Module 5: National Contest theme

Module 5 – Middle School National Contest Theme

This module works students through how satellites can be used to collect information that can be used to benefit humanity or information that could violate someone’s right to privacy or be used to spy on people or places. This module is what you will be working with at the national contest. You want to look up as much information as you can related to the four topics below.

Part 1 – AI and Space Based Surveillance

Part 2 – How does the Government respond to and restrict what Satellites can see on the Earth? 

Part 3 – How are people monitored using satellites? Who monitors people?

Part 4- How can AI be used to attack or protect satellite systems?

Part 5 – The National Contest

Part 1 – AI and Space Surveillance

The Space Based Surveillance (SBSS) is a US government agency that is run by the US Space Force. This organization collects space object identification and tracks all satellites and near-Earth man made objects.  For more on the history of the US government tracking space objects see

The SBSS is a satellite that orbits 390 miles above the Earth and it communicates through the world-wide Air Force Satellite Control network and commercial Unified Space Network Ground stations giving the satellite access to multiple transmission and receiving stations all around the world. All of the data goes to the Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado, where the Space Delta squadron monitors the data and controls the SBSS satellite.  The squadron monitors satellites to see when a decaying (or falling) satellite may re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere, prevent a returning space object from triggering the missile warning systems in the US and other countries (since falling satellites look like a missile to these warning systems), chart the position of space objects and plot the orbits to make sure they are not traveling or mapping sensitive US assets like military bases, companies or government buildings.  The squadron is also responsible for detecting new objects when they enter the area they monitor around Earth, produce updated maps of all objects around the Earth with ownership, and inform NASA when or if space objects might interfere with the International Space Station or the other satellite objects.

The SBSS satellite monitors small objects all the way out to the Geosynchronous belt. If you remember from an earlier module, satellites in the geosynchronous belt rotate at the same rate as the Earth and are mostly used for communications.  As of July 2023, there were almost 10000 satellites in orbit, and of these, nearly 4000 were Starlink satellites.  In 2022 alone nearly 2000 satellites were launched in one year.  Not everyone agrees on the total number of satellites in orbit and you will see different numbers up on the internet.  For a full list of satellites and who owns them and where they are, see this website.

Of the total number of satellites, nearly half are owned by US government or US companies. There are about 7,000 satellites in Low Earth Orbits (LEO), about 150 in Middle Earth Orbit (MEO), 60 in Elliptical Orbit, and about 600 in Geostationary or Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO).  To see these satellites and the orbits you can visit this website to visualize them.

Part 2  – How does the Government respond to, and restrict what Satellites can see on the Earth? 

In 1992, H.R. 6133 – Land Remote Sensing Policy Act was passed by Congress and tried to outline the responsibilities for the LandSat satellites that were launched to image land. You read about the LandSat satellites in the last module. This law allowed private companies to get a license from the government to take images of data on Earth from space satellites and opened the wave of commercial satellites in space.  The US retained the right to something called “shutter control” which allowed the government to tell companies to “close your eyes” when they did not want these satellites to look at restricted areas.

The government has never implemented “shutter control” but they do have the legal right to ask for it. During 9-11, the government did not want other people to look at the military operations that the government was conducting in Afghanistan and they could have asked for “shutter-control”. Instead, they just bought the rights to all images from all satellites that covered that area, so that they owned all images coming from that part of the world, so no one else could look or use the images and data.

This still goes on, where US Government customers have the ability to ask a commercial satellite to image something on Earth and then not allow the company to share or use that data for anyone but that customer. There are also some odd rules and amendments in place that block, limit or restrict the release of images of certain countries, territories or Earth areas. To see some examples look at the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment which was passed in 1997.

Before the 1990’s, most of the satellites collecting Earth data were owned by governments and agencies of the government. After the 1992 law, many commercial satellites were launched to collect data. Some of these satellites can see things that are 40 cm by 40 cm or about the size of a school desktop, but most have between 2- 5 m resolution. That is great resolution from space! These commercial satellite images are able to be purchased by just about anyone who wants to look at a particular spot on Earth, and governments and defense agencies are some of the biggest customers of these images.  Once these images are bought, they belong to the customer and no one else can see them.

In 2018, then President Trump issued Space Policy Directive 2, and the Notice of proposed Rulemaking from the Department of Commerce in 2019 – which revised the 1992 Land Remote Sensing Policy act, and attempted to streamline the process of how commercial satellite companies could sell and use data collected by satellites. It allowed companies to sell images even of restricted areas if there were similar images already being sold by commercial satellites in other countries.

The one area that was strengthened by these 2019 rules was around satellites taking images of other satellites or things in orbit. Companies that wanted to imaging of other satellites for monitoring, spying or maintenance would need rules for “non Earth” imaging. This imaging of space objects was a worry for defense companies who perhaps have created spy satellites that look sort of like space debris, but if viewed close up by another satellite would reveal what they really are. The rules created by the US government limit the detailed imaging of other objects in space and they company has to have permission from both the company that owns the satellite to be imaged and the Secretary of Commerce at least 5 days before any imaging is conducted.

In one report, a commercial satellite company stated that when there is conflict or a war in some region of the world, the countries involved tend to try and buy up all the images over these areas so that no one else can see the data for damage or troop movements or troop positions. They also state that there are now so many satellites looking at the same spots that is getting more difficult to buy all the images for some place, it is too expensive and too difficult. The costs to customers to buy these images are different based on who the customer is – a news agency, a non-profit, a government agency – but the costs start at a few thousand dollars per image.

Part 3 – How are people monitored using satellites?

Part 4- How can AI be used to attack or protect satellite systems?

Everyday there are reports of systems being hacked – bank accounts, emails, hospital records, and even satellites. Why might a hacker target a satellite? What kind of data are they looking for?

As hacker’s look for more targets, space is open and vulnerable to hackers. With thousands of Satellites in space, the National Security Agency (NSA) is looking to use AI to monitor small satellites to see if they have been hacked.If hackers can load malware onto the telemetry computer, then the malware can load up on the satellite computer as it passes over the telemetry station to receive and send back data to Earth. Satellites use common operating systems and are connected to ground systems and servers which can be hacked externally.

One key metric they look at to see if there is a breach is the location of the satellite. If the satellite seems to have moved to a new location, that is a red flag.

One issue with malware is that it can be hidden in the huge amount of data that satellites are sending back to the ground. In the past few years, there have been at least six known examples of computers being hacked for data.  In 2017, the US Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) server was compromised and hackers were able to upload, manipulate and execute files and commands unrelated to the control of the satellite position or speed. The JPL employees were able to see these changes and quickly reloaded new software, but the changes could have damaged or caused the satellite to fall from orbit.  

One big worry for cyber experts is the tampering with, or hacking of the Global Positioning Satellites (GPS). These satellites are relied upon for time stamping and location data for everything from buses, cars, ships, trains and the pizza delivery driver.

In agriculture, GPS is used in precision farming to plant seeds, apply fertilizers, and manage irrigation systems. Airline pilots rely on GPS systems to determine their exact position, altitude, and speed for takeoffs, landings, and mid-flight navigation. GPS also enables air traffic controllers to efficiently manage air traffic and ensure the safety of all aircraft in the sky. When a 911 call is made GPS enables the caller’s location, allowing emergency responders to reach them quickly.

There are several threats to the GPS system from hackers who can create:

Signal interference – disruptions to the normal signal up to or from a satellite.  In 2007 in Chicago, there was a stoppage in train service when the trains lost the GPS signal. The issue was some wireless microphones from a TV station nearby that were interfering with the GPS signal coming into the train station.

GPS Spoofing Threats – These are purposely fake signals sent to a GPS receiver which makes it calculate the location incorrectly. A research ship in the Black Sea in 2013 was hacked and showed the location of the ship to be on land, creating alarms to go off all over the ship.  This kind of threat has been used on delivery drones causing them to deliver packages to the wrong address.

Software and Hardware- you can hack both the hardware and software within GPS systems. A trucking company discovered that malware was installed on it’s GPS software leading to inaccurate tracking of cargo trucks. Some cyber security companies have discovered hardware on satellites that is vulnerable to special signals enabling attackers to control the satellite and change it’s position or turn it off. 

This article from Scientific American discusses the cyber threat to satellites.

Artificial Intelligence can be used in many ways to both protect satellites from Hacking, determine if a satellite has been hacked or to create an AI that can hack into a satellite.  It is important to think about the ways AI can be used to hack into a satellite.

Part 5 – The Contest

For the contest, you will get a scenario related to Satellites and data and privacy and AI.  You will need to use all the resources in the modules you have completed as well as finding some new resources to support you during the contest. You will do some background reading and design a satellite to do some kind of surveillance or block some surveillance, including the ethics of the surveillance.  You will make and present a 5 -10 minute slide deck of your work and supporting justification with references. 

BEFORE you come to the contest, you want to go through and make sure you have worked back over all the information you used in the other modules.

 References

https://www.spaceforce.mil/

https://www.congress.gov/bill/102nd-congress/house-bill/6133

https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/space-policy-directive-2-streamlining-regulations-commercial-use-space/

https://www.spoc.spaceforce.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/2381700/space-based-space-surveillance

https://www.satcen.europa.eu/services/general_crime_and_security_surveillance

https://privacyinternational.org/explainer/4595/satellite-and-aerial-surveillance-migration-tech-primer

https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/global-positioning-satellite-system-tracking-offenders-real-time