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No, they aren’t eyeballs, and they aren’t staring you down. These integrating spheres are used to generate a uniform diffuse light source, and we use them to calibrate our instruments.
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PCO is a visible imager (0.4-0.8 micron wavelengths) mounted at prime focus to enable wide field of view imaging of reflected light from objects in low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit for space domain awareness.
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With the MicroLine Camera, AeroTel can track STARLINK "VisorSat" (in green circle), even though it uses light shields to reduce its brightness for the astronomical community.
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The BASS instrument is primarily used to observe stars to help calibrate Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) satellites. BASS has also detected debris as small as 6-cm diameter in low Earth orbit and 1-m diameter in geosynchronous Earth orbit.
Specs
BASS is a thermal emission spectrograph (3-13 micron wavelengths) used at the AEOS 3.6-m (Haleakala, HI) and IRTF 3-m (Maunakea, HI) telescopes.
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VNIRIS observes reflected light from resident space objects.
Specs
VNIRIS is a visible to SWIR spectrograph (0.4-2.5 micron wavelengths) mounted at the Lick Observatory 3-m (San Jose, CA) and AeroTel telescopes.
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AeroTel is Aerospace’s 1-meter telescope, located on the roof of our El Segundo laboratory facilities. It serves as both a testbed for new types of sensors that we develop here at Aerospace and as our own observatory. These novel sensors are developed both for Space Domain Awareness and scientific inquiry. As an observatory, we can obtain unique data of immediate interest for our customers, responding as soon as the need arises.
Our Sensors
The Remote Sensing Department has decades of experience developing and collecting data with many different types of sensors. Rather than focusing solely on visible light imaging sensors, we have experience at all wavelengths from visible to long-wave infrared (LWIR) light as well as phenomenologies such as polarimetry and spectroscopy. Aerospace’s sensors operate on a suite of research telescopes ranging up in size to some of the largest telescopes on the planet, such as the Gemini North 8-meter telescope on Maunakea, Hawaii.
What We Observe
AeroTel studies a variety of objects from low Earth orbit to deep space, providing information on resident space objects and delivering ground-truth data for calibration of space assets. Beyond Earth orbit, Aerospace studies a variety of astrophysical objects including extrasolar planets, solar system asteroids, and pulsars.
Take a look around the telescope and learn about some of our sensors.
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AeroTel is Aerospace’s 1-meter telescope, located on the roof of our El Segundo laboratory facilities. It serves as both a testbed for new types of sensors that we develop here at Aerospace and as our own observatory. These novel sensors are developed both for Space Domain Awareness and scientific inquiry. As an observatory, we can obtain unique data of immediate interest for our customers, responding as soon as the need arises.
Our Sensors
The Remote Sensing Department has decades of experience developing and collecting data with many different types of sensors. Rather than focusing solely on visible light imaging sensors, we have experience at all wavelengths from visible to long-wave infrared (LWIR) light as well as phenomenologies such as polarimetry and spectroscopy. Aerospace’s sensors operate on a suite of research telescopes ranging up in size to some of the largest telescopes on the planet, such as the Gemini North 8-meter telescope on Maunakea, Hawaii.
What We Observe
AeroTel studies a variety of objects from low Earth orbit to deep space, providing information on resident space objects and delivering ground-truth data for calibration of space assets. Beyond Earth orbit, Aerospace studies a variety of astrophysical objects including extrasolar planets, solar system asteroids, and pulsars.
Take a look around the telescope and learn about some of our sensors.
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Aerospace’s MicroLine Camera can provide images of stars that are difficult to see in a Hubble visible light image. In the false-color MicroLine image (right), where red and infrared light take the place of RGB color, the stars become visible as the dust cloud is less visible at these wavelengths. The arrow points to a very red, potentially nearby star that is difficult to see in the Hubble visible light image (left).
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Check out this imagery, captured by AeroTel, that shows 4 satellites in geostationary orbit. Look for three 3 dots in the upper right quadrant and one off to the left. All the other flashes are stars zipping by.
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Polarimeter for High Accuracy LEO And other Non-imaging eXperiments (PHALANX) observes reflected light for space domain awareness, exoplanet cloud composition, asteroid surface metal, and pulsar science.
Specs
PHALANX is a visible-light polarimeter (0.4-0.75 micron wavelengths) to be mounted at the Gemini North 8-m (Maunakea), Lick Observatory 3-m (San Jose, CA), and AeroTel telescopes that operates simultaneously over 5 bands.
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The DVS camera’s pixels operate completely independently (i.e., each one is its own camera) and register “events” at a very high rate, thousands of times a second. An event is either a brightening or darkening of that pixel from the previous record. This means that it can detect changes in brightness very rapidly. With all of the pixels together, one can see a bright, fast-moving object very easily as a series of events along contiguous pixels. One application of this technology might be to better track fast-moving satellites and get better position/time information that feeds into its orbital determination.
Specs
DVS is a visible light (0.4-0.8 micron wavelength), event-based sensor that is triggered by brightness changes.
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The MicroLine sensor is used for space domain awareness and for infrared imaging of celestial objects for outreach.
Specs
MicroLine is a visible to near-infrared imager (0.4-1.0 micron wavelengths) mounted at prime focus to enable wide field of view imaging of reflected light from objects in low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit.
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The SWIRCAT instrument is used for space domain awareness and for infrared imaging of celestial objects for outreach. SWIRCAT is also the engineering model for the NIRAC sensor currently aboard the International Space Station.
Learn more about NIRAC
Specs
SWIRCAT is a visible to SWIR imager (0.5-1.7 micron wavelengths) mounted at prime focus to enable wide field of view imaging of reflected light from objects in low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit.
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This telescope dome is used to receive laser signals from Aerospace’s CubeSat fleet. The AeroCubes have demonstrated impressive laser communication capabilities, showing how a small satellite can downlink large amounts of data at high speeds.


Read about how our AeroCubes transmitted imagery of a hurricane.
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Aerospace is working to enhance the detection and identification of objects on orbit. In particular, researchers are examining whether the polarization of light reflected off an object in space can help determine whether that object is natural or manmade.


Read more
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This is a custom-built, lightweight, athermal telescope with a primary mirror that has a diameter of 20 inches. It serves as a co-boresighted side telescope attached to the top side of AeroTel.
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The Aerospace Corporation
www.aero.org
John Binkley
SYSTEMS DIRECTOR
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The Aerospace Corporation
www.aero.org
John Binkley
SYSTEMS DIRECTOR
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