U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) expanded the space situational awareness (SSA) program to academic institutions by signing the first such agreement with California Polytechnic (Cal Poly) State University, August 28, 2019, USSTRATCOM announced September 12.
Rear Adm. Richard Correll, director of plans and policy for USSTRATCOM,
and Jeff Armstrong, president of Cal Poly, signed the agreement joining over
100 commercial and foreign nations working together to expand situational
awareness within the space domain.
“Academic partnerships such as these provide a foundation for research
in space,” said Correll. “Improving SSA, through technical advancements and
increased sharing, grows our collective ability to avoid collisions by rapidly
detecting, warning, characterizing and attributing natural or man-made
phenomena affecting space systems and the space environment.”
Cal Poly already works closely with Vandenberg Air Force Base,
California, providing data to support space flight safety for their
mini-satellites, known as CubeSats.
“Cal Poly is honored to be the first academic institution to enter into
an official partnership with U.S. Strategic Command,” said Armstrong. “This
first-of-its-kind partnership will allow current and future Cal Poly students
to gain hands-on experience working with our four CubeSats currently on orbit
and how they affect, and are affected by, other satellites on orbit. These
invaluable experiences will prepare our graduates for successful careers in the
space and technology industries.”
Cal Poly joins 20 nations — Australia, Japan, Italy, Canada, France,
South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, Spain, the United Arab
Emirates, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Brazil, the Netherlands, Thailand, New
Zealand, Poland and Romania; two intergovernmental organizations — the European
Space Agency and the European Organization for the Exploitation of
Meteorological Satellites; and more than 80 commercial satellite
owner/operator/launchers already participating in SSA data-sharing agreements
with USSTRATCOM.
“Universities play a vital role in the exploration and understanding of
space,” Correll said. “The future of space is reliant on research and the
advancement of technology to enhance overall space-flight safety and the
long-term sustainability, stability, safety, and security of the space
environment.”
SSA data-sharing agreements enhance multinational space cooperation and streamline the process for United States’ partners to request specific information gathered by Air Force Space Command’s 18th Space Control Squadron at Vandenberg AFB. The information is crucial for launch support, satellite maneuver planning, support for on-orbit anomalies, electromagnetic interference reporting and investigation, satellite decommissioning activities and on-orbit conjunction assessments. With the establishment of the 11th combatant command, future SSA agreements will be signed and facilitated by U.S. Space Command.
Source: USSTRATCOM
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