Project Space Track


Project Space Track was a research and development project of the US Air Force, to create a tracking system for all artificial satellites of the Earth and space probes, domestic and foreign.
Project Space Track was started in 1957 at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Laurence G. Hanscom Field, now Hanscom Air Force Base, in Bedford, Massachusetts shortly after the launch of Sputnik I. Observations were obtained from some 150 sensors worldwide by 1960 and regular orbital predictions were issued to the sensors and interested parties.
Space Track was the only organization that used observations from all types of sources: radar, optical, radio, and visual. All unclassified observations were shared with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. In 1961, the system was declared operational and assigned to the new 1st Aerospace Surveillance and Control Squadron until 1976, as part of NORAD's Space Detection and Tracking System.

Establishment

On 29 November 1957, shortly after the launch of Sputnik I on 4 October, two German expatriates, Dr. G. R. Miczaika and Dr. Eberhart W. Wahl formed Project Space Track. It was established in Building 1535 of the Geophysics Research Directorate, Air Force Cambridge Research Center, Laurence G. Hanscom Field, Massachusetts. Both scientists had backgrounds in astronomy, although Dr. Wahl's PhD was in meteorology.
The mission of Space Track was to create a tracking system to track and compute orbits for all artificial satellites of the Earth, including both US and Soviet payloads, booster rockets, and debris. With the Soviet launch of Luna 1 on 2 January 1959, Space Track also started tracking space probes. The first major tracking effort was Sputnik II, which was launched on 3 November 1957 and contained the dog Laika.
An Electronic Support System Program Office, 496L, had been established in February 1959, with the program office at Waltham, Massachusetts under the direction of Col Victor A. Cherbak, Jr. By late 1959, the SPO had received additional responsibilities under the DoD Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop techniques and equipment for military surveillance of satellites . Continuing development of Space Track was an integral part of this effort.
Since December 1958, Space Track had been the interim National Space Surveillance Control Center. In December 1959, Space Track was moved to a new building, the National Space Surveillance Control Center, which was formally dedicated on 9 February 1960. The NSSCC was part of the Air Force Command and Control Development Division, Air Research and Development Command. Dr. Harold O. Curtis of Lincoln Laboratory was the Director of the NSSCC. The name Space Track continued in use.
By 1960, there were about 70 people in the NSSCC involved in operations.
Space Track continued tracking satellites and space probes until 1961. In late 1960, USAF Vice Chief of Staff General Curtis E. LeMay decided that the research and development system was ready to become operational.
Eleven officers and one Senior Master Sergeant were selected to be the initial cadre of what became the 1st Aerospace Surveillance and Control Squadron. The initial cadre came to Space Track for training that started 7 November 1960.
On 1 July 1961, the new squadron became operational under the USAF Air Defense Command at Ent AFB, Colorado Springs, part of NORAD's Space Detection and Tracking System. The first Squadron Commander was Colonel Robert Miller. The Space Track organization at Hanscom Field assumed a backup role for squadron operations.
In cavalier disregard of the Air Force Regulation on the subject, which specified clearly that unclassified nicknames, such as Space Track, should be two words, ADC immediately decided to rename Space Track as SPACETRACK and the name has stuck since – although the web site of the 614th Air & Space Operations Center, which currently performs the mission, has returned to two words. The 614th is part of the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB, California.

Sensors

The Department of Defense had decided that the US Air Force should develop a command and control system for tracking satellites and that the US Army and US Navy should develop sensors for the purpose. US Navy development was at Dahlgren, Virginia and the US Army's program was at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
Drs. Miczaika and Wahl had assembled a list of facilities that could track satellites, either by monitoring telemetry or by using radar. The latter were mostly astronomical radio telescopes equipped with radars used in studying the moon. Two USAF radars, one on Shemya Island in the Aleutians and the other at Diyarbakır, Turkey, had been built to observe Soviet missile launches and became valuable for satellite tracking as well. BMEWS prototype radars on Trinidad also participated. Normally, the first radar reports of a new satellite launch from Tyuratam came from Shemya and the first of a new launch from Kapustin Yar came from Diyarbakır. A USAF radar at the Laredo Test Site in Texas and one at Moorestown, New Jersey also participated later. Observations were received from the Royal Canadian Air Force research radar at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. The Goldstone facility of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was exceptionally helpful with radio observations of Soviet space probes.
In general, observations were in the form of time, azimuth and elevation as measured at the site or, in some cases, such as at Goldstone, in astronomical form Some early observations were very primitive, such as a report that a satellite passed near a star that could be identified.
On rare occasions, the observations were purely verbal. For example, individuals on ships, planes, and islands in the Caribbean reported sightings of the decay of satellite 1957 β, although one aircraft was able to provide a detailed observation because the navigator happened to be completing a celestial fix at the exact time
Some sites could record the Doppler shift of satellite transmission or, in a few cases, the Doppler shift from their own transmissions reflected from the orbiting object. One doppler site was the Space Track Doppler Field Site at Billerica, Massachusetts. The observations obtained by this technique were the time of closest approach to the station.
The Navy program was operated as and is now a Space Fence operated by the US Air Force. The Army program, although achieving accurate tracking results with doppler techniques and furnishing observations to Space Track, did not achieve funding for deployment.
One of SPASUR's contributions to satellite tracking was the invention of a map of the Earth that showed both poles, so that the position of all satellites, including those in polar orbits, could be shown. This was not possible with Mercator or other projections, which do not show the entire Earth. The map was, of course, very distorted at the poles but the concept proved very useful.
Optical sensors included the twelve Baker-Nunn satellite tracking cameras operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, three Baker-Nunn cameras operated by the USAF, and the Boston University camera at Patrick Air Force Base operated by Walter Manning.
SAO cameras were at Woomera, Australia; Jupiter, Florida; Organ Pass, New Mexico; Olifantsfontein, Union of South Africa; Cadiz, Spain; Mitaka, Japan; Nani Tal, India; Arequipa, Peru; Shiraz, Iran; Curaҫao, Netherlands West Indies; Villa Dolores, Argentina; and Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii. USAF cameras were at Oslo, Norway; Edwards AFB, California, and Santiago, Chile. Two additional cameras were later added to the USAF inventory – one of the USAF cameras was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force at Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada in 1961.
Volunteer amateur astronomers as part of the SAO Moonwatch Team also contributed observations. Among these many volunteers was Arthur S. Leonard of Davis, California, leader of the Sacramento, California team.
By 1960, Space Track had about 150 cooperating sensors. Space Track was the only US organization that used all methods of observation to track satellites.
The observations were recorded on IBM punched cards for computer processing. All unclassified observations were exchanged daily with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Space track maintained close contact with the US National Security Agency, the CIA Foreign Missile and Space Analysis Center, and Headquarters USAF Intelligence, Major Harry Holeman.
It was helpful that the USSR press service, TASS, always announced new Soviet satellite or space probe launches promptly, so Space Track was free to discuss the new objects without worrying about compromising sources. Translations of the Russian announcements were provided by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service.

Orbital computations

Dr. Wahl had been computing all the satellite ephemerides by hand using a Friden Square Root Calculator, the most advanced mechanical calculator then available.
The method for computing ephemerides was originally developed by Dr. Wahl, based on historic astronomical methods.
In late August 1958, Space Track obtained its first computer, an IBM 610, used in conjunction with the Cambridge Research Center IBM 650. The IBM 610 was a very primitive machine, the programing of which was done with a plug board and a punched paper tape.
The new NSSCC building was equipped with an IBM 709 and, a few months later, with an IBM 7090. Major programming of the new computers was done by the Aeronutronic Division of the Ford Motor Company, Newport Beach CA. The Wolf Corporation also supported the NSSCC.
The ephemeris computations were issued in what was called a bulletin. The bulletin listed each equatorial crossing of the satellite and described the path between crossings. Space track also furnished "look angles", altitude and azimuth directions so that specific sensors could point in the correct direction to acquire the satellite. Special versions of the look angles were tailored for specific sites, such as the Army and Navy sensor development projects. At the NSSCC, these computations were transmitted by the Duty Controller.
Space Track also issued public catalogues listing all the satellites, including ones no longer in orbit, called Satellite Situation Reports, which gave basic orbital elements for each piece. At first, this took less than a page of type. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory also issued a similar document but, in 1961, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center assumed responsibility for both reports, combining them into one document.
In October 1960, George Westrum presented a short college-level course in Celestial Mechanics for those NSSCC personnel who wished to participate