The Air Force Space Surveillance System, colloquially known as the Space Fence, is a multistatic radar system that detects orbital objects passing over America. It is a component of the US space surveillance network, and is claimed to be able to detect objects as small as 10 cm (four inches) at heights up to 30,000 km (15,000 nautical miles.) Although formerly operated by the U.S. Navy and known as NAVSPASUR (short for "Naval Space Surveillance"), command passed to the Air Force 20th Space Control Squadron on October 1, 2004. The operation's headquarters are at Dahlgren, Virginia, and radar stations are spread out across the continental United States at roughly the level of the 33rd parallel north.
There are three transmitter sites in the system:
- 216.983 MHz at Lake Kickapoo, Texas (33°32′47″N 98°45′46″W / 33.54639°N 98.76278°W / 33.54639; -98.76278) (Master transmitter)
- 216.97 MHz at Gila River, Arizona (33°06′32″N 112°01′45″W / 33.10889°N 112.02917°W / 33.10889; -112.02917)
- 216.99 MHz at Jordan Lake, Alabama (32°39′33″N 86°15′52″W / 32.65917°N 86.26444°W / 32.65917; -86.26444).
The master transmitter at Lake Kickapoo is said to be the most powerful continuous wave (CW) station in the world, at 768 kW radiated power on 216.97927 MHz. Overhead imagery (see coordinates given above) of the Gila River and Jordan Lake sites suggests that the original design called for antennas of twice the present length with, presumably, greater radiated power.
There are 6 receiving stations:
- San Diego, California (32°34′42″N 116°58′11″W / 32.57833°N 116.96972°W / 32.57833; -116.96972)
- Elephant Butte, New Mexico (33°26′35″N 106°59′50″W / 33.44306°N 106.99722°W / 33.44306; -106.99722)
- Red River, Arkansas (33°19′48″N 93°33′01″W / 33.33°N 93.55028°W / 33.33; -93.55028)
- Silver Lake, Mississippi (33°08′42″N 91°01′16″W / 33.145°N 91.02111°W / 33.145; -91.02111)
- Hawkinsville, Georgia (32°17′20″N 83°32′10″W / 32.28889°N 83.53611°W / 32.28889; -83.53611)
- Tattnall, Georgia (32°02′35″N 81°55′21″W / 32.04306°N 81.9225°W / 32.04306; -81.9225).
The receiving stations at Elephant Butte and Hawkinsville are considered to be "High Altitude" stations with longer and more complex antenna systems that are designed to see targets at higher altitudes than the other four receiving stations.
In 2009, the operations and maintenance contract for the day-to-day management and operation of the Fence was awarded to Five Rivers Services, LLC, based out of Colorado Springs, CO. On September 30, 2011, Five Rivers Services was awarded a $7,022,503 firm fixed price with cost reimbursable line items contract modification to manage, operate, maintain, and logistically support the nine Air Force Space Surveillance System field stations, presumably for Fiscal Year 2012.
Read more about Air Force Space Surveillance System: Space Fence Program Awards Contracts For Concept Development
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“Easily, with a few convulsive quirks, they give up their watery ghosts, like a mortal translated before his time to the thin air of heaven.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The example of America must be the example, not merely of peace because it will not fight, but of peace because it is the healing and elevating influence of the world, and strife is not. There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“And Space with gaunt grey eyes and her brother Time
Wheeling and whispering come,”
—James Elroy Flecker (1884–1919)
“For the universe has three children, born at one time, which reappear, under different names, in every system of thought, whether they be called cause, operation, and effect; or, more poetically, Jove, Pluto, Neptune; or, theologically, the Father, the Spirit, and the Son; but which we will call here, the Knower, the Doer, and the Sayer. These stand respectively for the love of truth, for the love of good, and for the love of beauty.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)