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Source: DefenceNews
Much fanfare accompanied the Sept. 25, 2010, launch of the Air
Force’s Space Based Space Surveillance satellite. The $833 million craft
was finally going up to do its job: monitor orbiting items from space
itself, free of the time constraints and atmospheric interference that
hamper its earthbound counterpart, the Space Fence. Its 30-centimeter
telescope, mounted on a two-axis gimbal, would help keep tabs on
satellites as far away as geosynchronous orbit as well as thousands of
bits of space junk closer in. The builders said SBSS would be on the job
within 60 days, and forecast a working life of at least 5½ years.
Shortly
after launch, the satellite passed over the South Atlantic, and things
went awry. The satellite was hit by radiation that sent the sensors
reeling and knocked out an electronics board payload. Suddenly, the
expensive, specially-designed satellite could no longer do what it was
built for.
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