Space Surveillance
Satellite-to-satellite imaging
On occasion, an imaging satellite will fly close enough to another satellite
to obtain a resolved picture of it. This technique, called
"satellite-to-satellite" imaging or "sat-squared," has been rumored to be in
use for several years using reconnaissance satellites. An unclassified
example is this optical image of the ERS-1 radar satellite imaged by the
SPOT-4 remote sensing satellite in May of 1998. For further details, see
http://spot4.cnes.fr/spot4_gb/im-ers-0.htm
Other Resources
- A Stealth Satellite Sourcebook by Allen Thomson, updated September 29, 2009
- The Altay Optical-Laser Center Sourcebook by Allen Thomson, updated October 1, 2009
- A Sourcebook for the Use of the FGAN Tracking and Imaging Radar for Satellite Imaging by Allen Thomson, updated December 2008
- A GEODSS Sourcebook by Allen Thomson, updated October 19, 2008
- Sourcebook on the Okno and Krona Space Surveillance Systems by Allen Thomson, updated December 30, 2008
- A GRAVES Sourcebook, by Allen Thomson, updated October 13, 2008. "The French GRAVES system (Grande Réseau Adapté à la Veille Spatial) is presently the only European installation outside the US SSN which can perform space surveillance in its classical sense."
- A Globus II / HAVE STARE Sourcebook by Allen Thomson, updated August 25, 2008
- DOPLOC: A Selection of Historical Items on Radiometric Tracking compiled by Allen Thomson
- The Navy Space Surveillance System, R.L. Easton and J.J. Fleming, Proceedings of the IRE, 1960
- Revisiting Spacetrack Report #3 by David A. Vallado, Paul Crawford, Richard Hujsak, and T.S. Kelso, AIAA 2006-6753
- A Sourcebook on the Use of the MU Radar for Satellite Tracking by Allen Thomson, September 2006
- The Q-2004: The Use of Videography in Tracking Earth Satellites by Greg Roberts (1.8 MB PDF file)
- Monitoring Space – Efforts Made by European Countries by H. Klinkrad
- Navy Space Surveillance System, budget justification, February 2003
- The Naval Space Command Automatic Differential Correction Process by D.A. Danielson, et al
- COBRA TALON, COBRA SPOT, from Allen Thomson, December 9, 2003
- Could Columbia have been imaged by a KeyHole? by Ted Molczan, February 17, 2003
- STS 107 Mystery Object by Ted Molczan, March 4, 2003
- AMOS Imagery of Space Shuttle Columbia During STS-107
- Space Surveillance and Tracking System, Fact Sheet, October 2002
- The Naval Space Surveillance System, Fact Sheet, September 2002
- SPAWAR Awards Space Surveillance System Contract, September 2002
- A Space Surveillance Ontology, MITRE, October 2000
- Space Surveillance Ontology Captured in an XML Schema, Daniel M. Brandsma, MITRE, May 23, 2001
- Modernizing the Naval Space Surveillance System (PDF), NRL briefing, 1999
- Human Machine Interface Incidents: The SPADOC 4C Story
- Space Surveillance: DOD and NASA Need Consolidated Requirements and a Coordinated Plan. NSIAD-98-42. 29 pages plus 4 appendices (11 pp.) December 1, 1997.
- US Naval Space Command Space Surveillance System (Allen Thomson)
- NAVAL SPACE OPERATIONS CENTER NAVSPACECOM / N32 Brief
- Spacecast 2020 - SPACE TRAFFIC CONTROL
- THE RADAR ROADMAP Electronic Trajectory Measurements Group, Range Commanders Council, DOCUMENT 260-98 - SEPTEMBER 1998
- Canadian Satellite Tracking and Orbit Research (CASTOR)
- The flight of Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5
- Radio observations of Kosmos-212/213 - the
second automatic docking
- PDM signal format
- Linked to the Fence, an article about Naval Space Command from All Hands magazine, June 2001
- The Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS): A Program Overview, 1999
- AEOS Adaptive-Optics System and Visible Imager, 1999
- Visual Satellite Observer's Home Page
- SeeSat-L Archives - links to the complete archive of SeeSat-L subdivided per month since SeeSat-L was created in December 1994.
Where are They Now?
These gizmos provide near-real time outputs of the locations of orbiting spacecraft.
- Heavens-Above If you're interested in satellites, you've come to the right place! Heavens-Above provides all the information needed to observe satellites, including the times of visibility and detailed star charts showing the satellite's track through the heavens. All the pages, including the graphics, are generated in real-time and customized for location and time zone.
- Liftoff's J-Track Spacecraft Tracker [STS, Mir, etc] SERIOUS JAVA
- View from Satellite To view the Earth as currently seen from a satellite in Earth orbit, choose the satellite from the list and press the "View Earth from Satellite" button.
Other Tracking Activities
http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/track/
Created by John Pike
Maintained by Steven Aftergood
Updated October 1, 2009