HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- Whether it's the size of a chair or a driver's license, space debris travelling at speeds of 15,000 mph yields the same result if it crosses the orbital path of a space asset - collision and subsequent loss. With the work of an Electronic Systems Center group to bolster space situational awareness, these types of potential disasters can be detected early and avoided.

The 850th Electronic Systems Group is currently working to develop the acquisition strategy for the Joint Space Operations Center Mission System, a combination of capabilities that existed in former space command and control programs.

"Space situational awareness is a big part of what the JSpOC will continue to maintain," said Col. Steven Hocking, 850 ELSG acting director.

Operators at the 614th Air and Space Operations Center, located at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., will use the JSpOC Mission System for space situational awareness -- to track objects orbiting the Earth, monitor space weather and assess foreign launches. The 614 AOC's 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week support provides vigilance of global and theater operations and equips the Joint Functional Component Command for space operations with the tools to conduct command and control of space forces.

"We need to be able to advise when space events might happen. One of the JSpOC capabilities will advise commercial operators of impending collisions and track some of the debris already in space," the colonel said.

Averting space collisions is especially important, Colonel Hocking said, given that collisions add to the thousands of existing objects and debris already in space, and present potential threats for satellites or NASA's International Space Station. Hundreds more pieces of debris, for example, resulted from the February collision of a U.S. Iridium communications satellite and a Russian Cosmos 2251 communications satellite.

By melding the capabilities of three programs - Space C2, Integrated Space Situational Awareness, or ISSA, and the Rapid Attack Identification Detection Reporting System Block 20 - the JSpOC Mission System will aid in providing the capability to avoid just these types of situations.

The drive to combine these software suites into the JSpOC Mission System stems from the fact that legacy systems like Space Defense Operations Center and Command Authentication Verification and Ephemeredes Network are difficult to sustain and stressed to meet requirements.

"The next generation of space systems - like SBIRS, GPS II, SBSS - will be more 'taskable' and multi-mission in nature," Colonel Hocking said. "To fully exploit the potential of these systems, the JSpOC must be able to understand how best to use them and have a method to operationally task."

The JSpOC Mission System will also help solve the issues inherent to legacy systems by relieving manpower demands, automating data, making it easier to analyze and provide a path for it to merge with other data sources.

"All these things will allow operators to do what they do well - make better judgment calls for the mission by facilitating a much better understanding of the space environment and its impact on space and terrestrial operations," he said.

Using service-oriented architecture principles the 850 ELSG will enable the integration of software products that will plug data into utilities or services to predict the exact location of an object at a certain time, determine the impact of solar flares on satellite communications, or optimize the tasking of satellites.

"Right now, rather than having the knowledge in three or four clicks, it requires the building of a table that gives commanders rough estimates based off hand-generated charts," Colonel Hocking said. "Eventually all this can be done real-time on a screen for the commander."

These capabilities will also be provided via Net-centric services, distributing the space capabilities to joint, service and agency operators.

In the mid-term, the colonel said the system will provide improved command and control of space forces. In the short-term, it will give operators an improved and more timely look at space situational awareness.

"This will be better for the warfighter because information will be readily available and can be provided quickly to the JSpOC commander and other combatant commanders for making those timely and judicious decisions," he said. "It really is for the speed and effectiveness of decisions."