15th Space Surveillance Squadron, Det. 1 is a dedicated space surveillance unit in the northwest corner of the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range, approximately 30 miles southeast of the town of Socorro, New Mexico. The detachment was the first operational site in the Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance system.
Mission
The primary mission of the detachment is to detect, track and identify all tasked space objects within its area of coverage. The unit usually provides data on deep space objects in the orbits from 3,000 to 22,000 miles, although it has a limited near-earth detection capability. Satellite information is provided to the Joint Space Operations Center and 18th Space Control Squadron at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and to the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Mission Equipment
The detachment is one of three worldwide GEODSS sites. The GEODSS site performs its mission using three powerful telescopes; low light level, electro-optical cameras and high-speed computers. Detachment 1 uses three, 1.2-meter telescopes with a 1.68-degree field of view. Because the site is an optical sensor, mission operations are limited to relatively clear sky conditions at night. GEODSS telescopes primarily operate between civil sunset and civil sunrise, just before all ambient light is out of the atmosphere. The isolated high desert of central New Mexico provides an excellent location for such operations.
History
The detachment was activated as Detachment 1, 1st Strategic Aerospace Division, Strategic Air Command in April 1981 and became operational on July 30, 1982. The detachment became part of the 1st Space Wing, Air Force Space Command on May 1, 1983. On Feb. 1, 1990, it was reassigned to the 18th Space Surveillance Squadron at Peterson Air Force Base upon activation of the squadron. Both the detachment and its parent squadron were reassigned to the wing from the 73rd Space Group on May 15, 1992, when the 21st Space Wing assumed responsibility for all space surveillance units. The unit was redesignated as the 18th Space Control Squadron in February 2003. The unit was realigned under the 21st Operations Group following the 18th SPCS closure in December 2004. On April 2016, the GEODSS detachments became part of the 20th Space Control Squadron, dedicated to worldwide 24-hour space domain characterization. On Aug. 24, 2022, 20th Space Surveillance Squadron, Detachment 1, became the 15th Space Surveillance Squadron, Detachment 1.
The site is operated and maintained by contract workers. A single Air Force officer is responsible for ensuring that the mission is accomplished, and the contractor's work performance is satisfactory.
Location
The detachment sits on the northwest corner of the White Sands Missile Range on Route 525, 30 miles southeast of the town of Socorro. The terrain is dry and sandy, and the area's desert climate is hot and dry in summer, cool and dry in winter.
(Current as of April 2024)