Lodamun

[imperialpearl]

As Lodamun’s ambitions to position itself as a serious play in space development are gradually being realised, the Lodamese Space Administration (LSA), the Strategic Defence Agency (SDA) and the Lodamese Air Force (LAF) have collectively issued more than thirty (30) contracts to numerous defence firms throughout the country for various satellites and orbiting systems which will form the basis of the nation’s outer-space observation and communication network. Since the early moments of the space programme, it had been argued by numerous government officials that by leveraging its investment into an indigenous space programme, Lodamun may eventually possess the capacity to develop and maintain space-based systems of its own. Here, they noted that as the nation progressed, it could no longer become heavily reliant on the “goodwill” of other nations in providing satellite-based networking for the Lodamese Government, the Armed Forces and the nation as a whole. “Eventually, the goodwill runs out, and we find ourselves in a position of complete uncertainty. Wholly at the behest of foreign entities who may not have our best interests at heart,” a former LSA official noted. 

Among these ambitions, the development of an indigenous global positioning system, a satellite-based ballistic missile early warning detection and tracking network and a publicly-owned geospatial imagery had been identified as major areas of focus for the Space Programme’s satellite development wing. As the agencies responsible for overseeing that development of such systems alongside private-sector collaborators, the Research Projects Administration (RPA) and the Armed Forces Projects Agency (AFPA) had taken command of the civilian and military sides of the programme respectively after it became clear to officials within the LSA that its initial plan to develop both civilian and military satellites internally would not have been feasible, given the multitude of projects currently in steam. Here, it was decided that the RPA and the AFPA would work as quasi-subordinates to the LSA and thus surrender designs/schematics to the respective agencies (LSA, SDA and LAF) once much of the work had been completed for contracts to be distributed for their construction.

Via a joint collaboration between the RPA, engineering students from the Newchester Institute of Technology (NIT) and a new space-based research startup, AstroVista Innovations, the development of an indigenously built geospatial imagery satellite has made significant progress. The satellite, coined GeoEye-1, represents a major milestone for the Lodamese space programme as it represents the first satellite to have been conceived and developed within Lodamun. Similar to other geospatial satellites, GeoEye-1 is designed to provide high-resolution images for environmental analysis, disaster management and a suite of other responsibilities/roles. As the satellite is primarily for civilian use, the involvement of students/engineers from NIT became an imperative for the LSA, who argued that without hands-on experience, the space-engineering acumen with which the agency has been labouring to develop may never be realised. “GeoEye-1 is the culmination of months, if not years, of work by engineers not just from NIT but from other institutions and private companies. We were humbled when we were selected by the RPA to work alongside their engineers and AstroVista to design the satellite itself. Although these satellites have been around for centuries, they are otherworldly in the eyes of our students who may not have appreciated the fact that those high-resolution images they play around with in their lectures come directly from satellites like GeoEye-1,” Dr Dave Fulton, the Lead Engineer from NIT, explained. 

In its contract to Carthorn, the LSA ordered the construction of some eight (8) satellites at the cost of $3.2 billion ($400 million per unit). Some have noted the potential for satellites (when constructed and launched) to be used by private-sector companies. In a press statement, the LSA’s Director of Public-Private Partnerships, Todd Sweeney, confirmed that the agency had advanced plans to rent out the satellites to private-sector companies and to sell the data gathered from the satellites to private-sector firms involved in geospatial work. “We are currently in advanced talks with firms to build out a government-owned, publicly accessible geospatial information portal from which individuals and firms can draw data from the satellites. Beyond that, we are also in discussions internally as to whether we should rent out these satellites to private-sector companies given their potential as a serious money-making venture,” Sweeney explained.

The Lodamese Government has long articulated its hopes of maintaining an indigenous network for precise locating and timing, arguing that similar to its dependence on other states, primarily Dorvik, Trigunia and formerly Beiteynu for such services, the nation remained significant at risk of being “exploited”, pointing to the possibility that the nation might be denied access to such services should it enter into a protracted argument with one of the aforementioned states. Alongside GeoEye, the LSA had joined forces with the Lodamese Air Force and Burrell Systems on the development of the satellite, which may form the basis of the nation’s indigenous global positioning network. Coined, NavSat, its design takes numerous inspirations from previous models operated by other territories. Similar to these models, NavSat possesses an advanced atomic clock, which enables it to maintain extremely accurate recordings of the time alongside a similarly accurate reading of its orbit. It works such that receivers in Lodamun (be they cars, ships, aircraft, etc) receive signals from the satellite and by calculating the time taken for a signal to travel to the receiver, it is capable of determining its distance. Accurate data on an individual’s precise location is obtained through the use of multiple satellites undergoing which process of sending signals and receivers calculate the distance travelled. 

As mentioned before, NavStat is but the satellite through which Lodamun’s global positioning network operates and does not represent the entire network. The network in question, coined COSMO (Coordinated Orbital Satellite Mapping and Orientation), comes into its own when the LSA, in conjunction with the Lodamese Air Force, eventually launch numerous units of NavSat (approximately 16), for a “constellation” to be formed. It is through this constellation that COSMO and the Lodamese attempt at an indigenous global positioning network would ultimately take form. Burrell Systems stands as the company responsible for building all 16 units of NavSat, with the LSA and Air Force being responsible for launching and managing the satellites in orbit. Secretary of Science and Technology Dr Lloyd Gilmore confirmed that once COSMO becomes operational, it would not mean that other GPS services become unavailable, however, he noted that, as it pertained to the federal government and the armed forces, use of COSMO would become mandatory. “It is our intention to mandate that COSMO be used exclusively by the federal government and the armed forces, leaving civilians with the freedom to choose whichever platform they believe works for them,” he explained.

The Air Force and Strategic Defence Agency’s joint plans for the development of a constellation of early warning satellites have long been referenced in the latter’s ambitions towards “securing Lodamun and North Seleya”. Having had the development of such technology sit alongside the Lodamese Space Program, it was nonetheless expected that such a development would come alongside its COSMO and GeoEye. The satellite concept, coined RedEye, employs infrared sensors to identify the heat signatures generated from missile engines (be they short-range, intermediate or intercontinental). By consistently scanning/surveying the planet’s surface for heat signatures which align with those of missiles, the satellite is able to transmit data related to its trajectory, relative distance and more. SDA Director Admiral Sean Howell stated that such a technology was crucial to national security. Here he noted that although the Lodamese Air Force and its AWACS aircraft continue to act as an intermediate to a system such as RedEye, the limited range these assets possess ultimately places the nation at a unique risk in that it may only have a moment’s notice of (1) being aware of perceived threats and (2) responding to them in kind. 

“We need to ensure that we are given enough time to analyse threats, especially those posed by ballistic missiles and hypersonic weaponry. We need to be given the time to determine whether these are indeed threats and where it is within our reach/means to eliminate these threats. RedEye brings such a capability to us, and I believe it will be essential to negating the clear and present threat posed by ballistic missiles and other advanced, long-range weaponry,” Admiral Howell explained. Hemlock-Rogway has been granted the contract to construct some 8 RedEye satellites, which will eventually be launched to form a constellation called Strategic Electronic Network for Target Interception and Early Location (SENTINEL) for near-persistent monitoring of terra for activity from low terran orbit (LTO). There have been notions towards a broader partnership between the SDA and the Anantonese Empire as a whole on granting access to the SENTINEL constellation to Kalistan and Gaduridos via the Anantonese Defence Treaty.