The Pentagon is trying to improve its ability to track the more than 8,000 satellites and objects flying through space, particularly those in low-Earth orbit and a potential threat to high-value spacecraft such as the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope.
A request by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) seeks proposals to "design, develop and deploy sensors capable" of spotting objects in danger of falling toward Earth without advance notice of their orbital path.
More than 7,000 spacecraft have been launched since the Soviet Union put its Sputnik satellite into orbit in 1957, DARPA records show, and most of them no longer work. "These defunct objects, now free-orbiting (uncontrolled) debris, pose a threat to the 1,200 functional satellites that are currently operated by commercial and government entities around the globe," the DARPA document says.
The hit movie Gravity with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney showed in graphic detail what can happen if chunks of debris flying at 18,000 mph or faster crash into a working spacecraft or satellite.
DARPA's latest plan is to augment the existing Space Surveillance Network with more data and sensors to track objects as small as a baseball that are flying between 88 miles and 1,250 miles above the planet's surface. The network is part of the military's Strategic Command.
The Space Surveillance Network uses a series of optical telescopes, radars and other sensors to make between 380,000 and 420,000 observations of space objects a day, according to a Strategic Command fact sheet.
Proposals can include new equipment, modifications to existing equipment and additions to existing equipment, according to the DARPA document. Final reports, the document shows, would be scheduled to be done by September 2016.
Follow @rlocker12 on Twitter.