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"For more than a decade they toiled in the strange, boxy-looking building on the hill above the municipal airport, the building with no windows (except in the cafeteria), the building filled with secrets. They wore protective white jumpsuits, and had to walk through air-shower chambers before entering the sanitized "cleanroom" where the equipment was stored. They spoke in code...."

No stranger to controversial, loosely-sourced remarks, presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann said on Friday that China has attacked American satellites using laser beams. According to Politico, Bachmann said in an interview with conservative radio host Laura Ingraham that China helped North Korea deliver missiles to Pakistan and Iran, assisted Iran in developing its nuclear program, and launched a laser attack against American satellites.

China’s rapidly expanding satellite programme could alter power dynamics in Asia and reduce the US military’s scope for operations in the region, according to new research. Chinese reconnaissance satellites can now monitor targets for up to six hours a day, the World Security Institute, a Washington think-tank, has concluded in a new report. The People’s Liberation Army, which could only manage three hours of daily coverage just 18 months ago, is now nearly on a par with the US military in its ability to monitor fixed targets, according to the findings. “Starting from almost no live surveillance capability 10 years...

LEVEL 1 - 2 OF 45 STORIES Copyright 1997 Jane's Information Group Limited, All Rights Reserved Jane's Intelligence Review May 1, 1997 SECTION: EUROPE; Vol. 9; No. 5; Pg. 205 LENGTH: 2629 words HEADLINE: RED STAR WARS BYLINE: Steven J Zaloga HIGHLIGHT: As far back as the late 1960s, scientists in the USSR had beensecretly theorising about the possibilities of space-based weaponry.In the early 1980s, however, spurred by US President Ronald Reagan'sannouncement of the Strategic Defense Initiative and a firmconviction that the US space shuttle programme was geared towardmilitary ends, Soviet efforts in this area took on a new...

Senior Pentagon officials are sounding concern over China's development of weapons designed to shoot down satellites or jam communication signals. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense for Space Policy Gregory Schulte said China's project was becoming a "matter of concern" for the United States. Space, he told defense and intelligence officials while unveiling a 10-year strategy for security in space, "is no longer the preserves of the United States and the Soviet Union, at the time in which we could operate with impunity." "There are more competitors, more countries that are launching satellites ... and we increasingly have to worry about...

* Revolutionary Guards’ chief says new mass-produced supersonic missile having 300kms range is undetectable by enemies TEHRAN: Iran showed off new missile and satellite technology on Monday, and told its enemies it had ‘complete domination’ of the entrance to the oil-rich Gulf. As part of Iran’s annual revolution celebrations, a time traditionally marked by new technological and military advances, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled locally-made satellites while a senior commander showed off mass produced missiles. “We should reach a point where we will be able to provide our knowledge and technology in the aerospace field to other countries,” Ahmadinejad said in...

MOSCOW, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Three Russian satellites launched earlier Sunday have crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Hawaii Islands after falling off course, RIA news agency reported. Russia's space agency Roscosmos is not available for confirmation at present. According to the latest information gained by RIA Novosti, the upper stage of the Proton-M rocket carrier and three Glonass-M navigation satellites have fallen into the sea area 1500 km northwest of Honolulu, causing no casualties nor damages. Interfax said in a latest report the crash might be caused by stronger propulsive force of the Proton-M rocket, which deviated from its...

Earth is bracing for a cosmic tsunami Tuesday night as tons of plasma from a massive solar flare head directly toward the planet. The Sun's surface erupted early Sunday morning, shooting a wall of ionized atoms directly at Earth, scientists say. It is expected to create a geomagnetic storm and a spectacular light show -- and it could pose a threat to satellites in orbit, as well.

(CNN) -- An upper layer of Earth's atmosphere recently shrank so much that researchers are at a loss to adequately explain it, NASA said on Thursday. The thermosphere, which blocks harmful ultraviolet rays, expands and contracts regularly due to the sun's activities. As carbon dioxide increases, it has a cooling effect at such high altitudes, which also contributes to the contraction. But even these two factors aren't fully explaining the extraordinary contraction which, though unlikely to affect the weather, can affect the movement of satellites, researchers said.

Los Angeles County is seeking to add a new tool to its arsenal of firefighting weapons: satellites. Before California’s next fire season, county officials hope to gain access to infrared data gathered by U.S. Air Force missile warning satellites to assist them in detecting wildfires. On June 16, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors sent letters to senators and representatives in Los Angeles’ congressional delegation asking for help in establishing a program. “The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors respectfully requests your consideration in exploring the feasibility of implementing a pilot program to assess the viability of utilizing satellite...

China recently launched the fourth of 35 Beidou ("Compass") navigation satellites. Within two years, it will have enough Beidou birds in orbit to provide GPS type service for all of China. By the end of the decade, all 35 satellites will be up, and the entire planet will have access to Beidou. It was two years ago that China decided to expand its Beidou satellite navigation system to cover the entire planet, like GPS, Galileo and Glonass. Think of the original Beidou system as GPS light. That version of Beidou (or Beidou 1) only covered East Asia, and not even...

The U.S. Air Force is moving rapidly in developing and testing smaller reconnaissance and communications satellites. These birds weigh a ton or less (down to 100 kg/220 pounds). The smallest ones have limited usefulness and endurance. But when you get to half a ton or more, you have a very useful bird. It is believed these smaller satellites will be needed to replace wartime losses. Usually, the U.S. has four KH-11s and four Lacrosse radar satellites in orbit, plus several smaller, and more secret birds. Often, these satellites last longer than their design life of eight years (some have gone...

Every now and again someone raises a stern warning about the amount of space junk orbiting Earth. Those warnings are usually met with general indifference, as very few of us own satellites or travel regularly to low Earth orbit. But the DoD's assessment of the space junk problem finds that perhaps we should be paying attention: space junk has reached a critical tipping point that could result in a cataclysmic chain reaction that brings everyday life on Earth to a grinding halt. Our reliance on satellites goes beyond the obvious. We depend on them for television signals, the evening weather...

Without it, ATMs would stop spitting out cash, Wall Street could blunder billions of dollars in stock trades and clueless drivers would get lost. It's GPS, and it's everywhere. Although most people may associate the Global Positioning System with the navigation devices that are becoming standard equipment on new cars, GPS has become a nerve center for the 21st century rivaling the Internet — enabling cargo companies to track shipments, guiding firefighters to hot spots and even helping people find lost dogs. "It's a ubiquitous utility that everybody takes for granted now," said Bradford W. Parkinson. He should know. Three...

The People's Liberation Army's Navy (PLAN) submarines cannot spot United States satellites high overhead as the submarines leave their bases at Sanya on Hainan Island, Qingdao in Shandong province and Ningbo in Zhejiang province, and head for deeper water. Plenty of very deep water can be found in the South China Sea, especially in the zone north of the Spratly Islands, east of the Paracels, and south of the Luzon Strait. "A more challenging area for submarines to operate undetected is the East China Sea, which is quite shallow from the Chinese coastline up to the Okinawa Trough ... Detecting...

Don't be alarmed. High above your heads, a zombie satellite is on the loose. OK, actually, it won't really be a bother to us earthlings. Or at least to most of us. (More on that later.) But the rogue communications satellite is wreaking havoc in Earth's orbit and does threaten to interfere with signals coming from other satellites. Here's the backstory...

The 40-plus nations taking part in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan are often in the dark about what space assets are available to them and are too often denied access to space-derived intelligence, according to the former chief of ISAF space operations. U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Tom Single, who this year returned from five months in Kabul trying to raise ISAF troops’ awareness of what satellites can bring to the war effort in Afghanistan, said secrecy often keeps coalition team members from speaking about space-related topics with each other. Just as striking, he said, is the...

In an age of rogue regimes and pre-emptive war, states developing clandestine nuclear programs know better than to leave them in plain sight. Anxious to ward off an American or Israeli attack, Iran, for example, appears to have buried its uranium-enrichment halls under 30 feet of earth and concrete. No doubt, canny proliferators will soon dig even deeper and better-armored holes. But if they dig deeper, we can always go higher: hence the call for the “Rods From God.” More properly known as hypervelocity rod bundles, these weapons would simply be slender solid tungsten cylinders, 20 or 30 feet long...

Boeing today announced that, as part of the Raytheon team awarded the space-based Global Positioning System (GPS) advanced control segment program (OCX), it will develop portions of the U.S. Air Force's new ground control segment. GPS OCX will provide more secure, accurate, and precise navigation around the world for military, humanitarian and commercial applications. The development contract, awarded recently by the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center's GPS Wing, is valued at more than $880 million over six years, including five option years for sustainment. Boeing has provided ground operations sustainment support for the current GPS II fleet for...

Piloted spaceships, planetary probes, and space telescopes fascinate people. That’s easy to understand since these spacecraft make the discoveries of our time. Nevertheless, this is only the proverbial “tip of the iceberg” since they account for less than 10% of all spacecraft ever launched. What are the other 90% for? Who launched them and for what purpose? It’s worth noting that it is impossible to establish a definitive number of spacecraft launched since it depends of how you count them. Answering these questions tells us a lot about what’s going on in space. For example, more than a quarter of...

"Air Force strikes in Gaza" SNIPPET: "IDF retaliates for deadly Qassam attack: Air Force hits several Gaza targets, including metal foundry, smuggling tunnel; Vice PM Shalom says Israel to offer strong response to rocket attack that killed Thai worker Thursday" SNIPPET: "IDF aircraft struck at least four targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday, a day after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave killed a Thai worker in Israel, Hamas security officials and witnesses said." SNIPPET: "Israel also sent a letter of complaint to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is due to visit Israel at the weekend,...

This capability allows F-16 pilots to communicate using four geosynchronous satellites 22,300 miles above the equator. F-16 pilots can now converse beyond the line of sight to command and control agencies in Iraq. Previously, pilots were relied on line of sight radio capability to communicate. With that, a straight line between the transmitting and receiving end was needed for successful communication, and it was limited by range, mountains and other obstructions. Now with the satellite communication system high above the earth, the line of sight is no longer an issue. "The new capability allows us to communicate with joint-terminal air...

The U.S. Air Force’s Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) B8 satellite, built by Lockheed Martin has surpassed its 10-year design life of on-orbit service in providing secure and reliable communications capabilities for the warfighter. Launched from Cape Canaveral on Jan. 20, 2000, the B8 satellite is one of 14 DSCS III spacecraft designed and built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems for the MILSATCOM Systems Wing at the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. The satellite is also the first of four DSCS III satellites to feature Service Life Enhancement Program (SLEP) upgrades that...

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. — The already untidy mass of orbital debris that litters low Earth orbit nearly got nastier last month. A head-on collision was averted between a spent upper stage from a Chinese rocket and the European Space Agency's (ESA) huge Envisat Earth remote-sensing spacecraft. Space junk tracking information supplied by the U.S. military, as well as confirming German radar data, showed that the two space objects would speed by each other at a nail-biting distance of roughly 160 feet (50 meters). ESA's Envisat tips the scales at 8 tons, with China's discarded rocket body weighing some 3.8 tons. A...

Space experts from around the world will discuss ways of tackling the growing problem of space debris in orbit around the Earth. It comes just a year after an American satellite collided with a Russian satellite. There are thought to be more than 19,000 pieces of debris larger than 4 inches across racing around the Earth at high speeds, while there are more than 500,000 bigger than a postage stamp. The number of particles smaller than this are thought to exceed tens of millions. Despite their relatively small size, most are travelling faster than 15,600mph and at these speeds a...

Several international networks have said that Iran is disrupting their Farsi-language satellite transmissions, Israel Radio reported Friday. BBC Radio, The Voice of America and the German network Deutsche Welle defined the interference as electronic disturbances from Iran.

The makers of America’s rockets and satellites “are still stumbling on fundamentals too often,” said Gary Payton, former astronaut and the top Air Force man on space acquisition. Payton’s comments seem to indicate a continuing trend of shoddy quality control among those whose toughest job is turning out top quality parts and software and making sure they work and fit well. The biggest problem lies with suppliers, who are selling equipment that is just not up to snuff, Payton said. However, the primes also must shoulder blame since they are not overseeing suppliers at the factory level as closely as...

EADS Astrium engineers are working on an orbital solar power concept that they think will be competitive with other technologies but safer to use. Solar power would be collected in space and beamed to Earth using high-power infrared lasers so the energy could be used in remote regions, areas hit by natural disasters and other places where terrestrial power is not readily available. Astrium Chief Technical Officer Robert Laine says the concept offers certain advantages compared to competing technologies such as microwaves—notably a much smaller health risk. The idea of using IR lasers for energy transmission has been around for...

Intelsat General Corp. of Bethesda, Md., was awarded a contract worth as much as $542.7 million over five years to provide global end-to-end satellite communications services for the U.S. Navy, according to a Jan. 26 Defense Department press release. Intelsat General, a subsidiary of satellite operator Intelsat of Washington and Bermuda, will provide C-, Ku- and X-band satellite capacity, ground terminals and terrestrial backhaul and network management services as the prime contractor for the Navy’s Commercial Broadband Satellite Program (CBSP). The program will replace the Navy’s current L-band mobile satellite services provided by Inmarsat of London. While Intelsat does not...

The U.S. Air Force in its 2011 budget request will announce significant changes to the Third Generation Infrared Surveillance (TGIRS) missile warning technology development program, a top service official said. TGIRS was originally conceived as a potential alternative to the long-troubled Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS), whose first dedicated satellite is almost a decade behind schedule. But as the Air Force became confident that SBIRS was finally on track, TGIRS became a technology demonstration effort that now has two main elements: an experimental sensor built by SAIC to be hosted aboard an SES Americom commercial communications satellite slated to launch...

Iran will unveil three new satellites in February, a report said Wednesday, amid Western concerns that Tehran is using its nuclear and space industries to develop atomic and ballistic weapons. ISNA news agency quoted Communications Minister Reza Taghipour as saying that one of the three home-built communications satellites is still under construction. Taghipour named the three satellites as Toloo (Dawn), Ya Mahdi and Mesbah-2, but did not elaborate on exactly when they would be launched. Ya Mahdi, Taghipour said as quoted by ISNA, was an "experimental satellite" and the launch would be for testing camera and telecommunications equipment. Mesbah-2, which...

In early 2008, when the United States Navy used a missile launched from a guided missile cruiser to shoot down a failed American reconnaissance satellite, many people in the United States and around the world interpreted it as a response to the Chinese test of an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon a year before. Although the US government went out of its way to assert that the action was entirely prompted by concern that toxins in the satellite could reach a populated area, it is certain that, during the weeks leading up to the shootdown, officials in the government debated the political...

Within a year—give or take a few months—the shuttles will no longer be roaring through Florida skies. The program will shut down, the orbiters will go to museums, and pundits and bloggers will jump all over each other to pontificate on the meaning of the shuttle program. Most will declare it a mistake, some will call it a disaster. Eventually the historians will get to it, holding symposia and writing books about the program. Some of them will look at the shuttle’s early origins, when it was slated to be all things to all people: cheap, reliable, responsive. They will...

Italian companies—with Rome's backing—have equipped Iran's military and contributed to the regime's satellite and possibly nuclear programs. When it comes to appeasing the Islamic Republic, no other Western nation has stooped lower than Italy. Amid the international outrage over the Iranian regime's brutalization of its own people, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini warned Europe "must not burn every bridge because Iran is a key figure" in the region. While rejecting any military action to stop Tehran's nuclear weapons program, Mr. Frattini urged the West to "avoid those [sanctions] that are connected with Iranian national pride." What may sound like a...

A high-visibility test on a second-stage developmental rocket motor set a new record in the Arnold Engineering Development Center's J-6 large-rocket motor-testing facility Dec. 9. Joe Migliaccio, the Aerospace Testing Alliance engineer who conducted the test, said the team fired an Alliant Techsystems, Inc., or ATK, Castor 30 rocket motor for approximately two and a half minutes, which is longer than any previous rocket-motor test entry since the testing facility became operational in 1994. He explained that the motor's long burn time is essential to its primary mission. "The reason this rocket motor will burn more than some is its...

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Dulles, Va.-based Orbital Sciences Corp. a $75 million contract to develop the final design for a radically new space architecture in which traditional, large spacecraft are replaced by clusters of wirelessly connected orbiting modules. Dubbed System F6, short for Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying spacecraft, Orbital’s design was selected among four competing study contracts issued in 2008 and 2009, according to a Dec. 18 company news release. The new contract is valued at $74.6 million over a one-year period. Gregg Burgess, Orbital’s vice president for national security systems in the company’s Advanced...

For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa’s Christmas Eve flight. The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief's operations "hotline." The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition...

It sounds like something from a James Bond movie: a massive satellite, the largest ever launched, equipped with a powerful laser to take out the American anti-missile shield in advance of a Soviet first strike. It was real, though—or at least the plan was. In fact, when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev walked out of the October 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, because President Ronald Reagan wouldn't abandon his Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI, the Soviets were closer to fielding a space-based weapon than the United States was. Less than a year later, as the world continued to criticize Reagan for...

It sounds like something from a James Bond movie: a massive satellite, the largest ever launched, equipped with a powerful laser to take out the American anti-missile shield in advance of a Soviet first strike. It was real, though—or at least the plan was. In fact, when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev walked out of the October 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, because President Ronald Reagan wouldn't abandon his Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI, the Soviets were closer to fielding a space-based weapon than the United States was. Less than a year later, as the world continued to criticize Reagan for...

Japan has successfully launched another optical (picture taking) spy satellite. This one joins two other optical birds and one radar satellite. This most recent satellite launch cost $109 million. The satellite cost quite a bit more. In early 2007, Japan lost the use of one of its two radar satellites. The "No. 1 radar satellite", which went into orbit in March 2003, was supposed to last for five years. But the bird has been having electrical problems, and had to be written off. Nearly three years ago, Japan launched its fourth spy satellite into orbit, using a Japanese made rocket....

The U.S. military said on Tuesday it is now tracking 800 maneuverable satellites on a daily basis for possible collisions and expects to add 500 more non-maneuvering satellites by year's end. The U.S. Air Force began upgrading its ability to predict possible collisions in space after a dead Russian military communications satellite and a commercial U.S. satellite owned by Iridium collided on Feb. 10. General Kevin Chilton, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, called the collision the "seminal event" in the satellite industry during the past year and said it destroyed any sense that space was so vast that collisions were...

There've been satellites orbiting Earth for half a century. But getting information to and from them is still a pain. Which is why Pentagon research arm Darpa is looking to finally hook the orbiting spacecraft up with reliable broadband connections. It's part of a larger movement to extend terrestrial networks into space, and eventually build an "Interplanetary Internet." In the meantime, we might even get less-than-crappy satellite internet service - if the project works out, of course. Darpa recently issued a request for information about supplying "persistent broadband ground connectivity for spacecraft in low-Earth orbit." The idea would be to...

In January 2007, the Chinese military launched a missile 500 miles into space, shattering an orbiting satellite. The assault was only a test that took out one of China's own weather satellites. But it sparked an international outcry over the country's willingness to use weapons in space. A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council called the test "inconsistent" with efforts for international cooperation. Military experts have since become concerned that space could become the next battleground for global conflicts. Of particular concern is the lack of visibility with some missile strikes, such as China's in 2007. Some experts say...

South Korea may buy four spy satellites over the next decade to monitor North Korea, the defence ministry said Wednesday. "Our ministry has been considering it but no decision has been made yet on who will be involved and details have yet to be fixed," a spokesman told AFP. He was commenting on a media report that said the ministry would forge technological cooperation with countries including Germany to secure the satellites. South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo, quoting what it said was an internal ministry document, reported that the military plans to spend 600-700 billion won (514-600 million dollars) by...

Audio From Glenn Beck's Radio Program (Aired LIVE 10.22.09)- Did you know OnStar has the ability to shut off your engine, deflate your tires and listen to what you are saying inside your car?? It's true. They never used to use this technology, though it has been available- but now that the government is running GM, apparently they have decided to go ahead with it..Did we miss that press release? At the very least, it should concern you..with this kind of technology in the wrong hands.. Part 1-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDoDwEPKYMA Part 2-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhXEzJHWF1c

NASA has released this terrible image of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, as captured by Frank Culbertson—the commander of the International Space Station at the time. His words that day: Our prayers and thoughts go out to all the people there, and everywhere else. Click on the image to zoom in. You can see downtown Manhattan—south, where the towers were—, with the East River and Brooklyn on the top, and the Hudson and New Jersey on the bottom.In the anniversary of the attack, let's take a few minutes to reflect on the stupidity of all violence,...

Israel, Fighter Jets, Submarines, Satellites and Iran By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem, Israel ---- July 5, 2009 ...... As Israel receives explicit consent from Saudi Arabia to use their airspace to two defend both nations from a nuclear Iran, Israel maintains several other options to defend herself from an Iran nuclear threat. The Sunday Times of London reported today that Israel Mossad director Meir Dagan has held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility of using Saudi Arabia airspace for a air strike to take out Iran's nuclear weapon manufacturing facilities. "The Saudis have tacitly agreed...

India's space agency plans to double its revenues to $120 million a year by increasing satellite launches to claim a bigger chunk of the global space business, the head of its space agency said on Friday. Last April, India sent 10 satellites into orbit from a single rocket, signalling its intention to expand into that business. It also dispatched its first unmanned moon mission last October to join the Asian space race in the footsteps of rival China. ISRO has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 26 countries for launching satellites and joint research work, including Russia, France, Germany...

The BBC said Sunday that the satellites it uses to broadcast in Persian were being jammed from Iran, disrupting its reports on the hotly-disputed presidential election. The corporation said television and radio services had been affected from 1245 GMT Friday onwards by "heavy electronic jamming" which had become "progressively worse". Satellite technicians had traced the interference to Iran, it said. The satellites its uses in the Middle East to broadcast BBC Persian television to Iran were being affected, meaning that audiences in Iran, the Middle East and Europe would likely experience disruption. BBC Arabic television and other language services had...

On his trip to get a burger with Brian Williams at Five Guys this afternoon, the President appears to have learned of the existence of a Defense Department intelligence arm, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, from an agency employee also at the burger restaurant. "So explain to me exactly what this National Geospatial..." Obama said, after the worker mentioned his employer, according to a video of the event. "We work with, uh, satellite imagery," the worker, Walter replied. A POLITICO reader caught the exchange, which starts around 5:45 on this C-SPAN video. The transcript: Obama: What do you do Walter?...