• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.49 no.9
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• pp.771-780
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• 2021

The space Debris laser ranging system is called to be a definite type of satellite laser ranging system that measures the distance to satellites. It is a system that performs POD (Precise Orbit Determination) by measuring time of flight by firing a laser. Distance precision can be measured in mm-level units, and it is the most precise system among existing systems. Currently, KASI has built SLR in Sejong and Geochang, and utilized SLR data to verify the precise orbits of the STSAT-2C and KOMASAT-5. In recent years, due to the fall or collision of space debris, its satellites have been threatened, and in terms of security, laser tracking of space objects is receiving great interest in order to protect their own space assets and protect the safety of the people. In this paper, a 1.5m-class main mirror was applied for the system design of a multipurpose laser tracking system that considers satellite laser ranging and space object laser tracking. System preliminary performance analysis was performed based on Link Budget analysis considering specifications of major components.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.44 no.11
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• pp.1006-1015
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• 2016

This paper presents preliminary design and performance analysis of a fast and high precision Tracking Mount for 1m Satellite Laser Ranging(SLR) which is development by Korea Astronomy and Space science Institute(KASI). SLR is considered to be the most accurate technique currently available for the precise orbit determination of Earth satellites. The SLR technique measures the time of flight between pulses emitted from laser transmitter and pulses returned from satellites with laser retro-reflector array. It provides millimeter level precision of range measurements between SLR stations and satellites. A fast and high precision Tracking Mount for SLR which is proposed in this research should be capable of day and nighttime laser tracking about the satellites with laser reflectors from 200 km to 36,000 km altitude(geosynchronous orbit). In order to meet this requirement, we performed mechanical design and structural analysis for Tracking Mount. Also we designed the motion control system and conducted pre-performance analysis to obtain good performance results for a fast and high precision Tracking Mount.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.135-144
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• 2010

In this paper, we present the result of preliminary design of tracking mount for ARGO-M which is a movable satellite laser ranging (SLR) system developed by Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). The tracking mount consists of a couple of core parts such as driving motors, encoders and bearings, and the requirements of each parts are determined on the basis of the technical consideration. 2D and 3D models for tracking mount were preliminarily designed using the selected core parts. In order to evaluate the validity of the preliminarily design, the simulator to test the elevation axis was designed and manufactured. The test to check the tracking performance and system accuracy of the simulator was performed, and it was confirmed that the preliminary design meets the operating specifications. Additionally, it was found that the repetitive errors and hysteresis errors need to be improved by the additional control algorithm.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.253-261
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• 2018

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has been developing the space optical and laser tracking (SOLT) system for space geodesy, space situational awareness, and Korean space missions. The SOLT system comprises satellite laser ranging (SLR), adaptive optics (AO), and debris laser tracking (DLT) systems, which share numerous subsystems, such as an optical telescope and tracking mount. It is designed to be capable of laser ranging up to geosynchronous Earth orbit satellites with a laser retro-reflector array, space objects imaging brighter than magnitude 10, and laser tracking low Earth orbit space debris of uncooperative targets. For the realization of multiple functions in a novel configuration, the SOLT system employs a switching mirror that is installed inside the telescope pedestal and feeds the beam path to each system. The SLR and AO systems have already been established at the Geochang station, whereas the DLT system is currently under development and the AO system is being prepared for testing. In this study, the design and development of the SOLT system are addressed and the SLR data quality is evaluated compared to the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) tracking stations in terms of single-shot ranging precision. The analysis results indicate that the SLR system has a good ranging performance, to a few millimeters precision. Therefore, it is expected that the SLR system will not only play an important role as a member of the ILRS tracking network, but also contribute to future Korean space missions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.391-399
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• 2020

KASI (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) has been developing the multipurpose laser tracking system with three functions of satellite laser tracking, adaptive optics and space debris laser tracking for scientific research and national space missions. The space debris laser tracking system provides the distance to space debris without a laser retro-reflector array by using a high power pulse laser, which employs a spinning disk to change the optical path between the transmit and receive beams. The spinning disk causes the collision band which is unable to reflect the returned signal to a detector and then has an effect on the tracking coverage of space debris. This study proposed the mathematical model for tracking coverage by taking into account the various specifications of spinning disk such as disk size, spinning velocity and collision rate between the disk and hole. In addition, the spinning disk specifications were analyzed in terms of tracking coverage and collision band based on the mathematical model to investigate tracking requirements of the Geochang laser tracking system.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.245-252
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• 2010

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has developed a mobile satellite laser ranging (SLR) system called ARGO-M since 2008 for space geodesy research and precise orbit determination technologies using SLR with mm level accuracy. ARGO-M is capable of night tracking and daylight tracking for which requires spatial, spectral and time filters due to high background noises. In this study, characteristics and specifications of ARGO-M are discussed and its tracking capabilities of night and daylight tracking are analyzed for STSAT-2B and KOMPSAT-5 through link budget. Additionally false alarm and signal detection probabilities are also analyzed depending on spectral and time filters for daylight tracking for these satellites.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.9
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• pp.830-837
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• 2015

Space debris has been a major issue recently for the space-active nations because its growing population is expected to increase the collision risk with operational satellites. Radar and electro-optical system has been used for space debris surveillance, which may cause unnecessary anti-collision manoeuvers due to their low tracking accuracy. So an additional tracking system is required to improve the predicted orbit accuracy and then to jude the anti-collision maneouvers more efficiently. The laser tracking system has been considered as an alternative to decrease these unnecessary manoeuvers. Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute has been developing a space object laser tracking system which is capable of laser tracking for satellites with retro-reflectors and for space debris using high power laser, and satellite imaging using adaptive optics. In this study, the tracking capability is analyzed for space debris using high power laser based on link budget, false alarm probability and signal detection probability.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.271-280
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• 2017

This study presents the application of satellite laser ranging (SLR) to orbit determination (OD) of high-Earth-orbit (HEO) satellites. Two HEO satellites are considered: the Quasi-Zenith Satellite-1 (QZS-1), a Japanese elliptical-inclinedgeosynchronous-orbit (EIGSO) satellite, and the Compass-G1, a Chinese geostationary-orbit (GEO) satellite. One week of normal point (NP) data were collected for each satellite to perform the OD based on the batch least-square process. Five SLR tracking stations successfully obtained 374 NPs for QZS-1 in eight days, whereas only two ground tracking stations could track Compass-G1, yielding 68 NPs in ten days. Two types of station bias estimation and a station data weighting strategy were utilized for the OD of QZS-1. The post-fit root-mean-square (RMS) residuals of the two week-long arcs were 11.98 cm and 10.77 cm when estimating the biases once in an arc (MBIAS). These residuals were decreased significantly to 2.40 cm and 3.60 cm by estimating the biases every pass (PBIAS). Then, the resultant OD precision was evaluated by the orbit overlap method, yielding three-dimensional errors of 55.013 m with MBIAS and 1.962 m with PBIAS for the overlap period of six days. For the OD of Compass-G1, no station weighting strategy was applied, and only MBIAS was utilized due to the lack of NPs. The post-fit RMS residuals of OD were 8.81 cm and 12.00 cm with 49 NPs and 47 NPs, respectively, and the corresponding threedimensional orbit overlap error for four days was 160.564 m. These results indicate that the amount of SLR tracking data is critical for obtaining precise OD of HEO satellites using SLR because additional parameters, such as station bias, are available for estimation with sufficient tracking data. Furthermore, the stand-alone SLR-based orbit solution is consistently attainable for HEO satellites if a target satellite is continuously trackable for a specific period.

• Proceedings of the Optical Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.02a
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• pp.68-68
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• 2000

In this paper a very brief review of historical development of optical science and technology in China is presented. More attention has been pain on Modem Optics, which developed since 1950s. The recent development of optical science and technology in following fields are introduced. 1. Optical engineering and instrumentation (tracking theodolites, high speed cameras, satellite laser ranging systems, satellite flying attitude control, cameras for remote sensing, astronomical optical instrument) 2. Applied optics (adaptive optics, optical metrology, infrared optics, optical processing, optical holography) 3. Laser science and technology (ultrashort pulse lasers, UV-X ray lasers, high power laser facilities and laser fusion, laser isotope separation) 4. Laser and nonlinear materials (rare earth elements doped laser glasses and crystals, tunable laser crystals, borate series and organic nonlinear crystals) 5. Optoelectronic science and technology (Optical communication, optical data storage, optical computing) The current situation and developing prospect of optical and optoelectronic industry in China are presented. Furthermore it points out that the optical industry could be developed vigorously only if products development capacity is enhanced and new products industrialization is heightened. The main research and education institutions in the optics field in China, as well as the Chinese Optical Society (COS) are introduced.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.237-245
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• 2023

Laser communication has been considered as a novel method for earth observation satellites with generation of high data volume. It offers faster data transmission speeds compared to conventional radio frequency (RF) communication due to the short wavelength and narrow beam divergence. However, laser beams are refracted due to atmospheric turbulence between the ground and the satellite. Refracted laser beams, upon reaching the receiver, result in angle-of-arrival (AoA) fluctuation, inducing image dancing and wavefront distortion. These phenomena hinder signal acquisition and lead to signal loss in the course of laser communication. So, precise alignment between the transmitter and receiver is essential to guarantee effective and reliable laser communication, which is achieved by pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) system. In this study, we simulate the effectiveness of tip/tilt compensation for more efficient laser communication in the satellite-ground downlink. By compensating for low-order terms using tip/tilt mirror, we verify the alleviation of AoA fluctuations under both weak and strong atmospheric turbulence conditions. And the performance of tip/tilt correction is analyzed in terms of the AoA fluctuation and collected power on the detector.