HONOLULU — The Air Force is taking stops to improve its space surveillance site on top of Haleakala on Maui.
HONOLULU — The Air Force is taking stops to improve its space surveillance site on top of Haleakala on Maui.
The Air Force has proposed adding a laser that creates a “guide star” to allow astronomers to get a better view of objects, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. The laser, known officially as the Frequency Addition Source of Optical Radiation, will be added within the existing footprint of the Maui Space Surveillance Complex.
The change is outlined in a draft environmental assessment submitted to the state Office of Environmental Quality Control.
The Air Force uses the Maui Space Surveillance Complex to test sensors and lasers and to identify and track objects near Earth and in deep space. “The MSSC is an integral part of the space-monitoring network of the U.S. Air Force,” Air Force spokeswoman Othana Zuch said.
The laser will operate 80 nights per year and be visible at the summit. Projection will depend on weather and will range from 5 to 10 minutes for tracking and gathering images.
In the past, a supercomputer in Kihei has constructed photographs of some of the thousands of orbiting and deep-space objects, according to the Maui High Performance Computing Center. The objects include satellites, as well as a glove and screwdriver left behind during manned space flights.
Laser guide-star technology is used at Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Palomar Observatory in California, the Air Force Starfire Optical Range in New Mexico and other observatories.
The Air Force does not have an estimated total cost or timetable for the modernization. It will depend on funding and periodic evaluations of state-of-the-art technologies, Zuch said. But equipment and labor for the laser is estimated at $3 million, Zuch said.