From a seemingly impenetrable place, space today is becoming a “playground” for companies from many different countries, cluttering the sky with constellations of thousands of satellites. In this new, almost lawless frontier, a “sheriff” is needed to control everything, and the United States has just announced plans to create such a “space patrol”.
That is the Cislunar Highway Patrol System (CHPS), or the cislunar Space Patrol System (the space between the Earth and the Moon).
The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) recently released a video demonstrating its plans for a CHPS space patrol. AFRL says CHPS will be a satellite system used to track the movement of satellites and space debris in order to minimize collisions.
It may not do much when it comes to directly preventing these collisions, but it will enhance the ability to track objects and help plan for prevention.
Although the exact definition is controversial, the term ‘cislunar’ generally refers to space more than 35,786 km from Earth, that is, through geosynchronous orbit, to the Moon. CHPS will fly in space from Earth to around the Moon to “ensure the peaceful development of space, helping to keep missions safe”according to the AFRL video.
The AFRL video shows the efforts of agencies like NASA to return to the surface of the Moon and other planets “interplanetary destination” another, as part of a push to expand the reach of the US military into cislunar space.
Video for more, CHPS ONLY “will pass thousands of commercial and government satellites as it makes its way to space 438,000 kilometers rarely reached before.”
However, the CHPS satellite system still has a long way to go before it becomes a reality, with AFRL calling for prototype proposals next month, with the goal of awarding a production contract in July.
Reference: Gizmodo