U.S. Air Force officials are crafting plans for a 2011 demonstration of a Global Positioning System-tracking system for ascending rockets as part of a slow but comprehensive transformation of the Pentagon's launch ranges.

More than 50 years into the U.S. space launch program, the infrastructure designed to support rockets in some cases requires updating. In other cases, the government needs to off-load excess infrastructure that is no longer needed and focus efforts on more efficient satellite launch processing, says Lt. Gen. Larry James, 14th Air Force commander.

The demonstration planned for 2011 is intended to prove the value of GPS metric tracking of launch vehicles as they boost into orbit. Currently, launches are tracked using radars and some optical systems. "Once you can do [GPS metric tracking] reliably, it allows you to reduce some of your on-ground resources that we currently use for tracking," says James. He declined to identify a specific launch for the demonstration.

GPS metric tracking is merely one element of a larger shift that James calls the "Launch Enterprise Transformation." Another piece of the effort is the development of an autonomous flight destruction system. At the moment, officials are required to maintain specific links at various stages of the boosting process to allow for the unlikely case that they must give a self-destruct command; this would be executed, for example, if a rocket were to veer off course, endangering populated areas. "It comes back to the command paths and the command links that you have to have and maintain to keep up as the rocket flies down range," James says. "The autonomous flight destruction system allows you to reduce your requirement for those command links and those command paths -- both on the rocket to receive the commands and on the ground to send the commands." A date hasn't yet been set to field an autonomous self destruction system.

This and the GPS metric tracking system are two relatively near-term efforts for Air Force Space Command's roadmap to modernize the launch infrastructure and the processes required to execute launches. Shedding unnecessary resources, or those that can be updated with more efficient systems, is a theme in the launch transformation as the Pentagon struggles with tight budgets in the midst of two overseas wars.

Improvements to the two major U.S. launch ranges -­ the Eastern range at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and the Western range at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. ­- have been under way at a slow pace for years. James asserts success in improving the weather system at Cape Canaveral and some command and control systems that were upgraded at both facilities in the 1990s. But he notes that there are "some others we didn't do well on" in the past.

"There is a lot of infrastructure out there -­ whether it is electrical, power, water systems - that is just old; a lot of facilities that were built for different programs and different times that we don't necessarily need to maintain," he says.

The Air Force has spent about $985 million on the Range Standardization and Automation IIA Program since its inception in 1995. Another $1.2 billion has been spent on range sustainment and equipment modernization under a specific contract since November. Annually, these efforts cost about $200 million.

While the service plans for the technology improvements, James says he is exploring how to improve management of the flow of launches, including the possible introduction of a "white tail" concept. Currently, about two years out from a launch, a satellite is assigned a specific Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) from United Launch Alliance's Atlas and Delta families.

The booster then remains inextricably linked despite the likelihood of delays in the satellite's development; indeed, nearly all satellite programs have been delivering late.

"In the past, you have hand crafted a booster for every satellite, especially some of the more complex birds that we have launched. The desire would be not to do that, but to have a standard booster that a satellite can go on late in the flow," James says. "Ideally, you'd like the flexibility until you get much closer to the launch date to mix and match that booster around." Ultimately, the goal is to "move to a concept where we kind of overbook because as you look to the future there are more satellites competing for boosters than there are boosters." James says he would prefer to wait until about six months from launch to assign boosters to specific satellites and begin customizing the rockets for their missions.

This is largely a process change that he says can begin early in 2010.

However, some changes to hardware or software may be needed to make the launch systems more adaptable to satellites shortly before launch, James notes. Specifics are under review and were only recently briefed to senior Air Force officials.

These changes, if enacted, would come amid a highly active period of launches. The Pentagon is in the midst of recapitalizing the space systems it fielded 20-30 years ago, including the new Wideband Global Satcom satellites, three of which are in orbit. Several new spacecraft are scheduled to launch in the next 18 months: the Space-Based Infrared System, Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites, the Space-Based Space Surveillance satellite (which is slated to launch in the spring) and National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System. The Pentagon has also been consistently launching upgraded GPS satellites, as well.

Pentagon officials are also now planning to extend EELV operations 10 years until 2030, and officials are reviewing what preplanned product improvements may be needed for future missions. One option is the introduction of a hybrid system, most likely a reusable first stage coupled with expendable second and upper stages, James says. The Pentagon had been aggressively pursuing reusable launch technologies but went cool on it in recent years after poor results. Recently, however, interest is increasing again. Money for some key demonstrations may be included in the forthcoming fiscal 2011 budget going to Congress in February or, at the least, in the 2012 budget, which is being readied at the Pentagon.

Photo: USAF