Ground-based electro-optical surveillance of satellites in daylight by detection of reflected sunlight

An MIT Lincoln Laboratory computer-controlled 31-in. f/5 telescope, used with a readily-available silicon vidicon TV camera and a video processing system, can easily acquire and track low altitude satellites during daytime by detection of reflected sunlight to a limiting magnitude of 8.3 mag. On Oct. 22, 1981, a total of 20 satellite tracks on 18 different satellites was achieved in the daytime, and accurate positional data on 13 of the tracks were sent to the NORAD Space Defense Center. This demonstrated proof-of-concept for a daylight mission for the new Air Force Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) system. Experiments in daylight space surveillance indicated that the atmosphere is cluttered with small objects which have to be discriminated from satellites if the trajectory of the satellite is not known. A parallax apparatus was constructed which successfully accomplished this.