NASA Space Fence Graphical Interface Representation[/caption]Michael Cooney of NetworkWorld reports on a $3.5 billion Space Fence to be installed by NASA, which is expected to be operational by 2017.
Construction is expected to begin September 2013 and is planned to take 48 months to complete construction and testing, the Air Force said.
The Space Fence is part of the Department of Defense's effort to better track and detect space objects which can consist of thousands of pieces of space debris as well as commercial and military satellite parts. Approximately 19,000 objects larger than 10 cm are known to exist, according to NASA. The Space Fence will replace the current VHF Air Force Space Surveillance System built in 1961.
Lockheed Martin reported earlier this year that a prototype system it is developing to track all manner of space debris is now tracking actual orbiting space objects. Raytheon and others are involved in that Space Fence development process.
And we thought we built some fancy fences.
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