🌌 Space Expansion with the Bundeswehr 🌌
The Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces, is ramping up its space surveillance game. Currently, they've got eight satellites keeping an eye on things from up high. But before Santa's sleigh takes off, two more are set to join the fleet, according to Major General Michael Traut, the boss of Bundeswehr Space Command. These new fellas will be stationed in geostationary orbits, focusing on Europe and the Middle East, ready to capture images even during the night and pierce through cloudy skies.
Traut spilled the beans to "Tagesspiegel" newspaper, revealing that SpaceX, Elon Musk's extremely cool space company, has scheduled the launch for December 22. "Germany will defend itself in space" declared Traut with confidence.
Space (the final frontier...)
The Bundeswehr is pretty excited about these newcomers. Major General Traut explained that these new satellites are equipped with radar, allowing them to capture images under cover of darkness and even when the skies are cloaked in clouds. This is a major advantage for the Bundeswehr, enabling them to monitor militarily significant events on Earth more effectively.
Apart from Earth imaging, the Space Command's responsibilities include guarding over 70 German satellites and safeguarding them from potential collisions with other satellites or space debris. But it's not just about avoiding mayhem in space. They're also on the lookout for possible attacks, as Traut confirmed, "Germany will defend itself in space."
Closing the spy gap
Space isn't just about celestial bodies and intergalactic battles—it's also a battleground for espionage. Traut and his team aren't just focusing on ensuring Germany's own satellites aren't compromised. They're also working to obstruct foreign intelligence collection from up high.
When it comes to satellite spying, Traut's team can make sure that their adversaries don't get the specific information they're looking for by warning their forces, camouflaging themselves, or leading their adversaries astray. Last year, the Bundeswehr issued a whopping "few thousand" warnings to prevent space-based snooping, according to the Major General.
Enter Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Blätte, the military head of operations at the Space Situational Awareness Center. He recently highlighted an example of how they put this defense system into action: "We anticipated that Russian satellites would pass over the area where our capabilities or the training of Ukrainian soldiers was happening, so we didn't showcase all of our capabilities at that particular time."
