Achieves a major milestone in the program that will take about a decade to complete.
However, it isn't just now that the U.S. is working to counter such threats. Telescopes like the SST have been part of the Pentagon's Space Surveillance Network , which tracks thousands of objects in space, including space debris and active satellites.Like every other defense program, the SSN is a work in progress too. To strengthen its coverage in the Southern Hemisphere, the Pentagon signed an agreement with Australia in 2013 to move the SST to the smallest continent.
As per the agreement, the SST, which was installed at the White Sands Missiles Range in New Mexico was to be relocated to Australia in 2017. Built by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , the SST can locate and track debris up to 22,000 miles above the Earth's surface.
Post the relocation, the SST is still owned by the U.S. but operated and maintained by Royal Australian Air Force. In March 2020, the SST took its first images from the new home at the Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt. After over two years of rigorous testing and evaluation, it has now been declared to have the initial operational capability. The press release added that full operational capacity is expected to be achieved by late 2023.
Although most of these spacecraft will be launched for rendering civilian services such as improved communications and connectivity, the large size of their constellations couldThe added congestion is expected to increase space debris and make it challenging to deconflict objects and avoid collisions.
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