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18th Space Surveillance Squadron [18th SPSS]

The 18th Space Surveillance Squadron, Edwards Air Force Base, CA, is an Air Force Space Command geographically separated unit of 21st Operations Group, Peterson AFB, CO. The 18th SPSS provides optical surveillance for the Space Surveillance Network. The squadron is a geographically separated unit assigned to the 21st Space Wing, Peterson Air Force Base, CO.

The 18th SPSS is responsible for managing four Groundbased Electro-optical Deep Space Surveillance, or GEODSS, sites around the world. The unit also manages the Transportable Optical System, or TOS, and the Maui Space Surveillance System, or MSSS. These two systems, in conjunction with the Maui GEODSS, make up the Maui Space Surveillance Complex. Besides providing staffing support and quality assurance management to a work force of more than 150 military and contractors at the worldwide detachments, the unit will operate the Optical Command, Control and Communications Facility, or OC3F, in 1998. The OC3F will be the centralized node for the control of the 18th SPSS optical detachments around the world.

GEODSS sites play a vital role in tracking some 2,000 objects in space, all of which are at least 3,000 miles from the Earth's surface.

The mission of the 18th SPSS is to provide direct support to USCINCSPACE's space control mission through optical space surveillance. This includes detection, tracking, identification, and special signature collection of near space and deep space objects. To accomplish this mission, the squadron operates a network of optical sensors in four worldwide locations: Det. 1 is at Socorro, NM; Det 2 is at Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territories; Det. 3 is at Maui, HI; and Det 4. is at Morón AB, Spain.

Each site has three telescopes, two mains and an auxiliary, except Det. 2, which has three main telescopes. Each main telescope has a 40-inch aperture and a two-degree field of view. The auxiliary has a 15-inch aperture and a six-degree field of view. The auxiliary telescopes at Dets. 1 and 3 were upgraded to mains in 1997.

The 18th SPSS operators can control the remote telescopes from Edwards. Four computers work with the telescopes and cameras. The telescopes focus on a portion of the sky and move at the same speed as the stars appear to move. As the telescope is slowly moving, the star images which remain fixed are electronically erased from the picture. Since the telescope is moving at the same speed, any stars will appear stationary on the picture.

Det. 3 at Maui operates the Maui Space Surveillance System, or MSSS. MSSS includes a number of sensors used for space tracking, imaging and object identification. Air Force Research Laboratory periodically uses MSSS sensors for research experimentation, to include orbital debris research, earthcrossing asteroid search and tracking, and advanced imaging technology research.

Det. 4 operates the Transportable Optical System or TOS. TOS covers a critical geosynchronous belt coverage and serves as a pathfinder for future systems. TOS consists of one powerful telescope and a Space Operations Center. The telescope has a state-of-the-art Charge Coupled Device focal plane array and a nominal aperture at 22 inches. The TOS provides satellite positional data and space object identification data.

The 18th SPSS headquarters was activated in November 1966 as the 18th Surveillance Squadron, Edwards AFB, CA, under the Air Defense Command. The unit mission was to operate the BakerNunn camera system, used to track orbiting satellites. It was assigned to the 73rd Aerospace Surveillance Wing in January 1967 and then to the 14th Aerospace Force in April 1971. The unit was inactivated in October 1975.

The unit was reactivated at Peterson AFB in February 1990 under the 1st Space Wing to manage the worldwide GEODSS detachments. The unit moved to Edwards AFB in November 1994 to establish the Optical Command, Control and Communications Facility or "Optical C3F".

The 18th SPSS is tasked with:

• Detecting and tracking deepspace objects, and identifies near and deepspace objects;
• Operating a network of optical sensors in four worldwide locations; and
• Passing data collected to the Space Control Center at Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, CO, and the Combined Intelligence Center at Peterson AFB.