The High Ground
Abstract
35,880 km above the Earth's surface, it is dark, lonely and cold the universe looks black and empty. Far away, the Earth is just a small bright disc; the Middle East, Indian Sub-Continent, and South-East Asia frame the deep blue Indian Ocean below. Always in view of these highly troubled regions, Milstar 5 is relentlessly busy. The $1.268B spacecraft's movement is imperceptible as large reaction wheels balance torque to keep the spacecraft from tumbling while precision antennas slew to track incoming data streams from Air Force Global Hawk aircraft and Army Special Operations units deployed all around, and now inside, the Iraqi nation. Orbiting 15,000 km below, all 27 satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS) are in view as they circle the Earth. From Milstar 5's geosynchronous vantage point, the GPS satellites occasionally appear to pass through the highly classified spy satellites of many nations America, Russia, China, Israel, France, Japan, and others as they survey targets, assess damage, and search for hostile activity. The view along the communication satellite's daunting 15m length looks deep out into cold, black space; occasionally in view is an aging Cold-War-era infrared missile warning spacecraft built with 35 year old technology intently scanning its side of the Earth for any sign of a dreaded chemical-weapon-tipped Scud missile launch onburst of high-energy radio energy from Milstar 5 retargets a salvo of Tomahawk cruise missiles just launched from the USS Donald Cook in the Red Sea the missiles are skimming along the Earth's surface far, far below. The Tomahawks' guidance systems look out into space for LBand transmissions broadcast from the four GPS satellites not blocked from their view by the Earth, autonomously charting a course to a recently discovered Iraqi leadership bunker.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA441607
Entities
People
- Steven M. Huybrechts
Organizations
- National War College