Design of a compact wide field telescope for space situational awareness

Abstract

The European Space Agency, in the framework of its Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Preparatory Programme, has commissioned a study for a global network of surveillance telescopes to monitor the ever increasing number of objects in Earth orbit. A possible scenario identified by the study is a network of 20 SSA Telescopes located at various observatory sites. This paper presents the conceptual design of a telescope system optimised for wide field, short exposures and fast tracking – all requirements of SSA. The requirements of the SSA telescope will be presented followed by a brief review of potential telescope technologies. Following a trade study analysis a 1 m compact Schmidt telescope design was chosen. This design provides a field of view of 3.4 degrees diameter. The design is achromatic and covers the wavelength range 380 – 900 nm. The sensitivity of the telescope is such that it can monitor the orbital parameters of objects as small as 1 cm in low Earth orbit. This is equivalent to 17 th magnitude in 0.07 seconds at a signal to noise ratio of 5. The telescope is mounted on an Altitude- Azimuth type mount that enables wide coverage of the sky and fast tracking speeds. The entire telescope is contained within a Calotte type enclosure. The camera, detector control, and telescope control system design will also be presented. Systems engineering aspects will be addressed, with particular attention given to the analysis and flow-down of requirements and a practical and pragmatic process of system-level design trade-offs.