(U) Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) at Socorro

(The effects of any budget/program decisions made since the information was collected during 1997-98 are NOT reflected in the National Security Space Road Map (NSSRM).)

Overview: (U)
(U)  The Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) site at Socorro, NM is one of three operational sites performing ground-based optical tracking of space objects.  The Socorro (New Mexico, USA), Choe Jong San (South Korea) and Maui (Hawaii, USA) sites were operational by 1983.  A fourth site, Diego Garcia (Indian Ocean), was completed in 1987, and a fifth site was planned but later cancelled for Portugal.  The South Korean site was closed in 1993 due to weather and cost concerns.  

(U) This system supersedes the global network of Baker-Nunn film camera sites which had been in place since 1958 and were finally closed in April 1992 (the St Margarets, New Brunswick, Canada site being the last).  The GEODSS system can track space objects as small as a basketball between 5,500-37,000 km. The MIT/Lincoln Labs Experimental Test Site is also located in Socorro, NM where it conducts research and development of electro-optical surveillance systems for deep space sensing utilizing conventional telescopes with highly sensitive detectors.  The original GEODSS prototype for R&D continues to operate at this facility.  The Air Force has interest in flying a similar system in space which would reduce the impacts of weather (e.g., cloud cover), and be cost-competitve with respect to an international ground system.

Description: (U)
(U)  The Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) site at Socorro, New Mexico  is one of three sites performing ground-based optical tracking of space objects.  To perform its mission, GEODSS brings together the telescope, low-light level television cameras, and computers -- three proven technologies.  The Socorro site has two main and one auxiliary telescopes.  The main telescope (a Cassegrains) has a 102 cm aperture and a two-degree field of view and is used primarily to search the deep sky for faint (+16 magnitude), slow-moving objects. The auxiliary telescope (a Schmidt) has a 38 cm aperture and six-degree field of view, and does wide area searches of lower altitudes where objects travel at higher relative speeds. The telescopes are able to "see" objects 10,000 times dimmer than the human eye can detect.  

(U)  The telescopes scan the sky at the same rate as the stars appear to move. This keeps the distant stars in the same positions in the field of view. As the telescopes slowly move, the GEODSS cameras take very rapid electronic snapshots of the field of view. Four computers then take these snapshots and overlay them on each other. Star images, which remain fixed, are electronically erased. Man-made space objects, however, do not remain fixed and their movements show up as tiny streaks which can be viewed on a console screen. Computers measure these streaks and use the data to figure the positions of objects such as satellites in orbits from 5,500-37,000 km. This information is used to update the list of orbiting objects and sent nearly instantaneously from the sites to Cheyenne Mountain AFB.  Since GEODSS is an optical system, the system only operates at night, and cloud cover and local weather conditions influence its effectiveness.

User Impact: (U)
(U) Any sustained loss of a GEODSS sensor would have dramatic impact on the deep space surveillance mission and maintenance of the space catalogue.

Programmatics: (U)
(U) Operational.

(U) Organizations and Funding:
	(U) AFSPC: Funding Source.

Related Initiatives: (U)
(U) CSOC, Diego Garcia, Diego Garcia GEODSS Upgrades, GEODSS, Maui, Maui GEODSS Upgrades, NCMC-TW/AA, Optical C3 Facility, Socorro GEODSS Upgrades

Related Requirements: (U)
(U) None.

Related Categories: (U)
(U) Dedicated Sensors

Road Map Placements: (U)
(U) National Security Space Road Map, SPACE CONTROL: S.S. NETWORK.

Lead Office: (U)
(U) Air Force.

Date of Information: (U)
27 August 1998

(The effects of any budget/program decisions made since the information was collected during 1997-98 are NOT reflected in the National Security Space Road Map (NSSRM).)