Brandoch Calef, The Boeing Company; Shadi Naderi, Air Force Research Laboratory
Keywords: speckle imaging, speckle interferometry, closely spaced objects, CSO
Abstract:
We present a system developed at AMOS to perform automated closely-spaced object (CSO) detection and characterization. The approach is based on speckle interferometry, a mature technique whereby high-spatial frequency information is recovered from a sequence of short-exposure images. To characterize its performance, we present observations of hundreds of binary stars drawn from the Washington Double Star catalog and TESS exoplanet candidate systems using imaging sensors on the AMOS 1.6 and 3.6 meter telescopes. These demonstrate its ability to detect companions at angular separations approaching the diffraction limit, equivalent to a projected separation on the order of 10 meters at GEO range. Finally, we present observations of cooperative satellites performing proximity operations.
Date of Conference: September 27-20, 2022
Track: Optical Systems & Instrumentation