Add to List

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Share

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Author

Jeffrey T. Richelson

America's Space Sentinels: DSP Satellites and National Security Paperback – April 1, 2001

by Jeffrey T. Richelson (Author)

10 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$29.90

$28.99

$11.75

Paperback

"Please retry"

$12.87

—

$8.88

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.

Print length

350 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Univ Pr of Kansas
Publication date

April 1, 2001
Dimensions

6 x 0.75 x 8.75 inches
ISBN-10

0700610960
ISBN-13

978-0700610969
See all details

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Jeffrey T. Richelson
9
Paperback
$26.95

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Jeffrey T. Richelson
9
Paperback
$26.95

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Jeffrey T. Richelson
9
Paperback
$26.95
Jeffrey T. Richelson
5
Hardcover
36 offers from $2.17

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

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Univ Pr of Kansas (April 1, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 350 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0700610960
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0700610969
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,944,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,363 in Conventional Weapons & Warfare History (Books)
- #5,643 in National & International Security (Books)
- #29,912 in American Military History

Customer Reviews:
10 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload video

Customer reviews

5 star		61%
4 star		39%
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

J. M. Lopez

This is one of the best and most accurate description of a superb program

Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2015

Verified Purchase

I worked the DSP program on crew and as an engineer for almost a decade, on Air Force active duty and as a reservist. This is one of the best and most accurate description of a superb program. Although the author does not describe all of the DSP accomplishments -- many are still classified -- he writes an excellent review of the unclassified ones. I highly recommend this book. There is one warning, I have seen the book with two different titles by the same author. I bought both and the books are identical. So I gave it as a present to a DSP comrade.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Eugene Derfinyak

and it is good info.

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

Very dry reading of history, and it is good info.

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2016

Verified Purchase

Another Richelson classic!

Helpful

Stanley O. Kennedy, Sr

Excellent historical background.

Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2014

Verified Purchase

Unfortunately, this history is marred by a complete lack of reference to a most critical period in DSP's development--the DoD-level review and decision, in 1979-1980, to enhance the DSP satellite and ground systems, upgrading to DSP-1(Sat 14 thru Sat 23) configuration rather than implementing a staring sensor technology.

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great read, what I expected.

Helpful

Roger D. Launius

An Important Study of a Critical Military Space Program

Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2003

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.

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

Joseph T. Page II

Richelson Strikes again! Excellent coverage on a Great Topic!!

Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2007

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.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

America's Space Sentinels: DSP Satellites and National Security Paperback – April 1, 2001

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?