AU-18 Space Primer - The Air University - U.S. Air Force

354 Pages·2009·5.12 MB·English

AU-18
Space Primer
Prepared by
Air CommAnd And StAff College
SpACe reSeArCh eleCtiveS SeminArS
Air University Press
Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama
September 2009
ISBN 978-1-58566-194-7
Disclaimer
Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the
authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Air University, the United States Air Force, the
Department of Defense, or any other US government agency. Cleared for public release: distribution
unlimited.
Air University Press
131 West Shumacher Avenue
Maxwell AFB AL 36112-5962
http://aupress.au.af.mil
ii
Contents
Chapter Page
DISCLAIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
FOREWORD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
1 SPACE HISTORY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Early Developments in Rocketry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Rocket Development after World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Satellite Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Manned Space Exploration by the United States
and USSR since 1960 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Current Space Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going . . . . . . . . . . 23
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2 SPACE POWER THEORY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Air and Sea Precedents in Developing Space Law . . . . . . . . . 29
Limitations of Air and Sea Power Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Characteristics and Definition of Space Power . . . . . . . . . . 32
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3 CURRENT SPACE LAW AND POLICY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
International Space Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Domestic Space Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
National Space Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Department of Defense Space Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4 SPACE DOCTRINE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Joint Doctrine for Space Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Air Force Doctrine for Space Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Army Doctrine for Space Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Differences in Service Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
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CONTENTS
Chapter Page
5 US MILITARY SPACE PLANNING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
The Operation Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Joint Operation Planning and Execution System . . . . . . . . . 80
Integrating Space into Operation Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Annex N: Space Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Developing a Theater Annex N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Excerpt of a Sample Annex N. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
6 ORBITAL MECHANICS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Orbit Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
A History of the Laws of Motions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Orbital Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
7 SPACE ENVIRONMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
An Introduction to the Space Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
The Space Environment and System Impacts. . . . . . . . . . . 119
Space Environmental Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
8 JOINT SPACE MISSION AREAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Space Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Space Force Enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Space Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Space Force Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
9 US GOVERNMENT SPACE ORGANIZATIONS AND MISSIONS . . . . 143
National Reconnaissance Office. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
National Aeronautics and Space Administration . . . . . . . . . 144
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . . . . . . . . 145
National Security Space Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
10 US MILITARY SPACE ORGANIZATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Air Force Space Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Naval Network Warfare Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
US Army Space and Missile Defense Command/
Army Strategic Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
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CONTENTS
Chapter Page
11 COMMAND AND CONTROL OF SPACE FORCES. . . . . . . . . . . 153
Global and Theater Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) Joint Functional
Component Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Command and Control of Global Space Forces . . . . . . . . . . 155
Command and Control of Theater Space Forces. . . . . . . . . . 155
Combined Force Air Component Commander’s (CFACC)
Authority and Role in Theater Space Operations. . . . . . . . 158
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
12 SPACE EVENT PROCESSING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Space Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Responding to Space Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
13 US SPACE-BASED INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE,
AND RECONNAISSANCE (ISR). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
ISR and Space Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Imagery Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Signals Intelligence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Measurement and Signature Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
14 SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Satellite Communications Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Current Military Satellite Communications Enterprise . . . . . . 186
Commercial SATCOM Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Future Military SATCOM Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
15 WEATHER/ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Why Do We Need Weather/Environmental Satellites?. . . . . . . 201
Defense Meteorological Satellite Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
NOAA Polar Operational Environmental Satellites. . . . . . . . . 209
NASA Earth Observing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Civil/Foreign Geostationary Weather Satellites . . . . . . . . . . 211
National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System . . . . . 212
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
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CONTENTS
Chapter Page
16 NAVSTAR GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
GPS Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Limitations and Vulnerabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Modernization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
17 MISSILE WARNING SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Space-Based Warning Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Theater Missile Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Ground-Based Warning Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
18 INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILES (ICBM) . . . . . . . . . 235
Origins of ICBMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
ICBM Characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Reentry Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Nuclear Weapons Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
ICBM Development in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
US Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
19 SPACE SURVEILLANCE NETWORK (SSN) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
SSN Radar Sensor Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Optical Sensor Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Space Object Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Space Surveillance Network Sensor Missions . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Space Surveillance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
20 SPACE-LIFT SYSTEMS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Unmanned Boosters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Manned Boosters—The Space Transportation System . . . . . . 266
Future Space Lift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
21 SPACE SYSTEM THREATS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Ground Segment Threats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Communications (Link) Segment Threats. . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Space Segment Threats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Nuclear Threat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
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CONTENTS
Chapter Page
22 SPACECRAFT DESIGN, STRUCTURE, AND OPERATIONS . . . . . . 283
Structures Subsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Thermal Control Subsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Electrical Power Subsystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Attitude Control Subsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

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Foreword
The US National Space Policy released by the president in 2006 states that the US
government should “develop space professionals.” As an integral part of that endeavor,
AU-18, Space Primer, provides to the joint war fighter an unclassified resource for
understanding the capabilities, organizations, and operations of space forces.
Historically, the United States has been a world leader in space exploration and use.
In 2001, the Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management
and Organization unanimously concluded “that the security and well being of the United
States, its allies, and friends depend on the nation’s ability to operate in space.”1 Recent
conflicts and world events continuously demonstrate the importance of space assets
and capabilities to our security functions. Our navigation satellites provide instant pin-
point positional and targeting information to aircraft, ground forces, ships, and com-
mand centers. These same satellites provide a precise timing source around the world
that is critical to maintaining infrastructures, including financial institutions, power
grids, cell phones, and even our cable and satellite TV. Communications satellites pro-
vide global connectivity between all levels of our national security infrastructure.
Weather satellites report meteorological data, better than ever before, in near real time
directly to forces in theater. Early warning satellites detect and report missile launches
and serve as both strategic and tactical theater warning. These same early warning
satellites serve to cue the integrated missile defense system. Finally, the US government
conducts satellite photo reconnaissance that includes near-real-time capability, over-
head signals intelligence collection, and overhead measurement and signature intelli-
gence collection, which contribute directly to the success of our war fighters.
This primer is a useful tool both for individuals who are not “space aware”—unac-
quainted with space capabilities, organizations, and operations—and for those who are
“space aware,” especially individuals associated with the space community, but not fa-
miliar with space capabilities, organizations, and operations outside their particular
areas of expertise. It is your guide and your invitation to all the excitement and oppor-
tunity of space.
Last published in 1993, this updated version of the Space Primer has been made pos-
sible by combined efforts of the Air Command and Staff College’s academic year 2008
“Jointspacemindedness” and “Operational Space” research seminars, as well as select
members of the academic year 2009 “Advanced Space” research seminar.

ALLEN G. PECK
Lieutenant General, USAF
Commander, Air University
ix
FOREWORD
Note
1. Commission to Assess US National Security Space Management and Organization, Report of the Com-
mission, 11 January 2001.
x