A New Battlespace Perspective/Down to Earth with STK/PRO

User applications
www.agi.com
Battlespace
AL
CON
NAI SS
AN
Office’s Battlespace Visualization Initiative (BVI) software
UN
system. Used by the U.S. defense and intelligence com-
I
TE
munities to help protect the nation’s security, BVI aids intelligence collection management—the process of matching
A
STK is now part of the National Reconnaissance
OFFICE
NAT I ON
RE
CE
Perspective
D
IC
A New
STA
M
TES OF A
ER
diverse information requests with available collection resources. BVI allows users to view data input from several
the Collection Management and Mission Applications
collection disciplines with an integrated 2-D and 3-D dis-
(CMMA) project. “Using BVI, that information shows up in the
play, and employs several STK software components in-
same display, which helps to bring the big picture together.”
cluding STK Professional Edition, STK’s 3-D visualization
component, and STK /Integration Module.
ligence systems in August 2002 when CMMA received
At any given time, a BVI user can quickly comprehend
formal certification for use on the Joint Deployable Intelli-
what is happening in all collection operations for a given
gence Support System (JDISS). CMMA focuses on giving
three-dimensional area. “One of the intelligence commu-
joint military personnel greater insight into and influence
nity’s challenges has been assimilating diverse informa-
over all-source intelligence collection activities. The JDISS
tion, which is often gathered from several disciplines,”
program provides the software infrastructure that sup-
says Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Page, technical manager for
ports intelligence activities in the defense community.
Down to
as previously
printed in InView
october 2002
sphere.
analytical graphics, Inc.
220 Valley Creek Blvd.
Exton, PA 19341
Earth
With STK/PRO
In April 2002, the
took continual revisions. As the satellite began to skim
Starshine 2 satellite
denser layers of atmosphere, STK Professional Edition
was destroyed as it en-
was put to the task of calculating when the mission would
tered the Earth’s atmo-
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A component of CMMA, BVI was added to DoD intel-
This
concluded
the
come to a fiery conclusion.
Using the high-fidelity tools supplied with STK Profes-
second stage of an ongoing project that is unique in scope,
sional Edition, Harro Zimmer, a space consultant based in
involving 30,000 students in 700 schools from 26 countries.
Berlin, Germany, began calculating the actual reentry
Launched from Endeavour (STS-108) at the end of
date. “Eight days before the actual decay, STK delivered
2001, the Starshine 2 satellite was a hollow sphere covered
precise predictions with an accuracy of plus or minus two
in reflecting mirrors. These mirrors enabled students
hours,” says Zimmer. “When we included data refined by
worldwide to track its orbit. Comparing the changing orbit
high precision orbit propagation (HPOP), we gained re-
of Starshine 2 with the solar activity data, scientists, educa-
markable agreement with the actual reentry data.”
tors, and students measured the direct effect of this activity
on the satellite and, by extrapolation, the effect of the solar
supplied by STK’s tried and tested algorithms, the final de-
activity on the Earth’s atmosphere.
cay was calculated to be within seven minutes of tracking
data declared by U.S. Naval Space Command and the
With an initial insertion orbit at an altitude of 370 km,
the satellite’s eventual reentry was difficult to forecast, and
By leveraging the commercial off-the-shelf advantage
U.S. Space Command.