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Darcy Bibb
OceanitMentor: Tony BartnickiAdvisor: Curt Leonard
Home Institution: Maui Community College
Integration of a Small Telescope System for Space Situational Awareness
Overview
• Oceanit’s HANDS• Satellites
– What’s out there?
– Why track them?
• System integration– Component assembly and configuration
• System modeling and calibration– Polar alignment
– Mount model
• Autonomous tracking• System’s future
HANDS(High Accuracy Network Determination System)
• Global network of low-cost, ground-based telescope systems• Capable of autonomously tracking satellites• Can provide accurate position data (metrics) of satellites• All systems are remotely accessible
Why track satellites?
With over 8,000 man-made objects in orbit around Earth, the need to track these objects is apparent
An optical system can:
• Track own country’s assets in space• Keep track of where other countries’ satellites are situated• Determine possible collisions• Determine when and where objects will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere• Detect new objects in space
System Integration
• Assembly of components into three basic assemblies:– Computer system– Weather sensors– Optical assembly
• Combined assemblies make up overall complete telescope system
Computer System
• Computer system integration– Install and wire individual components into portable server rack– Install and configure software on each server
Front Back
Weather Sensors• Weather system integration
– Mount and wire all weather sensors on a portable weather pole
Optical Assembly• Optical assembly integration
– Install robotic telescope mount onto portable pier– Mount and balance optical tube assembly onto telescope mount– Mount and wire onto back of optical tube assembly:
• CCD Camera• Focuser• Filter wheel
Complete System
System Modeling
• Polar alignment– Polar alignment aligns the rotational axis of the telescope mount
parallel to the rotational axis of the Earth– Ensures accuracy of telescope movement and pointing
• TPoint model– Uses mapped stars for additional calculations and corrections to
improve mount alignment and external errors
Further Adjustments
• Bring images into focus– Adjustments to telescope primary mirror – broad adjustments– Mechanical focuser between telescope and camera – fine
adjustments
Optical system out of focus
Faint stars still appear out of focus
Completely focused image
Autonomous Tracking
• Software on Linux server configured for scheduled tasking and to provide scripts to software on the Windows server
• Software on Windows server executed scripts for telescope movement, object tracking, and image capture
• System successfully started up autonomously and began tracking satellites and saving images
Ballistic tracking Sidereal tracking
Future of the System
• With system capable of autonomous operation:– System will be moved into a test dome and set up– Verify system will operate and run autonomously– Complete system will run continuously for 21 days to test stability and operation
• Upon successful completion of stability testing:– System will be disassembled and packaged– Deployed to final destination, and reassembled and set up on site– System will run autonomously and return data to control center
Acknowledgements• Oceanit
– Tony Bartnicki
– Curt Leonard
– Everyone at Oceanit, Maui
• Center for Adaptive Optics– Scott Seagroves
– Lynne Raschke
– Hilary O’Bryan
• Akamai Workforce Initiative– Lisa Hunter
– Lani LeBron
The Akamai Internship Program is funded by the Center for Adaptive Optics through its National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center grant (#AST-987683) and by grants to the Akamai Workforce Initiative from the National Science Foundation and Air Force Office of Scientific Research (both administered by the NSF, #AST-0710699) and from the University of Hawaii.
• Maui Community College– Mark Hoffman
• Maui Economic Development Board– Leslie Wilkins
• 2008 Maui Short Course– Dave Harrington
– Ryan Montgomery
– Isar Mostafanezhad
– Mark Pitts
– Sarah Sonnet