Sustaining Space Systems for Strategic and Theater Operations: A Study Perspective

Our Desert Storm experience in the tactical utility of DoD space vehicles demonstrated that DoD's investment in space technology can provide a significant military advantage during times of crisis and war. The satellites what gave us such marvelous intelligence in locating, tracking, and enabling the successful attack of key targets resulted in a spectacular military success. However, without an on-orbit servicing capability, the fuel consumed to maneuver these satellites into position over the battlefield shortened their useful life by as much as two years. During the 1970's and 1980's, the Air Force aggressively pursued an or-orbit support capability to support and maintain it's space-based assets. However, in the early 1990's, budgetary and political priorities canceled the programs that would have made this a reality. Realizing that a future decision may be made to re-investigate on-orbit support, the United States Space Command (USSPACECOM) sponsored a study to document efforts undertaken by the Air Force during the 1970's and 1980's in developing strategies and actions to achieve certain tenets of on-orbit support. The study represents an attempt to gather, review, summarize, and archive the most important research performed during this period. It will serve as a historical perspective upon which to base future research and development activities. This paper presents an overview of that study.