Memories of Project RAMOS (Russian American Observation Satellites) 1991 – 2004

During the course of my professional career, one of the more important projects I had the pleasure to work on was the joint US/Russian Federation (RF) RAMOS (Russian American Observation Satellites) program. Before the project’s unilateral cancellation by the US Department of Defense (DoD) in 2004, this program envisioned launching a pair of Russian-built, coorbital satellites carrying a large suite of Russian and American instruments covering wavelengths from the LWIR (Long Wave InfraRed) to UV (UltraViolet) in order to provide stereographic imagery of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena.

Diagram of the RAMOS satellite based on the Russian Yacht universal space platform. Click on image to enlarge. (Khrunichev)

While the political objective of the RAMOS program was to engage the RF in a cooperative defense-related space program, the primary technical objective was to conduct joint research and development on new approaches to improve both American and Russian space-based early warning capabilities, especially enhancing the ability to detect dim targets and reduce false alarms. Secondary technical objectives included performing observations of a more environmental nature in an attempt to broaden the appeal of the program beyond defense interests (see “RAMOS: The Russian-American Observation Satellites”).

One of the key people responsible for the inception of this program back in 1991 (and eventually its Chief Scientist) was my long-time colleague and friend, Dr. A.T. Stair, who is currently the CEO of the Boston-based Tropical Weather Analytics, Inc. (TWA) where I serve as the Chief Scientist (as well as served as a Senior Project Scientist on the American Science Team for RAMOS). In this post on Drew Ex Machina, Dr. Stair shares some of his “subjective memories” (as he has labelled them) of the early days of the RAMOS program including a close brush with the Russian Security Service (FSB – the successor of the infamous Soviet KGB) which nearly landed key members of our team in a Russian prison on espionage charges, as seems to happen all too often to Americans in Russia nowadays.

Introduction

Dr. A.T. Stair, the Chief Scientist of the RAMOS program and currently the CEO of Tropical Weather Analytics, Inc.

I retired from the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory as Chief Scientist in 1986. In 1991, after the start of Perestroika (political/economic reform) and Glasnost (transparency) in the USSR, led by Mikhail Gorbachev, I was asked by very high authority in the U.S. Executive Branch to create a joint US/RF scientific satellite-based program as an initiative to keep their top space scientists actively involved with us. The executing government agency was to be the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (which became the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and is now the Missile Defense Agency, MDA) whose director was Lt. General James Abrahamson. I knew “Gen Abe”, who, as an USAF Colonel who approved my Space Shuttle-based experiment, CIRRIS, which became the first DoD payload on the Shuttle on the STS 4 mission. He also introduced me at my induction ceremony into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1988. A very strong supporter of RAMOS was the deputy director, Lt. General Malcom O’Neil who later became the BMDO Director.

In 1992, I was President of Visidyne, Inc. headquartered in the Boston area, which had the lead science role (the CEO was Jack Carpenter – my close friend and mentor). I enlisted the Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) of Utah State University (a University Affiliated Research Center, UARC, whose director was Bartell Jensen), to take the lead engineering and contracting roles. I also enlisted members of the Aerospace Corporation as oversight system engineers, led by John Watson, and members of MIT Lincoln Laboratory, led by Hsia-Hua Burke. Both organizations are FFRDCs (Federally Funded Research and Development Centers). In order to avoid the near-impossible problems with exposing sensitive information by either country and with inputs from our team, I conceptualized doing stereo measurements with 3D capabilities, where each country would deploy its own satellite/sensors which were to be designed and tested to meet identical specifications and only the resulting data would be shared.

I remember clearly the day that Bruce Guilmain of SDL and I were in the Red-Carpet Room in Reagan Airport, Washington DC and cleared this concept during a two or three-hour telecon with DoD security. Our science team, including Jay Jordano, John DeVore, and Andrew LePage, carefully formulated a set of important technical objectives of stereo measurements. One of these, which we are still pursuing with Jim Cantrell, a former SDL engineer, and his new company Phantom Space Corp., is to measure the intensity of major hurricanes based on a seminal paper defining major hurricanes as Carnot Engines by one of our consultants, MIT Professor Kerry Emmanuel, and further analysis by MIT Professor Paul Joss (see “Using the Carnot Engine Model to Characterize Hurricanes from Orbit”).

Early Activities

With the help of one of my best friends, USU Professor Doran Baker, and SDL, we created an extraordinary Senior Guidance Council, led by James Fletcher (who served twice as the NASA Administrator) and members who included retired USAF four star General “Bennie” Schriever who led the development of the US ICBMs; Schriever Air Force Base is one of his namesakes. USAF Major General Garry Schnelzer was a critical member. We made multiple trips to Russia and, with the inestimable help of retired USAF Lt. Colonel and pilot, Michael Ritsik, as well Victor Privalsky, both SDL employees, we met the directors and staffs of many RF Space Organizations in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

On the left is Jack Carpenter (Visidyne CEO) and on the right is Mike Ritsik (SDL/USU) (our guide to Russian space companies). (A.T. Stair)

In the process of selecting which one to work with, I followed the near-disastrous approach of engaging with more than one RF Organization and to “down-select” at a later time – good old American competition: the essence of this piece and nearly a Russian jail.

We decided to engage with two RF organizations: first was NPO ELAS (Director Ganady Guskov) which is the Russian equivalent of our low altitude satellites spy organization, the NRO (National Reconnaissance Organization).

Guskov is shown at the far left in the picture during our first visit to NPO ELAS. Dr John Jamieson, a member of the U.S. team mentioned later, is on the far right. (A.T. Stair)

The second organization selected was NPO Kometa (Director Anatoly Savin) which is the Russian equivalent of our US Air Force Space Command with satellites for early warning of missile launches worldwide (aka DSP). Guskov and Savin were both Academicians with multiple Medals of Lenin – the highest civilian military-equivalent rank and recognition in Russia.

On the front row of this picture, taken during the first meeting with NPO Kometa, I am second from the left on the front row, Savin is next to me on my left and Bartell Jensen (all 6ft, 3in) is next. John Watson is in the light tan suit with red tie. We were told that this was the first U.S. group allowed in this room; notice the picture of Lenin on the back wall. Click on image to enlarge. (NPO Kometa)

We had a meeting with the department heads in NPO Kometa (about ten, all together) and each one brought out their copy of the book: “Infrared Physics and Engineering” which was one of their major textbooks. It was written by John Jamieson, the designer of the U.S. early warning satellite sensors, another good friend who was there as a member of my team. They all asked for him to sign their book (he didn’t know that his book had been translated into Russian and no rubles ever came).

We formed the RAMOS Social Club (RSOC), led by the SDL team of Kelly Davis and Brent Bartchi. The next two pictures were taken during one of our RSOC gatherings at my apartment in Boston, notice the ice sculpture and cake.

A RSOC social gathering with a RAMOS cake. Click on image to enlarge. (A.T. Stair)

Guskov and Savin, both giants in the Russian military industrial complex, were major competitors for finances and recognition: low altitude spy satellites versus high altitude early warning satellites, and rumor was that they had never met (hard to believe). Savin left college early to design the artillery and led the mass production thereof that helped to stop the German siege of Leningrad (which reverted to its original name of Saint Petersburg in 1991). Guskov showed us pictures from one of his satellites of the new NRO building under construction near Dulles Airport and offered to have us on orbit in a year (in retrospect, a major opportunity missed).

The Meeting

After a few years of interactions, including a pre-satellite joint airborne cloud measurement project (US KC-135 aircraft, modified by Visidyne and equipped with both Russian and US sensors – see “Atmospheric Observations Made Using the Aquameter Water Band Radiometer”) and, after agreeing on RAMOS objectives, we had a major meeting with both Guskov and Savin in the same room. Unbeknownst to us, the FSB (the successor of the KGB) had recovered from the break-up of the USSR and attended in force. Guskov and Savin had a very civilized discussion and were even trying to find a path to work together on RAMOS; Amazing! After a typically huge and fantastic long lunch, the head of the FSB contingent told us that we had broken Russian law by engaging with ELAS and Kometa, that we were under arrest and RAMOS was over.

Needless to say, this caused serious consternation – even for Guskov and Savin who joined us in pointing out that the “Russian law” they referred to no longer existed and each of their organizations was required to find outside funding. After heavy back and forth about what to do with us for some hours, Bartell Jensen, as the designated honcho of our group, stood up, all 6ft, 3in, give or take, looked like he was 8 ft tall to me – and, with advice from Mike Ritsik, winked at both Savin and Guskov, declared that we were there as official representatives of the United States and that they, the FSB, were overstepping their bounds with serious consequences. We asked them to call the U.S. “Executive Branch” and important Congressmen all of whose names and phone numbers we offered – confusion reigned. I know it helped that Bartell had a high position in the Mormon Church and spoke with such authority. Savin, who was only about 5ft, 6in, stood up next to Bart, motioned to Guskov and then, quietly, but very firmly, took over and told them, in no uncertain terms that RAMOS was a critical element in international stability, blessed at the highest level in Russia, and lucky for us, late in the evening, the bad guys backed off.

We subsequently were told that RAMOS could continue but, hereafter, we would be working only with Kometa because Guskov/ELAS were doing things that were too classified. RAMOS continued with Allan Steed as SDL Director followed by Tom Humpherys as the SDL lead, and David Burt as lead engineer through a very successful Joint PDR (Preliminary Design Review) held in SDL facilities/Logan, Utah but was officially ended by the US on September 15, 2004 after President George W. Bush had met with Putin who was in control of the “new” Russia.

A birthday card sent to Dr. Stair by the Russian RAMOS team over six years after the program’s cancellation. Click on image to enlarge. (A.T. Stair)

Post Script

All was not lost with the cancellation of RAMOS in 2004: Visidyne created a commercial spin-off, Tropical Weather Analytics, Inc. (TWA), which in turn has a joint Canadian partner, Canada Weather Analytics (CWA) which is building on the environmental objectives of RAMOS. As mentioned earlier, in cooperation with Phantom Space Corp., TWA is currently planning the deployment of the first stereo pair of nanosats, called Hurricane Hunter Satellites.