American launches satellite monitoring debris around the Earth

US sources say the US Air Force plans to launch a new satellite into space to monitor hundreds of satellites and thousands of fragments that could crash into US and allied flying properties. around the Earth.

If everything goes according to plan, the space-based surveillance satellite (SBSS), scheduled to be launched from Vandenberg air base in California state on July 8, will be fully monitored. Circulation flows more and more in Earth orbit. One thing that the US Air Force has not yet done.

Currently, the US Air Force still has to rely on a ground-based network of radars and optical telescopes to monitor about 1,000 active satellites and 20,000 debris. Telescopes can only be used on optical nights and not all radar stations are powerful enough to detect satellites in distant orbits, about 22,000 miles from Earth.

From orbit about 400 miles from Earth, the US Air Force's new satellite will clearly see the outer space, unaffected by the sunlight or weather conditions.

Information gathered from the satellite will be used to determine the route of objects on space, thereby calculating the ability to collide a few days before happening.

The project was launched in 2004, before a Russian satellite crashed into one of the US telecommunications satellites last year, or the Chinese trial of satellites in January 2007, discharged. more than 2,300 debris in orbit.

The US Air Force has spent about $ 500 million on the design, development and production of SBSS satellites and ground systems.