Big leap forward in detecting ground targets from the cosmos(Forwarded)

Public Affairs
Air Force Research Laboratory
Kirtland AFB, New Mexico

Contact: Michael P. Kleiman
Phone: 505-846-4704

February 22, 2006

VS Release No. 06-08

Big leap forward in detecting ground targets from the cosmos

In the next decade, Innovative Space-based radar Antenna Technology will
provide enhanced intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance
capabilities to the warfighter

When launched in 2010, a football field in length (100 yards)
demonstrator, weighing over five tons, will serve as the forerunner for
the future of America's intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance
(ISR) assets in the heavens.

Administered by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles
Directorate, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., the Innovative Space-based
radar Antenna Technology (ISAT) program focuses on developing systems to
deploy extremely large (up to 300 yards) electronically scanning radar
antennas flying 5,700 miles above the Earth's surface and providing
improved ground target detection to the warfighter.

"These huge antennas will enable the revolutionary performance required to
conduct tactical sensing from space, including missions like continuous
and reliable tracking of surface targets," said Dr. Steven A. Lane, ISAT
program manager. "Since it uses radar, it is not limited by cloud coverage
and can operate at night, unlike optical systems."

Originated in 2002, and sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) Arlington, Va., the ISAT program also involves
participation by the AFRL's Sensors Directorate, WrightPatterson AFB,
Ohio, and Information Directorate, Rome Laboratory, N.Y., as well as the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Langley Research Center,
Langley Va., and Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. In addition,
two contractor teams, The Boeing Co. and Raytheon Co., as well as Lockheed
Martin Corp. and Harris Corp., are competing to build the 100-yard sized
flight experiment. Following the spacecraft's critical design review
process in June 2006, DARPA, with recommendations from the Space Vehicles
Directorate, will select one of the contractor pairings to advance the
project.

Operated out of the Space and Missile Systems Center's Detachment 12,
located at Kirtland AFB, the DoD Space Test Program will furnish the
evolved expendable launch vehicle flight opportunity, referred to as
STP-2, to propel the large, foldable ISAT flight demonstrator into low
Earth orbit, approximately 620 miles above the planet. Det. 12 will also
operate the spacecraft from the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation
(RDT&E) Support Complex at Kirtland AFB. Before the planned lift off
occurs at Cape Canaveral, Fla., in four years, the ISAT spacecraft,
however, will be developed, integrated, and tested at the contractor
facility with oversight provided by the Space Vehicles Directorate.

Technologies to be developed and demonstrated on the ISAT flight
experiment include advanced antenna architectures and structures_
lightweight radiation-hardened materials and electronics_ reliable
deployment technologies and mechanisms_ compressible components and
materials_ as well as advanced metrology and calibration concepts for
large radar antennas. The multi-million dollar project's primary goal,
however, is assisting the warfighter through development of tactical
grade, ground-moving target indication (GMTI) capability. This ISR tool
will enable the tracking and identifying of targets with precise
resolution and scanning in multiple areas of interest.

"The primary reason that the Space Vehicles Directorate was selected to
carry out this flight experiment for DARPA is our rich history and
expertise in each of these technology areas. We can apply years of
research and engineering conducted for other programs toward the
successful completion of ISAT," said the ISAT program manager.

The 20 plus member government ISAT management team is currently working on
ensuring the demonstrator's successful mission in 2010. To achieve this
objective, the group has concentrated on four specific project areas:
structures, radar, metrology and calibration, as well as systems
engineering, integration, and testing. Because of the antenna's large
size, which prevents ground testing of the integrated system prior to
launch, there is an unprecedented emphasis on modeling, simulation, and
ground-based risk-reduction demonstrations. These will play a crucial role
in the flight experiment's outcome.

"During its projected one year mission, the ISAT flight experiment will
test enabling technologies and gather information critical for the
eventual development of an operational system," said Dr. Lane. "One of the
key benefits of this experiment is that we will improve our modeling and
simulation paradigm for large deployables, which will benefit many future
missions beyond ISAT."