Technology October 27, 2009, 9:26PM EST

Satellites: The Pentagon's Big Blind Spot

Military officials increasingly worry that U.S. satellites are vulnerable to airborne assault, or even mere accident, in the Southern Hemisphere

Story Tools

In January 2007, the Chinese military launched a missile 500 miles into space, shattering an orbiting satellite. The assault was only a test that took out one of China's own weather satellites. But it sparked an international outcry over the country's willingness to use weapons in space. A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council called the test "inconsistent" with efforts for international cooperation.

Military experts have since become concerned that space could become the next battleground for global conflicts. Of particular concern is the lack of visibility with some missile strikes, such as China's in 2007. Some experts say that if an enemy were to launch a similar attack against an American satellite over the Southern Hemisphere, the U.S. military might not know about it. The southern half of the world is something of a blind spot for military space tracking systems, say both senior defense officials involved in space policy and private satellite operators.

"If a collision happens down there, you don't see it," says Paul Graziani, president of Analytical Graphics, which makes systems used by the military to operate and guide satellites. "It takes 45 minutes for the satellite to come back into the Northern Hemisphere. We would be expecting to see a satellite coming around whole but instead just see a bunch of pieces."

The U.S. military uses land-based radar to track its satellites, but it has no such radar installations in the Southern Hemisphere. The gap is a legacy of the Cold War, when the U.S. was focused on missile threats from the Soviet Union, and there were no nuclear-armed adversaries in the Southern Hemisphere.

Flying Blind Below the Equator?

The Defense Dept. agrees that it lacks what it calls "space situational awareness" in the skies. Pentagon officials say they are in negotiations with Australia to install radars on that continent, filling in at least part of the Southern Hemispheric blind swath. They are also looking at upgrading the power of existing radar and using space-based telescopes to track satellites.

"Adequate situational awareness is necessary to act appropriately in any military scenario," says Commander Bob Mehal, spokesman for the Defense Dept. "Our current capabilities do not allow for continuous observation of all space objects at all times."

The military wants to improve space situational awareness, but needs more funding to upgrade the tracking systems.

The Pentagon's inability to get a complete picture is the subject of a current review panel of military space operations, according to the 2009 National Defense Authorization bill, which called for the panel. Experts say such a review is long overdue. "It's about time that the military take seriously the need for space situational awareness," says Ray Williamson, executive director of the Secure World Foundation, a space policy think tank. "The question they are asking: 'Are we prepared for the possibility of an adversarial attack [on our satellites]?' I think the answer is no."