The Navy has been awarded a patent for an orbital debris sensor to protect satellites.
The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)'s Geospace Science and Technology Branch, received U.S. patent #8976245 for the Optical Orbital Debris Spotter, a " low power, low cost, local space debris detection concept that can be integrated into larger satellite designs, or flown independently on-board nano-satellite platforms," according to an NRL announcement.
The sensor, which weighs about 4.5 pounds, detects debris through a "continuous light sheet, by using a collimated light source, such as a low power laser, and a conic mirror," according to the Navy's description. "The key idea of this concept is to form a permanently illuminated light sheet rather than a scanning beam. This way, all particles intersecting the 'sheet' will scatter the light from the source, independent of the time of intersection with the plane of the light sheet."
When a piece of orbital debris intersects the light sheet, it will scatter the light, which can be detected by a wide-angle camera, said NRL physicist Dr. Christoph Englert. "The knowledge of the light sheet geometry and the angles of the scattering event with respect to the camera, derived from the signal location on the sensor, allow the determination of the intersection point, and possibly even size, and shape information about the debris particle."
