C1C Shane Bruski (United States Air Force Academy), C1C Michael P. Jones (United States Air Force Academy), C1C Samuel R. Harms (United States Air Force Academy), Scott R. Dahlke (United States Air Force Academy), Lt Col Neil Thomas (United States Air Force Academy)
Keywords: Novel Approaches, SSA Sensing, Electro-Optical
Abstract:
A commercial off-the-shelf satellite tracking system is developed and utilized for determining satellite characteristics on a minimum budget. A summary of the system components, developments, capabilities, and future improvements is addressed within this paper. The system is divided into four main components: camera and lens, tracking mount, tracking and data handling computer, and software. The system is highly mobile and has provided usable research data through the imaging of unresolved satellites as dim as 6th magnitude. Future plans for a permanent assembly with networked control and automated data collection is also described.
Date of Conference: September 11-14, 2012
Track: Novel Approaches to Electro-optical SSA Sensing