Responsive Space

摘要

As a US combatant commander prepares for battle, he might need a close, up-to-date look at what is happening on the ground. He may need to put more "eyes" on a particular area. If so, a call may go out to Air Force Space Command, with the question: What have you got? Today, Space Command could use only those systems that are already overhead. Developing, launching, and certifying a new one would take years. By 2010, however, Space Command may well have another option—to swiftly prepare and launch a small satellite that will survive only long enough to meet the intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance (ISR) needs of the immediate mission. For that, 14th Air Force at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., would maintain a fleet of tiny spacecraft ready to fly within days of a "go" order.