Congress Withholds Funding for Spysat Program
|
|
A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket, on behalf of Boeing Launch Services, blasts off today at 11:50.57 a.m. PDT with the GeoEye-1 satellite from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The successful launch concluded approximately 75 minutes later with signal acquisition from the satellite in its proper orbit. Photo by Carleton Bailie, The Boeing Company/GeoEye CREDIT: |
WASHINGTON - Congressional appropriators have canceled funding for a joint U.S. military-intelligence program to field two commercial-class satellites to collect medium-resolution imagery, government and industry sources confirmed today.
The action was taken by members the House and Senate appropriations committees in the classified annex to a massive U.S. bill funding government activities, including defense, for 2009, according to Michael Birmingham, spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
The Broad Area Space-based Imagery Collector, or BASIC, program was approved by the Department of Defense and ODNI earlier this year, with a first launch scheduled for 2012 or 2013. The program has been the subject of controversy from the start due both to differences between the military and intelligence community about the acquisition strategy and to questions about its compliance with presidential policy.
That policy directs U.S. government agencies, including the national security community, to rely to the maximum practical extent on commercial providers for satellite imagery. Two such providers, DigitalGlobe of Longmont, Colo., and GeoEye of Dulles, Va., count the U.S. government as their biggest single customer; both recently launched satellites built with funding assistance from the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency that are capable of distinguishing ground features half a meter across or even smaller.
The BASIC plan calls for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office to procure two satellites comparable to those operated by DigitalGlobe and GeoEye, with imaging apertures 1.1 meters across. The satellites, expected to cost $1.7 billion, would be funded by the military intelligence budget, with the Pentagon having primary responsibility for acquisition decisions.
The BASIC ground segment would be funded by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency using national intelligence program funding. The ODNI and Pentagon share decision-making responsibility for that segment of the program.
News that Congress had declined to fund the program was first reported by the Associated Press.
- Video - Successful Satellite Kill
- Video - NASA Destroys Suborbital Rocket
- Vote Now! Which Cosmic Duo Would You Trust to Destroy a Wayward Spysat?
MORE FROM SPACE.com
Image Albums
Countdowns
Topics
Infographics
