The satellites will be placed approximately 22,000 miles (35,400 kilometers) above Earth.
The US Space Force is set to launch a constellation of satellites this summer to track Chinese or Russian space vehicles, the latest step in the extra-terrestrial competition between the superpowers.
Dubbed “Silent Barker,” the network will be the first of its kind to complement ground-based sensors and low-Earth orbit satellites, according to the Space Force and analysts. The satellites will be placed about 22,000 miles (35,400 km) above Earth and rotate at the same speed, known as a geosynchronous orbit.
“This capability enables threat signals and warnings” against high-value US systems and “will provide the capability to search, locate and track objects from space for timely threat detection,” the Space Force , which is developing satellites with national reconnaissance. the office said in a statement.
The Silent Barker satellite constellation is scheduled for launch later in July on an Atlas V booster operated by Boeing Co-Lockheed Martin Corp’s United Launch Alliance, the NRO said in a statement. Facebook and Twitter will announce the launch date 30 days in advance – quite a change for an agency that has existed for decades but whose existence was not declassified until 1992.
Silent Barker is a response to efforts by China and Russia to develop systems capable of launching and ejecting other satellites into orbit, a growing concern for the US.
The new constellation will “dramatically enhance the Space Force’s ability to track on-orbit, adversary satellites that may maneuver around or in close proximity to our satellites,” said Sarah Mineiro, former chief staffer of the House Armed Services Committee’s Strategic Subcommittee. Said, which oversees space programs. ,
grappling satellite
Silent Barker addresses the limitations of ground or low-orbit surveillance systems and allows the US to “really find out what’s going on in space,” he said.
In its annual threat assessment this year, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said China has weapons to target US and allied satellites, and called the People’s Liberation Army “counterspace operations potential PLA military operations.” shall be an integral part of”.
An example is China’s SJ-21 satellite, which was launched in 2021 and later successfully pulled a defunct Chinese satellite into a higher orbit several hundred miles away. Another Chinese satellite, Sijian-17, is equipped with a robotic arm that “could be used to capture other satellites”, according to a 2022 Defense Intelligence Agency report.
In testimony to Congress in March, General James Dickinson, head of the US Space Command, said the SJ-21 “clearly could operate in a counterspace role and put our geosynchronous satellites at risk.” SJ-21 is a type of satellite. The Space Force said it will track Silent Barker as it seeks “to explore or discover new objects”.
Space Force and the NRO would not say how many satellites the Silent Barker constellation would have, except that it would include “multiple spacecraft.”
The Space Force said surveillance from space augments ground sensors and “overcomes the limitations of ground sensors by providing 24-hour above-weather collection of satellite data.” Ground-based sensors of objects in geosynchronous orbit are “limited by distance, geography and weather” but “Silent Barker will bridge the observational gap,” it said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)