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The device is designed to track and identify debris and satellites more than 22,000 miles above Earth according to space news. It is expected to be operational by 2022. It was developed by the Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with funding from the Advanced Defense Research Agency and tested between 2011 and 2017 before being released to the United States Air Force.
Washington and Canberra signed an agreement to base the telescope in Australia.
This was to fill gaps in ex space coverage from the southern hemisphere.
It is not the first military base that EE. USA Will have in Australia.
Currently, there is Pine Gap, a joint operating surveillance base 11 miles southwest of Alice Springs.
Additionally, a site in Darwin is used by the Marine Air-Gound Task Force.
A dome for the new telescope was built at the Harold E. Holt Naval Communication Center.
This is about four miles north of the city of Exmouth.
A 2MW central power station powers the facility.
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“Unrestricted access to space is vital for national defense.
“Space systems are woven into the fabric of our way of life.
“Space affects almost all parts of our daily life and is fundamental to our economic system.
“For example, satellites not only power the GPS technology we use on a daily basis, but allow us to surf the web and call our friends, allow first responders to communicate with each other in times of crisis, date and time transactions in the global financial market and they even allow us to use credit cards at gas stations. “
The website also notes that reviews of all USAF facilities are underway before a public confirmation is made of the basis for the new force.
About the force members, the USSF says: “The organization, the Air Force Space Command, was redesignated as the United States Space Force.
“Staff that belonged to AFSPC are now assigned to the USSF, but are currently still Airmen in the US Air Force. USA
“Airmen on certain space-related jobs will be deliberately transferred to the USSF (by becoming members of the USSF) for the next 18 months, while other airmen will remain assigned to the USSF in a supporting role.”
The United States is the only country in the world with an independent space force, although the Russian Space Force also previously existed as an independent independent branch.
