Wired article

One has to wonder if they will apply this rule upwards...


INADVERTENT TRACKING OF "SIGHT SENSITIVE" OBJECTS

Air Force personnel are warned in a recent instruction not to
track low observable (LO) or "sight sensitive" aircraft during
test flights at Edwards Air Force Base.

"Low observable" is another term for stealth, and "sight
sensitive" refers to objects that yield sensitive information
simply by visual inspection.

"It is strictly forbidden to train tracking sensors (e.g. radar,
infrared, electro-optical, personal cameras, sound recording
devices, etc.) on any LO or sight-sensitive assets," the Air
Force instruction states.

"The single exception to this rule is to promote safety of
flight." Even then, "Recording of data will immediately
terminate upon the termination of the flight safety incident."

See "Security Procedures for Inadvertent Tracking and Sensor
Acquisition of Low Observable and Sight Sensitive Programs,"
Edwards Air Force Base Instruction 31-17, 14 November 2005
(thanks to RT):

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usaf/eafbi31-17.pdf

Sounds like they are flying something interesting at Edwards....

tty

Tracking satellites in real time:

http://www.n2yo.com/

Ain't the Web somethin'?

That's just BEYOND cool...thanks, ljk4-1!!!

You are welcome. It is especially fun to watch Suitsat float over Earth.

I wonder how much longer it really has up there?

The current issue of the U.S. Air Force's Air & Space Power Journal contains
a number of articles discussing the military use of space.

It is available online here:

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchro...um06/sum06.html

And in PDF format as well:

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchro...sum06/sum06.pdf

Note the artwork for the article "The Myth of the Tactical Satellite". It's a
Cassini probe in Earth orbit with big solar sails but no Huygens probe!
PDF version only.

It is...It is...But why can't I find POSAT1, our tiny and only sattelite, up there?!

AIR FORCE SPACE COMMAND ON SATELLITE OPERATIONS

The organization and management of U.S. Air Force space activities
from pre-launch to post-operational disposal are described in a new
AF Space Command Instruction on "satellite operations."

"The objective of satellite disposal is to reduce the potential for
spacecraft collisions and frequency interference, to mitigate the
creation of additional space debris and to open orbital slots to
newer SVs [satellite vehicles]."

"Therefore, de-orbiting or removing a non-mission capable satellite
from its operational orbit and placing it into an established
disposal region is of paramount importance."

See "Satellite Operations," U.S. Air Force Space Command Instruction
10-1204, 1 June 2006:

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usaf/afspci10-1204.pdf