Principal Accomplishments

  • The Extended Space Sensors Architecture (ESSA), a net-centric test bed for space situational awareness, is now providing real-time radar imagery of satellites to military users on the SIPRNet. ESSA is also incorporating Net-Centric Enterprise Services software, developed by the Defense Information Systems Agency, to facilitate use of ESSA across multiple sensors and military organizations.
  • Development of the Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) is proceeding through optical processing, with the tertiary mirror complete and polishing commencing on the larger primary mirror. Assembly of the azimuth base and yoke has been completed, and motor testing is under way. Groundbreaking for the telescope enclosure at Atom Site on the White Sands Missile Range occurred in January 2008.
  • The Lexington Space Situational Awareness Center (LSSAC) successfully supported the launch of the Wideband Global SATCOM Flight 1 satellite and DSP Flight 23 this past year. LSSAC also supported the tracking and characterization of 59 newly launched satellites.
  • Optical Processing Architecture at Lincoln (OPAL) has continued its development toward a common processing architecture for a broad range of sensors. OPAL provides mission planning and data processing for space surveillance sensors. Deliveries of the OPAL system were completed to a number of sensor installations, and new sensors were identified that will utilize the OPAL software in the future.
Map of Haystack and HAX radar and receive antennas in MassachusettsA sparse aperture radar test bed has been established to conduct research on bistatic radar for space surveillance applications. Illumination is provided by the Haystack and HAX radars, and receive antennas are distributed across Massachusetts.

     

  • The Haystack Ultrawideband Satellite Imaging Radar high-power transmitter demonstrated paired-tube power combining and diplexing. Fabrication of all surface panels for the upgraded Haystack antenna has been completed. Alignment of the panels to achieve required surface tolerance has also been demonstrated.
  • Advanced technologies and processing techniques for future National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration missions continue to be developed and demonstrated. The Laboratory is incorporating an infrared digital focal-plane array into a Fourier transform interferometer system, demonstrating 1.5× improved performance with 100× improved speed in atmospheric sounding products and establishing a path from phenomenology to product development through modeling.

 

 

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