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The University of Michigan's Curtis-Schmidt
telescope is dedicated to optical studies of artificial orbital
debris for NASA. I'll give a general introduction to orbital
debris, what it is, and why NASA is interested. The Curtis-Schmidt
program is called MODEST (for Michigan Orbital
DEbris Survey Telescope), and concentrates on
surveys for orbital debris at geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO), with
a period of 23h56m.
Recently we have been using the CTIO 0.9-m simultaneously with the
Curtis-Schmidt to do real-time follow-up on objects found in the
Schmidt surveys. This allows us to determine full six-parameter
orbits and start to determine the true density function of debris at
GEO. In addition, we run the CCD cameras on both telescopes
synchronized together to measure colors of debris - the 0.9-m
observes in B, the Schmidt in R. This allows some preliminary
determinations of what the faint material could be, and its source.
Orbital debris studies with the Curtis-Schmidt and the CTIO 0.9-m
are supported through grants to the University of Michigan from
NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office at the Johnson Space Center,
Houston, Texas. |
