February 19, 2008

Satellite Shoot-out: Deploying Sea-based X-band radar

Will we ever really know the whole truth behind the government’s plans to shoot down that rogue satellite? The Pentagon’s explanation includes concern about a toxic gas cloud exploding over a populated area. Other analysts scoff at this, according to Noel Shachtman’s excellent blog at Danger Room, saying the likelihood that it would hurt anyone is very minimal. Many other items containing the dreaded hydrazine fuel have plummeted to earth in the past without trouble.


Maybe it’s more about secret military technology falling into the wrong hands. As this article in The Resister so aptly put it, “That might be no more than an attempt by the Pentagon to downplay the importance of the satellite’s payload, in an attempt to big up the official we-just-want-to-save-the-world-from-hydrazine line.”

Another explanation could be their wanting to show off their fancy Star Wars toys. The Russians are particularly incensed, as is China, “Many people are worried that a new race of military weapons has just begun.” Investigating this controversy led me down several fascinating rabbit holes, not the least of which is the Sea Based X-Band Radar (SBX-1; SBX-2 is in the works, too). SBX-1 underway


The world’s largest phased-array X-Band radar, SBX is part of the ballistic missile defense system. The first one was constructed in Texas on a Russian-built mobile, ocean-going semi-submersible oil platform. Here is the image gallery from Boeing. The $900 million radar “is so powerful that if it were off the east coast of the United States near Washington, D.C., it would be capable of detecting the motion and rotation of a baseball launched into outer space from the San Francisco area,” according the to the Missile Defense Agency.

It really does look like something built by a James Bond villain. After a slow trip around Cape Horn, it arrived in Pearl Harbor here in Hawaii in January 2006 to complete repairs. It attempted to make the move to its home base in in Alaska later that year but returned to Pearl Harbor in May to repair ballast problems; this is contradicted by a report from the military which insists that was part of its testing, sea trials and calibration. It finally arrived in its home port of Adak, Alaska in February of 2007. This location was supposedly chosen for its best view of space, though as Noah Shachtman wrote back in 2006, the high seas there are worrisome. HAARP is also located at this latitude, perhaps for similar reasons; however, I did find this article from 2003 that claimed six different locations had been considered, one of them being Hawaii. That same article claimed that an environmental impact study would have to be completed first, to rule out “potential adverse effects of electromagnetic radiation on health.” (Yeah, right; considering how the Hawaii Superferry, built largely for military purposes, managed to get around that, one wonders whether such a study would have been cast aside for the SBX as well.) Certainly electromagnetic radiation is a concern regardless of the home port; this entire next generation of military technology brings up numerous concerns. One cannot help but wonder about the effects on our fragile planet, not to mention our fragile and susceptible minds, which all operate within certain electromagnetic frequencies.


According to Shachtman, three ships are currently just north of Hawaii preparing for the operation. The SBX-1 has also been deployed; from 3000 miles away, its job is to track the object. FEMA has been alerted to dangers, and foreign governments have been briefed. They won’t attempt the operation until the shuttle Atlantis is safely back on the ground.

See also: http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/skeptical-about.html

Skeptical About the Rogue Spy Sat 'Shot'

The link for the polymeta.com search is below: surprising few links have shown up, imho.
http://www.polymeta.com/search/ui7/searchresult.jsp?sc=8&q=Hydrazine+satellite+
HAARP&un=anonymous

RDT&E BUDGET ITEM JUSTIFICATION SHEET (R-2A Exhibit) February 2000
BUDGET ACTIVITY PE NUMBER AND TITLE PROJECT
01 - Basic Research 0601102F Defense Research Sciences 612313
Project 612313 Page 37 of 42 Pages Exhibit R-2A (PE 0601102F)
37
UNCLASSIFIED
COST ($ in Thousands) FY 1999
Actual
FY 2000
Estimate
FY 2001
Estimate
FY 2002
Estimate
FY 2003
Estimate
FY 2004
Estimate
FY 2005
Estimate
Cost to
Complete
Total Cost
612313 Human Performance 11,790 13,057 13,211 12,708 12,307 11,929 10,934 Continuing TBD
(U) A. Mission Description
Human Performance research examines all aspects of human information processing critical to Air Force operations. The overall objective is to develop useful,
quantitative models of the way people: perceive, navigate, and manipulate their environment; make decisions in complex tasks under stress or uncertainty; and adapt to
extreme sensory, biophysical, or cognitive workloads. The sensory component emphasizes visual, auditory, vestibular, and kinesthetic systems and their optimal
integration. Focused investigations seek the scientific foundation for several developing Air Force technologies including the design of interactive displays, virtual
reality simulators, intelligent control systems, sensors and fused-image displays, and adaptive systems for personnel training and selection. The primary areas of
research investigated by this project are sensory and perceptual systems, cognition, and cognitive workload.
(U) FY 1999 ($ in Thousands)
(U) $3,145 Performed sensory and perceptual system analysis for human-machine interface and image exploitation by developing image representation
theory and investigating algorithms for visual attention to improve performance in command and control environments; also supported
model-based predictions of limits in speech communication.
(U) $4,528 Conducted cognitive workload analysis for crew training and performance enhancement by examining cognitive performance models, developing
a theory of cognitive workload, and extending the cognitive models to include characterization of on-line job aiding systems used in command
and control environments.
(U) $4,117 Studied synthetic task environments for baseline performance measurement, and conducted experiments leading to a more general theory of
utility for performance enhancement techniques. Extended experimental techniques for command and control team performance and developed
multi-ship modeling for uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAV) surveillance and targeting.
(U) $11,790 Total
(U) FY 2000 ($ in Thousands)
(U) $3,525 Perform sensory and perceptual system research to investigate sensory and perceptual systems to enhance human-machine interaction in Air
Force weapon systems. Expand theories of visual search and scene analysis and control of attention for optimal cockpit performance. Investigate
the perceptual and cognitive requirements for accurate simulation of virtual environments.
(U) $4,962 Conduct cognition research to measure and analyze cognitive dimensions of human performance in complex command and control tasks with
multiple crew-member interactions.

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