Alan Scott, (COM DEV Ltd., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), John Hackett (S.I.S., Cambridge, Ontario, Canada), Kam Man, (COM DEV Ltd., Cambridge, Ontario, Canada)
Keywords: Orbital Debris, SSA, Space-based Assets, Small Telescope Systems
Abstract:
Sapphire is the first Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellite mission flown by Canadas Department of National Defence (DND). On February 25, 2013 Sapphire was successfully launched into a sun synchronous orbit at ~786 km altitude. The commissioning phase was a success and the Sapphire system is entering its operational phase. Canada and the United States signed an SSA Memorandum of Understanding on May 4, 2012. Under the agreement, data from DNDs Sapphire satellite will be contributed to the U.S. Space Surveillance Network (SSN), enhancing the ability of both countries to detect and avoid the collision of critical space platforms with orbital debris. The Sapphire system is now collecting SSA data that will be shared with the SSN. This SSA partnership will strengthen the long standing defence relationship between the US and Canada and provide diversity in space based sensors at a time of fiscal constraint. The Sapphire satellite optical imaging payload was designed and built by COM DEV based around a small (13.25 cm) Three Mirror Anastigmat (TMA) telescope similar in design to the Space Based Visible sensor on the US Mid-Course Space Experiment satellite. The paper provides an overview of the design and operational performance of the Sapphire instrument, comparing the actual performance to the requirements. Based on lessons learned on this program we discuss potential improvements that would be feasible in a second generation Sapphire payload including the potential for using this sensor as a hosted payload in other applications.
Date of Conference: September 10-13, 2013
Track: Space-Based Assets