Scientists demonstrate data fusion and decision support tools for satellite threat analysts.

Satellites greatly enhance US defense operations; however, these key assets are vulnerable to perils such as space weather and acts of aggression. Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine the cause of anomalies from the ground. What may first appear as a routine system glitch may, in fact, be something much more serious. Providing the ability to detect—and in some cases, predict—events via multiple data sources can be critical to mission success and the safeguarding of space assets. Threat analysts must be able both to distinguish external, man-made threats, natural threats, and environmental conditions from internal, satellite bus anomalies in real time and to subsequently perform mitigating actions.

Figure 1. Data fusion and resource management architecture