National Geographic posted this video and article in their “Daily News” section. The video is pretty, but the choice in music is a little too serious. As propaganda should be (it does come courtesy of the United States Air Force publication, Airman).
The whole thing is just about the Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep-Space System (sheesh–enough with the hyphens already!!). Cleverly contracted to the acronym GEODSS, the system is located in an Air Force station on a mountain in Hawaii, where they’ve successfully managed to turn a nice, warm assignment into a chilly, oxygen-deprived one.
Did you know they use telescopes to “make sure satellites don’t collide in space?” I didn’t. I didn’t know telescopes had that ability. And force-field technology isn’t that highly developed. But I think they meant they can monitor the sky and look for new developments and objects in the space above GEODSS location. That would make more sense, right?
The technique they use to identify satellites and junk moving across the skies is interesting, if only because it seems rather primitive: take a series of pictures of certain areas in space, and compare what’s moving to what isn’t. I’m not sure just how good such a system really is, considering all the activity going on in orbit above us. FAS.org describes the technique and system a bit more accurately, if you’re interested. They even have a poster showing the communications flow, if you’re into that sort of thing.
But if you like inspiring pictures of the Milky Way, and motivational posters, the link might be worth exploring.
The Mad Spaceball 