America's Space Sentinels: DSP Satellites and National Security [Paperback]

Jeffrey T. Richelson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2001 | Series: Modern War Studies

During much of the Cold War, America's first line of defense was in outer space: a network of secret satellites that could provide instant warning of an enemy missile launch. The presence of these infrared sensors orbiting 22,000 miles above the earth discouraged a Soviet first strike and stabilized international relations between the superpowers, and they now play a crucial role in monitoring the missile programs of China, India, and other emerging nuclear powers. Jeffrey Richelson has written the first comprehensive history of this vital program, tracing its evolution from the late 1950s to the present. He puts Defense Support Program operations in the context of world events - from Russian missile programs to the Gulf War - and explains how DSP's infrared sensors are used to detect meteorites, monitor forest fires, and even gather industrial intelligence by "seeing" the lights of steel mills.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"From the beginning with the MIDAS program to the present-day DSP system, Richelson provides a wealth of new information." -- Journal of American History

"Highly recommended." -- The Intelligencer

"Richelson's outstanding study merits a wide readership and is highly recommended. All levels." -- Choice

From the Back Cover

"This is far and away the most comprehensive account of the MIDAS/DSP program that exists--and I can't imagine it will be superseded soon. It will certainly become the book on the subject of early warning satellites." --Gregg Herken, author of Cardinal Choices: Presidential Science Advising from the Atomic Bomb to SDI

"A fascinating report on a little-known type of military satellite that still has a vitally important ongoing mission to deter ballistic missile attacks by 'rogue states' against the United States and its allies."--Philip J. Klass, author of Secret Sentries in Space and former senior editor of Aviation Week & Space Technology

"A very significant contribution in the field of intelligence studies that should attract a diverse readership among persons interested in Cold War and diplomatic history, national security issues, and the aerospace industry."--John Prados, author of Presidents' Secret Wars

"The definitive account, providing extraordinary details of the satellites and their ground control stations, as well as the bureaucratic politics that have shaped the development of the system."--Desmond Ball, author of The Transformation of Security of the Asia-Pacific Region

"Richelson knows more about these satellites than anyone outside the U.S. government--and probably more than most inside the U.S. intelligence community as well."--Robert Windrem, NBC Nightly News

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Kansas (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0700610960
• ISBN-13: 978-0700610969
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #991,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Study of a Critical Military Space Program, May 26, 2003

By 

Roger D. Launius "Historian" (Washington, D.C., United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: America's Space Sentinels: DSP Satellites and National Security (Paperback)

The Defense Satellite Program (DSP)-truly one of the most innocuous code names ever devised for a critical military program-arose in the earliest years of the space age as a means of detecting the launch of a rocket from anywhere in the world. With the development of ballistic missiles in the 1950s, for the first time in the history of the United States our two great oceans could not protect us from sustained attack and destruction. To warn against a Soviet ballistic missile attack, and thereby to allow time for the launch of a counterattack, the Department of Defense sponsored the development of satellites ringing the globe that would use infrared photographic technology to detect missile launches. The theory behind the system was that the heat signature from the rocket blast would be detected by satellites in space and then show up on infrared scopes at military monitoring posts. Through this process the time and place of launch, as well as the missile trajectory, could be ascertained within seconds of launch.

It was a brilliant concept but it took years for it to come to fruition. The first effort, Project MIDAS, experienced numerous technical problems, but finally reached a turning point in 1963 when MIDAS 7 detected the first missile launch from space. MIDAS confirmed the concept, and the DSP program, with first launch in 1970, has provided early warning of missile launches ever since. Through 1997 eighteen DSP satellites had been placed in orbit, not all of them operational of course at the same time.

Jeffrey T. Richelson's history of this program, "America's Space Sentinels," is an especially important and welcome addition to the literature of the military space program. It provides as comprehensive an understanding of this effort as is possible in the current environment, using a wealth of declassified documents to piece together this program's evolution from idea to implementation and operational life. It is, of course, not the final word on this subject because of still-classified materials that should one day be made available about DSP, but it represents a benchmark in the historiography.

Especially welcome is Richelson's discussion of DSP's employment in the post-cold war era. He provides an excellent overview of its use to detect Scud missile launches in the Gulf War of 1991. He also describes how it detected the test firing of a new Iranian missile in 1998 and its use in piecing together the details of airplane accidents, such as the September 1997 collision of American and German military aircraft off the Atlantic coast of Africa. He ends with a discussion of the follow-on missile launch detection program, the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS), which is due to come on line at the end of the century.

From the time when DSP served as the backbone of the nation's strategic early warning system during the cold war through its continued use in the still very threatening climate of the 1990s to its replacement by a presumably more capable system, this book is an important contribution to the public's understanding of space-based military systems. It should be required reading for all who are interested in the strategic defense of the United States in the nuclear era.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent coverage of an Indispensible Satellite System, August 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: America's Space Sentinels: DSP Satellites and National Security (Hardcover)

This book gives an excellent overview of America's Missile Warning satellites, beginning with MIDAS in the 1960s and ending with SBIRS for the 21st Century. The information included in the text is more in-depth that the fact sheets given out by the United States Air Force.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Richelson Strikes again! Excellent coverage on a Great Topic!!, February 6, 2007

By 

J. Page "tdrss" (Southwest USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: America's Space Sentinels: DSP Satellites and National Security (Paperback)

Dr. Jeff Richelson has provided some of the greatest reads dealing with United States military satellite systems - "America's Secret Eyes in Space", "The US Intelligence Community", and now "America's Space Sentinels." This book covers the genesis and evolution of the US' space-based missile warning system, commonly known as DSP, or defense support program. Dr. Richelson takes us through the teething of MIDAS, Program 646, and DSP's early predecessors, in addition to its successors of ALERT and SBIRS.

One high point in the text is the information on SCUD missile launches during Operation Desert Storm. While the news media reported bits and pieces on the launches, Dr. Richelson gives us a "bird's eye" view of what crews in Colorado saw half-a-world away, and what their contribution did to the defense of the US troops in the desert.

The only downside to this book is its currency - This is a volume in definite need of updating due to the bringing online of the SBIRS constellation, the battles fought during the Clinton era about space systems and emerging technologies that have DSP/SBIRS ready for the scrap-heap. If you're a military space-nut like me, this needs to be in your library.