Space Surveillance Telescope (SST)
Abstract
(U) The Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) program will develop and demonstrate an advanced ground-based optical system to enable detection and tracking of faint objects in space, while providing rapid, wide-area search capability. A major goal of the SST program is to develop the technology for large curved focal surface array sensors to enable an innovative telescope design combining high detection sensitivity, short focal length, wide field of view, and rapid step-and-settle to provide orders of magnitude improvements in space surveillance. This capability will enable ground-based detection of un-cued objects in deep space for purposes such as asteroid detection and space defense missions. The Air Force will participate in the DARPA funded developmental testing of SST and then take over operation of SST as a sensor in the Air Force Space Surveillance Network. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) has been established with Air Force Space Command for transition. (U) In addition, the program will investigate multi-aperture SST (MASST) alternatives. It will evaluate technologies and techniques to achieve the detection/tracking sensitivity and high search rate of the SST with a more affordable and manufacturable approach, to include the combined use of multiple small telescopes to achieve the same resolution as one large one. MASST alternatives will leverage advances in complex field sensing to combine the fields from multiple small telescopes to produce high resolution images. It will determine how the complex field sensing should be performed at each sub-aperture (telescope), as well as design and develop the appropriate adaptive optics correctors, the compensation algorithms for phase differences between telescopes, and the timing and optimization algorithms needed to generate high resolution imagery in real time. The program will develop and design one or more technology demonstrators to prove the benefit and feasibility of the concepts identified. This approach will enable wider deployment of systems which can detect and track small deep space objects.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2011
- Source ID
- 6eaf2a5f43bf08edf02428ffa3a17ed7