[FPSPACE] I wonder if this sat will monitor other sats that certain govs don't want tracke

[LARRY KLAES]

Canada to build World’s First Asteroid-hunting Satellite

Written by Nicholos Wethington

Just yesterday (June 30th) was the 100-year anniversary of the Tunguska 
event, when a small piece of ice or rock created a huge blast crater near 
the Podkammenaya Tungus river in Siberia, flattening trees and scaring the 
heck out of people in the surrounding area. Thankfully, the blast didn’t 
happen in a populated area and nobody was killed, but there are many more 
pieces of debris floating around out there in space.

If we want to do something about an asteroid headed our way, or keep 
astronauts safe from space debris, knowing is half the battle. Thanks to a 
new microsatellite being built by the Canadian Space Agency, we will soon 
have a better map of the objects surrounding the Earth’s orbit.

The Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) is a small satellite, 
about the size of a suitcase and weighing 143 pounds (65 kilograms). This 
puts it in a class of satellites known as “microsatellites”. Canada has 
already launched a successful microsatellite mission – Microvariability and 
Oscillation of STars (MOST) – that measured the light oscillation of stars 
to determine their age.

NEOSSat will monitor asteroids, comets and space junk in near-Earth orbit – 
within 100 - 1240 miles (160 - 2000 km) – to create a detailed survey of 
objects close to the Earth. It will also track other satellites, such as 
geosynchronous satellites, which orbit further out at 22,400 miles (~36,000 
km).

Full article here:

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/07/01/canada-to-build-worlds-first-asteroid-hunting-satellite/