Japan to use missile radar to monitor space debris

Posted on April 3, 2013 by John Hofilena in Tech & Science 

As more and more countries take to space, more and more debris – space trash, if you will – are left orbiting the planet. The Japanese Defense Ministry is now taking efforts to protect the country’s satellites, looking to use its advanced missile radar “FPS-5” to monitor any piece of debris that might collide with them, as even a small piece of metal traveling at high speeds could render the satellites useless.
The “FPS-5” is part of the Air Self-Defense Force’s infrastructure, a powerful ground-based early warning radar system currently deployed in four locations in Japan. It is commonly called the “Gamera radar”, as the structure looks very much like the shell of a giant turtle in a popular Japanese movie. The radar is technologically advanced and capable enough, as it is currently used to detect and monitor airborne objects even thousands of kilometers away. It was built with the idea of monitoring the launch of long-range ballistic missiles and aircraft activity around Japan.
This planned program is part of the Japan-US Defense Cooperation agreement, which specifically includes the monitoring of space debris. With this program, new software needs to be developed to work in tandem with the powerful hardware, and the Defense Ministry is already looking towards that direction, as it plans to start making a database of space debris starting fiscal 2014. This new software will be used to monitor pieces of space garbage and start predicting orbital paths to anticipate possible collisions with satellites. In truth, this move could possibly be used as a foundation for satellite defense in times of conflict in the future, where “killer satellites” that hunt down and cripple communications satellites of enemy countries could very well be in existence.

Posted in: World news