Article Posted on : - Jun 04, 2014

MOORESTOWN, NEW JERSEY (BNS): The U S Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $914 million contract to improve the way objects are tracked in space and to prevent space-based collisions.

Lockheed Martin's Space Fence solution, an advanced ground-based radar system, will enhance the way the U S detects, catalogs and measures more than 200,000 orbiting objects.

With better timeliness and improved surveillance coverage, the system will protect space assets against potential crashes that can intensify the debris problem in space.

Lockheed Martin will deliver up to two advanced S-Band phased array radars for the Space Fence programme.

Construction of the new Space Fence system on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands is slated to begin in the early 2015 to meet the programme's 2018 initial operational capability goal.