The space-based visible program

Abstract

■ The Midcourse Space Experiment satellite was launched in 1996 into an 898-km altitude, near sun-synchronous orbit. A principal sensor on board the satellite is the Space-Based Visible (SBV) sensor, a visible-band electro-optical camera designed at Lincoln Laboratory to perform the first technical and functional demonstration of space-based space surveillance. The principal task of the SBV sensor is to gather metric and photometric information on a variety of resident space objects (RSO). In 1997, after the successful technologydemonstration phase of the mission, the SBV sensor was transitioned to a Contributing Sensor in the Space-Surveillance Network. Since April 1998, upon completion of the transition and testing phase, the SBV sensor has responded to daily tasking requests from the 1st Command and Control Squadron, in Cheyenne Mountain, in support of routine RSO catalog maintenance. The Space-Based Space-Surveillance Operations, funded through an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, and Air Force Space Command, is now providing the Space-Surveillance Network with the first operational space-based space-surveillance sensor. With its orbital location, wide field of view, and high metric accuracy, the SBV sensor has made a significant contribution to the Space-Surveillance Network, providing more tracks of objects in the geosynchronous belt than any other Space-Surveillance Network sensor.