The Space-Based Visible Program: Figures 1-3
FIGURE 2. Major technology demonstrations on the SBV sensor include (a) high stray-light rejection optics, (b) the focal-plane array, and (c) the onboard signal processor. The high stray-light rejection capability allows the SBV sensor to track satellites near the sunlit earth limb. The four 420 x 422-pixel charge-coupled-devices (CCD) in the focal-plane array were fabricated in the Solid State division at Lincoln Laboratory in the late 1980s, and are used by the SBV sensor to detect photons from stars, satellites, and man-made debris. The onboard signal processor processes the focal-plane images to yield star and streak reports needed for routine space surveillance of resident space objects (RSO).
FIGURE 3. SBV detection sensitivity for space-borne targets. The on-orbit performance of the SBV sensor allows a 22-cm-diameter specular sphere (with a reflectivity of 0.8) to be tracked at a range of three thousand kilometers against an earth-limb background at a tangent height of one hundred kilometers. This capability exceeds the minimum detectable target diameter of 68 cm in the original design goal by a factor of three.