Northrop Grumman has received a contract to develop a space surveillance system
The Space Systems Command of the US Space Forces has signed a contract with Northrop Grumman to develop a radar tracking system for geostationary orbit. As part of the Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) program, three ground stations will be built, according to Army Recognition.
Pablo Pezzimenti, Vice President of Integrated National Systems at Northrop Grumman, said that a ground-based radar station will be created as part of the DARC program. The new radar will increase awareness of activities in geostationary orbit.
Pezzimenti clarified that the existing systems can only work at night, and DARC will provide all-weather monitoring at any time of the day. According to him, geostationary and geosynchronous orbits are crucial for national security.
Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will provide the development, testing and delivery of new equipment. The contract value was $341 million. The radar will allow tracking satellites and space debris.
Work on the DARC project began in 2017. The new system will be part of the US military's space surveillance complex. Under the contract, it is planned to place the components of the system of the first station in the Indo-Pacific region until 2025. In total, DARC will combine three ground stations.
Earlier, the head of the FIAN astrocosmic Center Sergey Likhachev said that Russia wants to build tracking stations for the Spectrum-M astrophysical space observatory in Argentina and Africa.
