ABSTRACT
Space surveillance operations involve detection, payload identification, cataloging, and tracking. Specific foreign space operations monitored by United States (U. S.) space surveillance assets include those that follow launch preparations: launch, deployment into orbit, mission, orbital parameters, deployment of subsatellites, breakup of satellites, and reentry of satellites or debris into Earth's atmosphere. During the Cold War, the driving force behind US space surveillance activities was the Soviet Union. In response to the threat from Soviet imagery satellites, the U. S. initiated the Satellite Reconnaissance Advanced Notice program, known by the nickname STRAY CAT, in 1966. The focal point of the U. S. space surveillance effort is the Strategic Command's Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Collateral sensors are designed for missions such as missile warning or intelligence but are also employed for space surveillance. Contributing sensors are those under contract or agreement to provide space surveillance data when requested by U. S. Air Force Space Command headquarters.
