RAPTORS: Hyperspectral Survey of the GEO Belt

摘要

Robotic Automated Pointing Telescopes for Optical Reflectance Spectroscopy (RAPTORS) is an automated 0.6-meter F/4 telescope with transmission grating to conduct a slitless spectroscopic survey of the GEO belt in visible wavelengths. Five engineering undergraduate students constructed the telescope as part of their senior design project at the University of Arizona. The telescope instrument combination enables us to collect visible wavelength spectra (0.4-0.8 microns) at a spectral resolution of ~30. Our goal is to conduct a systematic survey of the GEO belt to create a taxonomic classification of resident space objects (RSOs). We will present preliminary results from the survey where we attempt to identify multiple RSOs in a single field of view using their spectral signatures.