Ghost Signals and Laser Shields: The Pentagon’s 500-Satellite Orbital Defense Net
In June 2024, Australian astronomers traced a 30-nanosecond radio burst to NASA’s defunct Relay-2 satellite, offline since 1967, likely caused by a micrometeoroid hit or decades of charge buildup. The LES-1 Lincoln Experimental Satellite, silent since 1967, transmitted again in 2012 after 45 years of dormancy. The Pentagon plans a 500-satellite orbital defense net by 2028 to form the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, including laser-connected Transport and Tracking Layers. The PARCAE (White Cloud or NOSS) program deployed triplet satellite clusters in the 1960s to triangulate Soviet naval transmissions, declassified in 2023. The Vela satellites monitored nuclear detonations, with the 1979