Mission is out of this world

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Orville F. Desjarlais Jr.
  • Air Force Print News
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (AFPN) --  Its material is found nowhere else on Earth but here, while its mission is out of this world.

Detachment 5, 22nd Space Operations Squadron has an antenna that uses a durable Kevlar mix as its cover, the first of its kind in the world. They use it because the material must withstand 195-mph typhoon winds. The antenna tracks and controls satellites, some located 27,000 miles in space.

“We’re helping the warfighters,” said Maj. David Hanson, the detachment’s commander. “People will die if they don’t have satellite support for communications, navigation, weather and reconnaissance. We are their access to space.”

A unique aspect of the antenna is that it has no visible means of support. The giant golf-ball looking antennas are gone. The new material was draped over the antenna, then blowers inflated it full of air that formed the material into a humongous ping-pong ball looking thing. A second antenna is being built using the same design.

Computers measure the outside wind speed and adjust the inside pressure of the antenna to be able to withstand that wind resistance. As wind speeds increase, so does the pressure inside the antenna. If punctured by flying debris, it won’t deflate, the major said.

Contractors cannot enter the antenna’s interior without first going through an air-lock chamber, which keeps the pressure stabilized inside. Leaving the facility makes one’s ears pop like a descending airplane.

In fact, computers have pretty much taken over the operation of the many antennas located here. What once took 25 to 40 people to do 40 years ago, now takes four.

At this remote part of Guam’s northernmost tip, the detachment shares this area with no one, except maybe wild boar and fruit bats.

Tech. Sgt. Greg Butikofer constitutes half of Det. 5’s manning, since the only other Airmen in the unit is the major. Being such a small unit, they both have to be fitness monitors so they can test each other once a year.

Sergeant Butikofer is in charge of the detachment’s quality assurance program, which makes sure contractors provide the services called for in the contract. He does about 30 inspections a month.

“I like the smallness of the unit, and our contractors are outstanding,” he said. “They really have a sense of the mission. It’s an important mission that I’m proud to be a part of. We download information from the satellites and get it to the warfighters so they can get their jobs done.”

There are less than 50 people at the satellite tracking station and the majority are contractors and members of the 36th Air Expeditionary Wing support team who provide security; heating ventilation and air conditioning; and power plant production. Without continued power or air conditioning, the tracking station would have to shut down its mission.

Staff Sgt. Keith Ongley is the NCO in charge of the detachment’s power plant. Three diesel generators kick in when Guam’s power goes out, which of late has been a monthly occurrence. During the past 12 months, the tracking station had to use generator power for unscheduled outages 21 times.

The thing Sergeant Ongley likes most about his job is working with the Guamanians on staff. Four Airmen and five civilians maintain the generators round the clock, seven days a week.

“The civilian technicians here are the best I’ve ever seen,” Sergeant Ongley said. “Being on an island, they’ve learned to fix things themselves. When they get training, they’re ahead of the game. These guys are sharp and very experienced.”

“Satellites don’t know what day it is, or if it’s day or night,” Major Hanson said. “So we work every day of the week, through every holiday.”

The station provides tracking, telemetry, command and mission data retrieval services to support the Department of Defense, NASA’s space shuttle and allied spacecraft. It’s one of eight in the Air Force.