National Space Defense Center begins 24-hour operations

By

The Associated Press

Vice President Mike Pence sends a payload command to a Global Positioning System satellite at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., June 23, 2017. Pence was on base for a space orientation in support of the administration’s relaunch of the National Space Council. (Christopher DeWitt/Air Force)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The National Space Defense Center at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado is now in full operation.

The center, which last year was operating with borrowed troops, has begun operating 24 hours a day with a staff of 230.

The Gazette reports that its mission is to ferret out threats to military and spy satellites and take actions to keep American interests safe in orbit.

The ultra-secret center operates behind a prison-like double-fence inside Schriever’s secure area.

While specifics of the unit haven’t been released, center director Col. Todd Brost says it includes contractors, representatives of American spy agencies along with troops from Air Force Space Command.

The center was created out of increasing fear that America’s enemies would make satellites a wartime target.