Air Force wants quicker reaction, situational awareness in space

U.S. Army Capt. Otis Ingram explains predictions of space interference to a fellow Army officer March 10, 2015, in the Republic of Korea Air and Space Operation Center during exercise Key Resolve at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea. Ingram is a space coordination officer from the 3rd Battlefield Coordination Detachment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Shawn Nickel/Released)

The Air Force is looking for technology that will allow quicker and smarter identification of critical events in space.

“To this point, [space situational awareness]SSA has focused on two specific threads, namely the characterization of space objects and the identification of specific events of interest,” Air Force research solicitation noted.[http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/solicitations/sbir20161/af161.html]. “Unfortunately, for many space-based activities, the identification of specific, discernibly threatening events may occur too late to allow for appropriate responses to be initiated.”

So the Air Force wants a technology that can fuse multisource data to detect warnings of events that threaten U.S. space assets, including singular events. The system should be capable of detecting events in complex, evolving threat situations.