Contributions of the GEODSS System to Catalog Maintenance

The Electronic Systems Center completed the Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep-Space Surveillance (GEODSS) Modification Program (GMP) in 1999 with new mission critical computer resources, including sensor controllers at the GEODSS sensor sites and an Optical Command, Control, and Communications Facility (OC3F) at Edwards AFB. The GEODSS system with the GMP configuration became operational on 3 August 1999, with the OC3F dynamically scheduling the three GEODSS sites in response to tasking from the Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC). SPADOC still tasks the individual GEODSS sites, Socorro, Maui, and Diego Garcia, based on site visibility and capacity, but the site tasking messages are transmitted to the OC3F instead of the individual sites. The OC3F combines the individual site tasking messages into a single database and dynamically schedules the individual sites in near real-time, independent of which site SPADOC tasked. For example, a high-priority satellite may be tasked by SPADOC to Socorro and not Maui, even though it has visibility, but the dynamic scheduler may schedule Maui to track the satellite because Socorro is clouded over during the satellite pass. SPADOC tasks the optical sites hours before their shooting periods begin, assuming clear skies, because it cannot predict the weather in advance.