U.S.-Russia Space Surveillance Workshop Held in Wailea
World’s two leading space-faring nations collaborate for safety. “This is a huge step forward for all mankind.”
Cindy Schumacher
“Collaboration starts in Maui,” said Oleg Yakimenko and Eugene Bourakov, translators for the Eighth U.S.-Russian Space Surveillance Workshop held recently at the Wailea Marriott Resort on Maui.
Russians in bright aloha shirts sat alongside American counterparts for five days of networking about techniques for keeping track of satellites. The April workshop provided a stimulating and thought-provoking forum where the latest in technical developments and ideas on space surveillance were shared.
The first U.S.-Russian workshop took place at the Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C., in 1994. That original group of scientists and aerospace engineers from both countries started the U.S.-Russian seminar series dedicated to technical and scientific space surveillance collaborations. After that, the group met approximately every two years in locations such as Poland, D.C., Russia and California.
Tech Meetings Maui, a branch of Maui Economic Development Board, led the on-island coordination of the Maui workshop. The program was organized and led by U.S. General Chair Dr. P. Kenneth Seidelmann, U.S. Technical Chair Dr. Kyle T. Alfriend and Russian Technical Chairs Dr. Vasiliy Yurasov and Dr. Sergey Kamensky.
“The workshops began with mutual understanding of the basics of Russian and American approaches to space awareness and technology, catalog information, tracking of space objects, and then advancing to the hardware and software information,” said Kamensky. “Because the majority of participants and their family members have known each other for more than 10 years, it is not surprising that many presentations are co-authored by both Russians and Americans.”
At this year’s workshop, the attendees confirmed that providing information for collision avoidance, maneuver detection, orbit prediction and tracking of small, elusive objects is an international responsibility.
Many of the members of the workshop were former Cold War adversaries who created systems to track and even destroy each other’s satellites. They are now using those same systems to make space a safer place.
“It is nice to see the Cold War has come to an end and that there is a change in attitude towards sharing information,” said Dr. Seidelmann.
“Governments must understand this and realize we must work together because space is being used by everyone,” added Dr. Alfriend.
“This workshop might sound interesting only to military aerospace engineers, but it is actually of profound relevance to the long-term future of the entire human race,” said Creon Levit from NASA Ames Research Center. “We all need to be able to navigate safely in space.”
“We are using these systems to avoid collisions between satellites—which have happened—and to avoid collisions of space objects with the International Space Station—which have almost happened,” said Levit.\
“United States Strategic Command has been charged by our national leadership to provide Space Situational Awareness (SSA) to the nation and to our international partners,” said U.S. Air Force Colonel Edward Fienga in his address to the body of scientists and researchers. “This SSA requires gathering the requisite understanding of all resident space objects, the potential hazards to on-orbit assets, as well as the monitoring and predicting of space weather and its impacts to operating in space. Bottom line—we have a lot of work left to do, and I believe together the world’s two leading space-faring nations can rise to this challenge,” he said.
“After the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik, by the Russians in 1957, development of near-Earth space began,” said Dr. Yurasov. “Now it is impossible to imagine our life without those space technologies which have entered into our daily life.”
However, development of space has caused collateral negative effects. At the beginning of the space age, it seemed that near-Earth space was so boundless that no human activity could possibly cause ecological consequences there. Recently, these delusions have faded.
“Space debris re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere can become a threat to people and property on the ground,” said Dr. Yurasov.
The scale of this problem has become clear based on information obtained by U.S. and Russian space monitoring systems. At present, more than 20,000 space objects are routinely tracked and cataloged by both countries. Even more alarming, the number of dangerous space objects too small to track with existing systems is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.
Dr. Felix Hoots from Aerospace Corporation recalled words spoken by Stanislav Veniaminov, a senior Russian scientist who could not attend this year, but who helped organize all the workshops to date. “God made only one truth, and each of our nations has been trying to discover that truth through the laws of physics and mathematics,” Veniaminov said at the 1998 workshop.
Those laws have always been the same, but until recently, each nation worked independently. Through these workshops, the U.S. and Russia have begun to share the results of research and to collaborate on solutions.
“This is a huge step forward for all mankind,” Hoots said.
The continuing goal is for all space-faring countries to be able to share SSA information, promoting space flight safety through open collaboration and constructive partnerships. The participants hope that the workshops will increase a new level of peaceful cooperation in space.
“Both sides benefited from the presentations to better aid our understanding of the current state in space,” said Dr. Kamensky. “We enjoyed the beautiful people and the magnificent island of Maui.”
Editor’s note: After this article was submitted, we received the sad news that Dr. Sergey Kamensky passed away suddenly on May 3. It is highly fitting that we dedicate this article to him. He was deeply respected by his friends and colleagues, including the participants in the U.S.-Russia workshops. His contributions to international understanding in the space field will outlive us all.
Collaboration for the Eighth U.S.-Russian Space Surveillance Workshop on Maui was headed by (left to right) U.S Technical Chair Dr. Kyle T. Alfriend, Russian Technical Chair Dr. Sergey Kamensky, U.S. General Chair Dr. P. Kenneth Seidelmann and Russian Technical Chair Dr. Vasiliy Yurasov.
Photo: Matt Wilkins
