A Sixty-Year Timeline of the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site

For over 60 years, the present-day Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site (AMOS) has provided the U.S. Department of Defense with space situational awareness capabilities from the island of Maui, Hawaii. AMOS consists of two separate facilities: the Maui Space Surveillance Complex (MSSC) and the Maui High Performance Computing Center (MHPCC). The MSSC is located on the top of the Haleakala volcano and is operated by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). MSSC has three large (meter-class) optical telescopes that were designed to provide situational awareness for missile tests and orbiting man-made objects. Together, these telescopes provide the Air Force with a unique capability to support space situational awareness missions. MHPCC is located in Kihei and is one of the five DoD Supercomputing Resource Centers. MHPCC provides computational resources, high-speed communications infrastructure, and support services to MSSC. Although they are separate facilities, MHPCC and MSSC are often referred to together as AMOS, due to a strong collaboration that exists between them. Since its inception, AMOS has evolved to meet emerging challenges and new missions. It is important for present-day decision makers to understand how AMOS has changed over time as they assess its role for future missions. To this end, this document contains an annotated timeline of AMOS from its origin in 1951 to the present day (2012). It is presented here to provide background for future researchers and strategic planners who need to understand the context and background of the site's history. This timeline was created as part of a larger fiscal year 2012 study, Assessing Current/Future Customers for the Maui Space Surveillance Site, which was designed to assess AMOS's long-term sustainability. In support of the main research objectives, RAND compiled a thorough listing of key events that helped shape the modern-day manifestation of AMOS, and these events are listed in this timeline.