Caleb Abbott, Georgia State University; Daniel Johns, Georgia State University; Fabien R. Baron, Georgia State University; Stuart M. Jefferies, Georgia State University; Deborah J. Gulledge, Georgia State University; Cody L. Shaw, Air Force Research Laboratory; Fallon P. Konow, Georgia State University; Dmitriy Shcherbik, Georgia State University; Arturo O. Martinez, NASA Ames Research Center; Caytyn Abono, University of California, Berkeley; Lewis C. Roberts, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology; Ryan Swindle, US Space Force; Douglas A. Hope, Georgia Tech Research Institute
Keywords: Atmospheric turbulence, Imaging, Adaptive Optics,]
Abstract:
Ground-based observations of objects in the volume of space from low-Earth orbit (LEO) to Cislunar, play a pivotal role in Space Domain Awareness (SDA). All observations, however, suffer degradation due to turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere. Therefore, the government and private industry have invested significant effort and resources to mitigate the adverse effects of atmospheric turbulence. The Advanced Reconnaissance of Earth-orbiting Satellites (ARES) instrument is a versatile benchtop platform for simulating atmospheric turbulence. ARES can be used for both the testing and calibration of prototype instrumentation for on-sky development, and validating techniques and ideas developed theoretically or through numerical simulations in research for imaging through the atmospheric turbulence.
Three areas where ARES will provide significant contributions to areas of interest to the DoD are the detection and characterization of targets from LEO to Cislunar (or XGEO), observing these targets 24/7, and ground-to-space communications.
In addition to providing a research tool and testbed for novel techniques for ground-based imaging of near-Earth orbiting satellites, ARES also provides an educational tool for training the next generation of scientists in advanced methods for high-resolution imaging. Students (graduate and undergraduate) and postdocs can use ARES to gain practical “hands-on” experience with optics and engage in state-of-the-art research projects that impact both SDA and astronomy.
Here we describe the architecture of the ARES simulator and provide an example of it’s use for research into uplink laser compensation.
Funding for the ARES simulator was provided through awards from the DoD’s Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) in 2018 and 2021.
Date of Conference: September 27-20, 2022
Track: Optical Systems & Instrumentation