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History of U.S. Space Surveillance and Satellite Cataloging: A Long and Winding Road
305 pages, Hardcover
Published September 15, 2025
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December 29, 2025
Ok I have to start out by admitting that I am reviewing this book after having read only about a half of it. Forgive me. I will come back and revise my review.
But I have been involved in satellite tracking since 1978, when I reported to class to learn how to be an Air Force Orbital Analyst. I was an Orbital Analyst at the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex until 1981 when I went to a BMEWS radar tracking station (Clear Air Force Station at the time) and was a Senior Director there. So a lot of the places that the book describes, and a lot of the systems that the book talks about, are ones that I was heavily involved in. I was originally trained on the "Delta" or 496L and was one of the first Orbital Analysts that was trained on the new 427M system.
I also took a graduate Orbital Mechanics course from one of the authors, Felix Hoots, PhD while I was in Colorado. I can attest that he is an amazingly smart guy. I have worked with a number of the people in book - John Gabbard, Nick Johnson, Paul Major, etc. I am NOT associated with the people who wrote the book and have no financial or other interests in it.
The book is written in a very approachable style and is fun to read, this subject can get extremely complex in a big hurry.
So far I notice that the book's index has left a lot of names out - I see that G Taft Devere is mentioned in the book several places (for instance on page xi in the Introduction) but his name is not in the Index. Taft is one of the best Orbital Analysts that the Air Force ever had and should be noted.
There are several things that should be expanded, an example is the "International Designator" which I first see on page 36. It is called the COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) designator also and is widely used in Europe. Certainly this was first assigned by Orbital Analysts and later the Committee was established and adopted that designator for satellites. Oddly, this Committee never gained much traction and they certainly just adopt what the Orbital Analysts assign.
So far I have learned a lot from the book and would recommend it, don't be concerned that it might be too technical.
But I have been involved in satellite tracking since 1978, when I reported to class to learn how to be an Air Force Orbital Analyst. I was an Orbital Analyst at the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex until 1981 when I went to a BMEWS radar tracking station (Clear Air Force Station at the time) and was a Senior Director there. So a lot of the places that the book describes, and a lot of the systems that the book talks about, are ones that I was heavily involved in. I was originally trained on the "Delta" or 496L and was one of the first Orbital Analysts that was trained on the new 427M system.
I also took a graduate Orbital Mechanics course from one of the authors, Felix Hoots, PhD while I was in Colorado. I can attest that he is an amazingly smart guy. I have worked with a number of the people in book - John Gabbard, Nick Johnson, Paul Major, etc. I am NOT associated with the people who wrote the book and have no financial or other interests in it.
The book is written in a very approachable style and is fun to read, this subject can get extremely complex in a big hurry.
So far I notice that the book's index has left a lot of names out - I see that G Taft Devere is mentioned in the book several places (for instance on page xi in the Introduction) but his name is not in the Index. Taft is one of the best Orbital Analysts that the Air Force ever had and should be noted.
There are several things that should be expanded, an example is the "International Designator" which I first see on page 36. It is called the COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) designator also and is widely used in Europe. Certainly this was first assigned by Orbital Analysts and later the Committee was established and adopted that designator for satellites. Oddly, this Committee never gained much traction and they certainly just adopt what the Orbital Analysts assign.
So far I have learned a lot from the book and would recommend it, don't be concerned that it might be too technical.
Displaying 1 of 1 review