The U.S. Air Force is expected to launch two high-orbiting satellites for a previously classified space surveillance system late in 2014, Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, said Feb. 21. Shelton disclosed the existence of the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness system (GEO SSA) for the first time at the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. According to an Air Force fact sheet, the two-satellite system will operate in a "near-geosynchrous orbit regime" to provide accurate tracking and characterization of man-made orbiting objects. Satellites with missions including communications and missile warning operate in the geosynchronous-orbit belt roughly 36,000 kilometers above the equator.
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