US Army Sends Patrol Troops into Space

ANTRIXA — The powerful Atlas V United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket launched two patrol satellites belonging to the United States Space Force (USSF) on Friday, January 21, 2022. Atlas V lifts off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Station at 2 p.m. KST. local. It carries two twin Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites into orbit.

To be known, United States Space Force is the US Armed Forces specifically for the space service. It is the first independent space army and currently the only one in the world.

If all goes to plan, the rocket will propel the two satellites out about six hours and 45 minutes after launch. The GSSAP aircraft will then reach their final destination, a geosynchronous orbit about 22,300 miles (36 thousand kilometers) above the equator.

This satellite is the fifth and sixth GSSAP spacecraft to fly. ULA previously launched four satellites on two different flights, one in 2014 and the other in 2016. Both previous missions used Delta IV Medium rockets, which were retired in 2019.

GSSAP satellite will help US Space Force monitor traffic in geosynchronous orbit, where the orbital speed of the satellite corresponds to the rotational speed of the Earth. It is a valuable place for weather, communications, and surveillance satellites. They hover over the same plane of the planet continuously, at the same longitude.

“The GSSAP satellite provides environmental patrol services in Geosynchronous Earth (GEO) orbit, enhancing spaceflight safety for all countries operating in that orbit,” the ULA representative wrote in the mission description. Space.com, Saturday, January 22, 2022.

ULA also said knowing the position of the satellite at a certain distance would improve the ability to warn spacecraft owners/operators if another object got too close and created a dangerous situation. “Data from GSSAP will contribute to precise and accurate prediction of orbital time, increase knowledge of the GEO environment and further enable spaceflight safety, including the avoidance of satellite collisions.”

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