ASAT for Dumbasses: Part Two - Detecting and Tracking Stealth Satellites

by spynuclear@yahoo.com

This is a continuation of ""Anti-Satellite (ASAT) System for Dumbasses" (27:4).

This article will describe a system that can be used to detect and track a low-observable (stealth) satellite.

These particular birds are dedicated reconnaissance assets that scan high-value targets.  The stealth characteristics are incorporated to involve visible, IR (Infrared), and radar frequencies to evade detection.  This is accomplished by using special radar absorbent paints and materials.

Optical stealth is achieved by using satellite panels painted flat black.  My system is designed to bypass these restrictions.  Laser scanning a section of the sky and gathering the reflected light from the target satellite accomplishes this.  The CCD camera feeds the signal to a computer and uses specialized astronomical software to detect the satellite.  Other software is used to convert the data gathered to predict satellite orbital data and the next overhead pass.

My system uses the following:

  • Meade ETX90EC.  Computerized telescope with an integral satellite tracking capability.

  • Meade LPI (Lunar Planetary Imager) CCD camera.  You can use any consumer grade CCD camera that records in AVI format.

  • LunarScan 1.5.  Specialized astronomical software that is used to detect micro-meteorite impacts on the moon.  We are going to trick the software to recognize the reflected laser light from the stealth satellite as a lunar meteor impact.

  • Shortwave radio.  Used to get the most accurate time signals from WWV (2.5, 5, 10, 15, 25 MHz), CHU (3330,7850, 14670 kHz).  This is needed for accurate orbital elements determination of the target.

  • Handheld laser barcode scanner.  I use a surplus scanner unit that has been modified by adding red and green laser modules piggybacked onto the unit so that they fire into the rotating mirror assembly.

  • Satellite tracking software.  I use a variety of software for orbital elements tracking.  I recommend that the user try various software packages such as Orbitron, SatTrack, Psat, Pocket Sat Plus, and others.  See what works best for you.

The setup is to mount the modified laser barcode scanner so that it fires up in the sky.

The LPI camera is mounted onto the ETX90EC telescope.  The camera takes a series of images and feeds the images to the LunarScan software for target detection.

The telescope has an option for the user to read out the aiming data to wherever the telescope is pointed at.  This data with accurate location, timing information, satellite transit data, and angles will give the observer a rough set of orbital elements.  Repeating this procedure over several sessions will give much more accurate orbital data.  This makes tracking the stealth satellite much easier and more accurate.

The data reduction procedure from the observing session consists of getting the following data from each satellite observing pass:

  • Location:  GPS is best.
  • Date/Time:  Local date and time as well as time in Julian format or Universal Time.
  • Start Azimuth Angle:  The starting azimuth angle of the satellite pass above the local horizon.
  • End Azimuth Angle:  The ending azimuth angle of the satellite pass above the local horizon.
  • Pass Time Elapsed:  The time (in seconds) that the satellite is visible.

This information forms the basis for orbital element determination.  This data is used to determine and generate the future orbital pass and tracking data.

Some satellites are stealthed so that they can sneak up on their targets.  They are launched into orbit and moved into a new orbit as their mission tasking changes.  Due to a limited fuel capacity and restrictive mission tasking requirements, this is done rarely.  Some recce sats are run in "silent running" mode to look like dead hardware until needed for a mission.

Some are run in an orbit that looks like an innocent communications or weather bird.  These sats are activated and moved to a new orbit to sneak up on the required target.  Some hunter/killer sats can be disguised anti-satellite weapons platforms for sneak attack mission profiles.

My next article in this series will concern the building and operation of a quantum gravity based mass defect sensor system.  This is a passive device that detects an object simply by that object's existence without generating any emissions that can be detected.  This device is specifically designed to detect and track stealth aircraft missiles and satellites.

This is a type of an esoteric field called anti-stealth technology.  This technology has the ability to completely render current stealth technology applications and billions of dollars of stealth aircraft, missiles, and satellites totally obsolete.  It not only detects and tracks the object, but also determines the object's mass and Doppler velocity, which has an effect on the object's orbital lifetime and other characteristics.

References
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