United States Space Surveillance Network

The United States Space Surveillance Network (SSN) detects, tracks, catalogs and identifies artificial objects orbiting Earth, e.g. active/inactive satellites, spent rocket bodies, or fragmentation debris. The system is the responsibility of United States Space Command and operated by the United States Space Force and its functions are:

• Predict when and where a decaying space object will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere;
• Prevent a returning space object, which to radar looks like a missile, from triggering a false alarm in missile-attack warning sensors of the U.S. and other countries;
• Chart the present position of space objects and plot their anticipated orbital paths;
• Detect new artificial objects in space;
• Correctly map objects traveling in Earth orbit;
• Produce a running catalog of artificial space objects;
• Determine ownership of a re-entering space object;

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1957  Wikimedia, Wikidata
Space Surveillance Network; U.S. Space Surveillance Network; US Space Surveillance Network; USSSN

1957, space program, 1950s, 

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Location: 20.7084, -156.2576, KML, Cluster Map, Maps,

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Ssn

Figure 4 Types and Locations of Space Surveillance Network Sensors (5782365888)

Graph of the SSN range residuals in the 1998 NEAR flyby with lag

Type	Subtype	Date	Description	Notes	Source
commons	image		Ssn		Commons
commons	image		Figure 4 Types and Locations of Space Surveillance Network Sensors (5782365888)		Commons
commons	image		Graph of the SSN range residuals in the 1998 NEAR flyby with lag		Commons