3 – 13 µm Spectra of Geosynchronous Satellites

David Lynch (The Aerospace Corporation), Ray W. Russell (The Aerospace Corporation), David Gutierrez (The Aerospace Corporation), Mark Turpin (The Aerospace Corporation), Kirk Crawford (The Aerospace Corporation), Yaniv Dotan (The Aerospace Corporation), Daryl Kim
(The Aerospace Corporation), Richard J. Rudy (The Aerospace Corporation), Mark A. Skinner (The Boeing Company)

Keywords: NROC, Non-Resolved Object Characterization

Abstract:

We report 3-13 µm spectra of three geosynchronous satellites using The Aerospace Corporation’s Broadband Array Spectrograph System (BASS) on the AEOS 3.7 meter telescope at Haleakala in December 2005. The satellites observed were NORAD 21639 (TDRS 5), 11145 (DSCS 2-12) and 15629 (INTELSAT 510). The spectra showed structure indicative of the satellites’ surface material, temperature and cross section as viewed from the observatory. A brief summery of how to analyze such spectra to retrieve surface material composition, temperature and geometrical cross section is included.

Date of Conference: September 10-14, 2006

Track: Non-Resolved Object Characterization

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