Space Fence Aims to Net Astro Junk

Space junk is a fact of life when satellites, rockets, and other objects hurtle from the Earth into space on a regular basis, but you might not know that a couple of MIT alumni are working on the problem, which is creating hazards for new flights.

Chuck Quintero ’83 is a project specialist and Greg Fonder ’05 is lead systems analyst on the Lockheed Martin team that is developing Space Fence, new radar system funded by the U.S. Air Force that aims to improve space junk tracking. That’s essential since some 60 nations are now operating in space and there may be millions of objects already floating around already.

The U.S. Air Force’s currently tracking system was designed in the 1960s to track about 20,000 objects and it has become overwhelmed by the job. The Space Fence system, composed of up to two large S-band radar system sites, is expected to detect, track, measure, and catalog more than 200,000 objects

A neat video features Fonder discussing the problem of spinning debris and other orbital objects—and what Space Fence can do to help.