Abstract

We report experimental results for optical observation of geosynchronous satellites and for earth-to-geosynchronous satellite laser beam transmission, where the Japanese Geostationary Meteorological Satellites, II, III (GMS-II, III) have been used. In the former, two activities, (1) orbit prediction (from microwave ranging) correction using optical tracking data, and (2) optical observation of the scene during the time of apogee motor firing of the GMS, are reported. In these experiments, a compact optical system composed of a 50-cm diam Cassegrain telescope and SIT camera was used. The results of (1) indicate that orbit prediction of geosynchronous satellites obtained from microwave ranging, which has an error of ~0.01° order, can be corrected to an order of ~0.001° using optical observation data. In experiment (2) the jet gas diffusion in geosynchronous orbit space was clearly observed. In the latter, the VISSR (visible and infrared spin scan radiometer) on board the GMS was used for detecting the laser beam transmitted from a ground station. At first an argon laser (wavelength = 0.5145 μm) was used as the cw transmitter. A clear spot image of the laser beacon was detected with good SNR against the earth’s background. Then we tried CO₂ laser (10.6-μm) beam transmission.

© 1985 Optical Society of America