Russia opens space junk tracking post

nairnr writes "CNN has an article about a new space object tracking post in Tajikistan. The Russian military space forces on Thursday inaugurated an optical tracking facility located in the ex-Soviet republic of Tajikistan that is intended to monitor objects in space. The Okno (Window) complex, near the town of Nurek in central Tajikistan, is capable of tracking objects 40,000 kilometers (24,800 miles) from Earth, the space forces said in a statement carried by the Interfax-Military News Agency. According to the space forces, the Okno, which was put on test duty Thursday, offers a better range and precision than standard radar facilities. The report did not elaborate on how the Okno works"

Yeah, sure they're monitoring "junk"...

[Niahak]

I'm sure it's all a conspiracy! They are actually watching United States Cell phone "weather balloons" [slashdot.org]!

The horse's mouth...

[Peter T Ermit]

As the article says, the Federation of American Scientists [fas.org] says that this facility [fas.org] is like GEODSS [fas.org].

Resolving power?

[dschuetz]

Sure, I'm all about tracking stuff visually, so you can actually *see* what it is you're tracking, but what's the resolving power of the facility? If I recall correctly, the US already tracks thousands (if not hundreds of thousands or millions) bits of space junk, down to the size of small bolts. If the Russians have an optical facility that can resolve those, then I'll be truly impressed.

The best optical imaging of orbiting objects I've ever seen came from a Boston museum (I think), which managed to use the GOTO[1] functionality on a 12-inch telescope to track the Shuttle while docked with ISS. If you squinted, you could just recognize it. And they fly in a (relatively) low orbit. [here's a site with some nice shots] [satobs.org]

So, again, if they can manage to optically track very small objet d'junk, I'll be very impressed. If they're only visually tracking larger objects (like, say, US spy satellites), then I'd say they've probably got a different purpose in mind.

[1] See? Not all GOTO's are bad!

Re:Resolving power?

[Peter T Ermit]

This confused me at first, too. It can't be used for orbital debris, because the resolution's too small. But it seems this is for detecting spy satellites that are beyond the range of typical ground-based radar systems. And from the technique used, it seems that it will be an existence/tracking method rather than truly resolving the object.

(Cool link, BTW!)

Close

[T.Hobbes]

As this [slashdot.org] post says, the curret useable tracking systems can resolve objects down to the size of a basketball, not a small bolt. Given the Russian's expertise in imaging small objects on earth from orbit, I wouldn't be as doubtful as you concerning their ability to image small objects in orbit from earth.

Just put up a sign.

[montgomery]

You would think that they would start pushing some of the "junk" towards the Sun or something else like that, bring some of it back with each trip. This tracking bull is just like putting up a sign on the road saying bump. Much easier to point out the problem than to fix it.

Re:Just put up a sign.

[zer0vector]

It is immensely easier to point out the problem than to fix it in this case. The amount of energy to push stuff into the sun or rendezvous with it and bring it back to earth would be insane. Considering the varying orbits of the junk, and the limits of current space propulsion, it would require hundreds of missions to bring it all back, and each mission would probably create some junk of its own.

Re:Just put up a sign.

[BeatlesForum.com]

Plus, it's hard to stop a nut or a bolt doing 17,000 miles per hour around the Earth without getting killed. Michael