Passive radiometric observations of geosynchronous satellites

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate has collected and analyzed passive multispectral radiometric data for Space Situational Awareness (SSA) of geosynchronous satellites (GEOs). Two different filter sets have been used: astronomical broadband Johnson filters and a set of specialized filters designed to discriminate GEOs. The radiometric data of geosynchronous satellites were taken using a charge-coupled device (CCD) on the 24-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope at Capilla Peak Observatory of the University of New Mexico. The target list is comprised of satellites with similar and dissimilar bus structures. Additionally, some of the satellites are in a cluster. The results presented will show the advances in classifying GEOs by their bus type and a resolution scenario of cluster cross tagging using these multispectral radiometric measurements.