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Mother Nature puts Reserve satellite crews in spotlight

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Cindy East
  • 310th Space Wing Public Affairs
SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. --  Members of the 6th Space Operations Squadron have stepped in as the alternate command center to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration several times this year, thanks to Mother Nature.

As the only Air Force Reserve Command satellite command and control center for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, the 6th SOPS is responsible for backing up the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. The DMSP satellite constellation is designed to meet unique requirements for worldwide weather information. With these satellites, weather forecasters detect developing weather patterns and track existing weather systems over remote areas otherwise denied data.

In January, the 6th SOPS took command of the DMSP constellation from NOAA due to a water main break near Andrews Air Force Base, Md.,that cut off the water supply to the NOAA satellite operations facility in Suitland, Md. This affected heating, ventilation, air conditioning systems and the cooling capability of the ground system computer room. As a result, the NOAA DMSP shift supervisor called the 6th SOPS to take the constellation until the water supply was restoredsome eight hours later.  All supports were accomplished and no data was lost.

A power failure at NOAA headquarters in Maryland Aug. 22, prompted another call to the 6th SOPS who took control for another eight-hour stint until power was restored..

When an earthquake shook Virginia Aug. 23, the 6th SOPS was already conducting satellite operations at Schriever for crew proficiency. The NOAA crew lead called the on-duty crew commander exclaiming there was an on-going earthquake and that they were evacuating. At Schriever, reservists continued operations, built a 24/7 crew schedule to support indefinite operations and eventually transferred operations back to NOAA the following day.

Days later as Hurricane Irene barreled up the East Coast, the 6th SOPS kept a watchful eye on the storm. DMSP data used by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center is an integral part of hurricane prediction, tracking and planning. Reservists collected data leading up to, and following Irene's landfall. Due to the potential impact and devastation of the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility, the 6th SOPS was also prepared to assume operations at a moment's notice. The precision of DMSP data gave forecasters and authorities advance notice to enact resource protection activities and evacuation plans.

"Six SOPS has proved invaluable to the DMSP mission. They've provided critical back-up commanding capability on several occasions in 2011, preventing any loss of valuable weather data to warfighters around the world," said Ron Mahmot, NOAA Satellite Operations Facility manager.

In fulfilling their mission "to flawlessly capture and deliver the world's timeliest environmental intelligence data," 6 SOPS capitalizes on bringing in traditional reservists, many of whom are employed by large and small companies in the space industry, to provide a surge capability.

"The beauty of that is users at either end can use system equipment simultaneously," explained Ditondo. "It's all part of the continuity of operations arrangement which allows us or NOAA to take over in the event something happens at either location, such as an earthquake, power outage or hurricane."

Due to the nature of the program's data delivery requirements and the satellite's orbit, there are approximately 70 scheduled DMSP contacts daily. On every satellite support, 6 SOPS collects approximately two hours of data from various satellite sensors used to monitor several aspects of both the space and earth environments.

"We have a lot smaller footprint than NOAA day-to-day being a skeleton crew of full time folks," said Ditondo. "It works so well because we have a traditional reserve force, so when we need to surge, we bring these folks in to fill out our crews enabling us to do 24/7 operations, so in my opinion the Air Force Reserve provides a perfect fit."

Reserve crews also assume continuous command and control of the DMSP satellite constellation during the launch of a new satellite, allowing NOAA engineers to focus on bringing the new satellite online.

The 6 SOPS operational control of the DMSP program resides with the Program Executive Office for Environmental Satellites, a tri-agency consisting of Department of Defense, Department of Commerce and NASA, while the administrative control resides with 10th Air Force and Air Force Reserve Command. The unit is tasked to provide unassisted command and control of the DMSP constellation within one hour's notice during duty hours and three hour's notice during off-duty hours, and to sustain the mission indefinitely as required.

The oldest continuously operating satellite constellation, the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program began in the 1960's and is expected to come to the end of its life cycle in the 2020s.