Thanks to the federal government’s major budget cuts, America’s citizens may be left to face the threat of space attacks. The U.S. Air Force announced on Monday that on Oct. 1., it will shut down its space surveillance system, which tracks satellites and other orbiting objects. While the sequestration has halted the current system, the Air Force does plan to improve upon the old model and maintain its ability to track what’s going on in and around Earth’s orbit.

The current model is “much less capable than the space fence radar planned for Kwajalein Island in the Republic of the Marshall Islands,” said Commander of the Air Force Space Command General William Shelton, comparing the old system with the new one the Air Force is planning. “In fact, it’s apples and oranges in trying to compare the two systems.”

The current system is made up of three transmitters and six receivers distributed throughout the southern United States. According to Shelton, it has been in operation since 1961 and is outdated. Instead of spending more money on old technology, the Air Force will disable it and begin developing a new system. Termed the “Space Fence,” the old system’s successor will transmit a “fence” of radar energy that will both detect and block any objects or hazards from crossing it.

While alien threats may be a Sci-Fi fantasy, the recent Chelyabinsk asteroid that injured more 1,000 people in central Russia is just one example of the million real threats that Earth faces. Coupled with that are another half-million pieces of space junk from humans also littering Earth’s orbit. Once the Air Force surveillance system shuts down, the U.S. may be left in the dark about these objects and any threats NASA’s satellites may be facing.

The Air Force’s 2013 budget request planned for $252.6 million in funding for the Space Fence program. Two companies, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon had demonstrated competing working prototypes that successfully tracked objects in space. Budgetary concerns have prevented the Air Force from awarding a new contract to build the updated system. The Pentagon is still reviewing the request, and until the Pentagon allocates its funds to establish a new space surveillance system, the U.S. will be subject to space threats.

The U.S. Air Force officials are not deterred by this setback and will continue vying for the funds. “When combined with the new Joint Space Operations Center’s high performance computing environment, the new fence will truly represent a quantum leap forward in space situational awareness for the nation,” Shelton said in a statement Monday.