Air Force’s Falcon Telescope Installed To Track Satellites, Deep Space Objects

A 20-inch telescope developed to track satellites as well as objects hurtling in deep space was installed Tuesday at the Grand Mesa Observatory in Whitewater, Colorado.

The small aperture optical array is a part of the Falcon Telescope Network (FTN), which is a global project led by the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) and 16 different research institutions to install as many as 12 telescopes on four different continents — seven in the United States, two in Australia, and one each in South Africa, Chile, and Germany.

"The telescopes are identical in software and hardware, so every system located elsewhere as part of the Falcon Telescope network are exactly the same," Francis Chun, the USAFA professor who oversaw the installation of the Whitewater telescope, told local news outlet Western Slope Now.

While setting up the same kind of telescopes all over the globe might seem a little odd, the observatories hosting these instruments could prove critical in providing detailed observations of active, in-orbit satellites as well as distant objects in the cosmos.

Essentially, these arrays, positioned at different strategically-selected locations, would work collectively to perform continuous observations of a single object at the same. Scientists could change their viewing angles remotely and then use their observational capabilities to analyze space objects from different perspectives.

This could involve observation and tracking of active satellites in a wide range of orbits as well as investigation of deep space astronomical sources like an exoplanet, gamma-ray burst, supernova, or some other transient that may require simultaneous and immediate follow-up observation, according to Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

"They can learn about the solar system,” Chun added. “They can learn about the man-made space environment. They can learn about deep-space astronomy objects, as well. They can learn about other galaxies.”

All FTN observatories will have a range of specialized filters and sensors to make the observations. This will help them analyze the sunlight reflecting off space junk and active satellites and keep the two from colliding in space.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency already expressed interest in using these capabilities for national security purposes. This is because a collision between dead satellites, which have accumulated in orbit since the dawn of the space age, and operational satellites could compromise critical communication or military-related networks.

This could leave a country blinded for hours or even days and further add to the problem of space debris. At the moment, we have some 7,500 tonnes of space debris, hurtling at nearly 17,500 miles per hour, to observe and track.

That said, once fully ready and operational, the FTN would prove critical for both astronomical observations as well as national security.