Space Ops

Air Force Space Command chief Gen. William Shelton at a House hearing this week outlined the activities of the Joint Functional Component Command for Space.

The Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) "is the avenue through which JFCC SPACE commands and controls space forces and it is the epicenter of the space situational awareness mission," Shelton said in his prepared testimony, adding: "The JSpOC is also the means by which JFCC SPACE coordinates space situational awareness with other agencies." Further:

To support national security space operations in an increasingly challenged environment, the JSpOC collects and processes data from a worldwide network of radar and optical sensors, as well as a dedicated space surveillance satellite. Each day the JSpOC creates and disseminates over 200,000 sensor taskings, which result in nearly 500,000 observations for processing. JSpOC operators use this data to maintain a very accurate catalog for more than 23,000 objects and to perform over 1,000 satellite collision avoidance screenings daily. These operations form the basis of the United States' space situational awareness capability, which is then shared with other operators in the national security, civil and commercial sector of space operations.

InsideDefense.com reported earlier today that Defense Department leadership is reviewing internal procedures related to entering into lease agreements with Chinese satellite service providers, following the recent discovery that the United States has been leasing satellite services from a Chinese company:

Doug Loverro, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, testified April 25 at a hearing of the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee that upon entering his current role about a month ago, he learned of DOD leases with a Chinese satellite service provider that were issued early last year through a joint urgent operational needs statement to support "warfighter needs."

"The warfighter needed [satellite communication] support in his area of operations. He went to the Defense Information Systems Agency to request that support," Loverro said.

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