CCD-camera system to monitor space debris

17 Jun 2002

A charge-coupled-device (CCD) camera system developed by AstroCam (Cambridge, England), using control electronics from Sira (Chislehurst, England), will be used on a telescope at the European observatory at Tenerife, Canary Islands, to watch space debris orbiting the Earth.

Such materials include dead satellites, spent rocket stages, and various spacecraft and booster pieces. Knowledge of debris orbit positions will aid in planning missions to avoid possible collisions. In the telescope, the CCD detectors are cooled by liquid nitrogen to reduce thermal noise. Sensitivity and dynamic range are thereby increased to allow tracking the faint debris emissions.