellite
operators in all orbital regimes. 77
2010 Development
Hobbyist satellite observers continue to demonstrate their capabilities
In late May, it was announced that hobbyist satellite observers had successfully located
the U.S. Air Force X-37B spacecraft. 78 Launched on 23 April, the X-37B is an unmanned,
reusable space plane intended to demonstrate reusable space technologies and automated
reentry and landing. Although the launch itself was unclassied, the U.S. Air Force did not
publish the X-37B’s orbital location in its public Space Track online catalog, and declined
to disclose what it would be doing on orbit or where. 79 Hobbyist observers in Canada, South
Africa, and elsewhere around the world coordinated their activities to nd and conrm the
location of the X-37B in 401 km x 422 km orbit at 40 degrees inclination. 80
On 24 August, the hobbyist satellite observers reported that the X-37B had conducted a
set of two maneuvers starting on 9 August, and that the space plane was in a new orbit of
420 km x 445 km by 19 August. 81 e change in orbit meant that the X-37B now covered
the same location on the Earth’s surface every six days instead of every four days, possibly
corresponding to a surveillance mission. 82 In late August, a new application for the Apple
iPhone and Android mobile phones predicted when the X-37B would be over a ground
observer. 83
On 30 August, analyst Brian Weeden published an article that detailed a series of maneuvers
by a Chinese satellite to rendezvous with another Chinese satellite in LEO. 84 e maneuvers
were initially detected by a Russian hobbyist observer, who was quoted in the Russian
media. 85 Mr. Weeden used orbital data from the U.S. military’s public Space Track catalog
to determine that the Chinese SJ-12 satellite had conducted a series of maneuvers between
12 June and 16 August to rendezvous with the Chinese SJ-06F satellite, and that the two
satellites may have bumped.
On 11 November, Dr. Wang Ting, a postdoctoral student at Cornell University, released the
“What’s Up” Google Earth layer. 86 e program combines information from the Union of
Concerned Scientists’ Satellite Database and the U.S. military’s public Space Track satellite
catalog for display in Google Earth. With the layer installed, individual space objects,
constellations, and the entire catalog can be visualized in Google Earth. Historical orbital
information, including maneuvers, can also be seen for individual satellites.