A Tasmanian observatory will be able to track fast-moving satellites and help prevent space debris collisions with “catastrophic consequences” after a technology company donated a new mount.
Key points:
- The new mount, donated by HENSOLDT Australia, allows the telescope to rotate in alignment with the earth
- There are 6,000 satellites and hundreds of thousands of space debris in orbit, and observing their path will help prevent collisions.
- Tasmania’s location near the South Pole makes it an ideal place to watch passing satellites
The equatorial mount, which is still aligned with the earth’s rotation, allows researchers to rotate a 70kg telescope at 20 degrees per second to observe objects in lower orbit.
The Greenhill Observatory at Bisdee Tier, near Hobart, is part of the Southern Guardian Network, a series of infrastructure across Australia owned and operated by the University of Tasmania with the electronics company HENSOLDT Australia, which tracks space debris and satellites.
Patrick Yates-Jones, the UTAS and HENSOLDT research partner, said there were thousands of satellites and hundreds of thousands of general objects orbiting the planet and that it was crucial to avoid collisions.
“We’re now about 6,000 active satellites in orbit … and then we’re also tracking more than 400,000 general objects, whether it’s debris or rejected rocket bodies or things like that,” he said.
“Even though the space is large, if there is a collision between two objects up there, this could have catastrophic consequences.
“A potential result is that we have a cascading effect, where a collision produces a cloud of rubble that collides with other objects and we end up with a cloud of rubble covering the earth.
“Then we can’t really launch any new satellites and we’re stuck out of space … we’re starting to realize that we’re tracking what’s up there, controlling it, trying to avoid collision. lions, is very, very important.
“It will only get more important as our launch pace … accelerates as launch vehicles become cheaper to get a place.”
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Clock duration: 2 minutes 20 seconds 2 m 20 s NASA visualization of objects larger than 10 cm in Earth orbit There are currently about 6,000 active satellites in orbit (Supplied: pixels / X space)
Yates-Jones said Tasmania’s location made it the perfect location for tracking satellites and avoiding collisions.
“Most satellites are launched into polar orbit, which means they pass over the North and South Poles,” he said.
“So the farther north or south you are, the closer you’ll be to where the satellites pass once in each orbit, which means you’ll be more likely to see them.
“At our latitude, we can see a pretty large percentage.”
Space junk can cause damage to launch satellites and those already in orbit, such as the International Space Station last year. (Supplied by: Canadian Space Agency)
“Critical” satellite tracking for Defense
The information collected by the observatory and the wider network can be handed over to the government, the Australian Space Agency or sold to companies that launch satellites.
HENSOLDT Australia managing director Scott Reeman said the ability to determine where objects were in orbit was also especially useful for Defense.
“Defense has a critical need to understand the positioning of everything in space,” he said.
“This is for satellites that can be launched, it’s for Defense’s ability to conduct its operations. It’s also about defense communications, for example, and understanding where your critical infrastructure is. satellites they use … for military satellite communications, and any threat to them.
“These critical national assets can be monitored from here, and then Defense will be able to make the right adjustments, either where their satellites are tracking, or, in fact, whether or not they are launched on a given day due to the collision threats “.
The Greenhill Observatory is part of the Southern Guardian Network. (UTAS)
Science and Technology Minister Madeleine Ogilvie said the donation of the HENSOLDT mount “is based on our $ 900,000 investment in initiatives to strengthen Tasmania’s space research infrastructure.”
“The new mount will strengthen the range of UTAS telescopes across the continent that represent an investment in infrastructure of more than $ 100 million,” it said in a statement.
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