Pentagon Wants Disposable War Satellites

Hugh Pickens writes "BBC reports that the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has invited manufacturers to propose squads of disposable mini-satellites costing about $500,000 each, capable of providing reconnaissance to soldiers at the press of a button. 'We envision a constellation of small satellites, at a fraction of the cost of airborne systems, that would allow deployed warfighters to hit "see me" on existing handheld devices and in less than 90 minutes receive a satellite image of their precise location to aid in mission planning,' says the agency. The U.S. Army already has access to drone aircraft to provide intelligence from the skies, and last year they announced that new helicopter-style machines equipped with 1.8 gigapixel cameras will soon go into service in Afghanistan. However, DARPA says such unmanned aircraft cannot cover extended territory without frequent refuelling. The SeeMe constellation will consist of some two-dozen satellites, each lasting 60-90 days in a very low-earth orbit before de-orbiting and completely burning up, leaving no space debris and causing no re-entry hazard. 'With a SeeMe constellation, we hope to directly support warfighters in multiple deployed overseas locations simultaneously with no logistics or maintenance costs beyond the warfighters' handhelds,' says program manager Dave Barnhart."

Comments

Re:Expensive

[shortscruffydave]

If you look at how much it costs to drop a Tomahawk missile onto a target then this could start to look more cost effective. If good satellite imagery/intel can point you more accurately onto where the bad guys are, then maybe you only need one missile instead of two or three if you're not so sure where your target is. Still not small beer, but it's all relative.

Re:Expensive

[Anonymous Coward]

$500,000 per satellite with a 2-3 month life? Pretty expensive. Does that include the cost of launching it too?

Its not expensive at all even considering other "normal" military hardware.
For instance the phoenix missile carried onboard the F-14s cost 500 000 dollars each or a HARM missile can cost up to 900 000 $.

Re:Collision Risk?

[necro81]

The launch of a rocket isn't a secret, and the resulting orbit isn't, either. Even if the satellite makes an orbital change afterwards (unlikely, given the price and how expensive orbital maneuvers are), it's probably large enough to be trackable on radar. Even if it isn't clear what it is in the database (a spy satellite? a rocket fairing? ET?), those who care will know that it's there and can plan around it.

Re:Expensive

[daem0n1x]

No problem, cut the education and health care budgets to finance this. Things that matter should go first!

I would have loved to have this

[CPTreese]

I was in OIF 06-08 and I would have loved to have this intel a couple times. Once I was sent out to recover a vehicle that had been blown up, and due to terrain requirements, I had to take a road that hadn't been traveled on for some eight months. Consequently we didn't know it was heavily defended with IEDs and had huge ditches from rain runoff (pretty common in desert environments). It took my convoy about 24 hours to travel 5 kilometers because we had to improvise material to fill in the holes enough for the trucks to travel over. The satellite coverage wouldn't have helped with the IEDs but it might have helped give me a better idea of the road conditions.

Another time I was leading a convoy of about 30 vehicles and the route I chose had been blocked by another unit the previous day. It can be an emotional event to turn around that many vehicles in some Iraqi towns.