Panoramic Camera System for Space Domain Awareness: Characterize Space-Based Threats at Range

USSF critical and urgent challenge: safeguarding US space assets in an increasingly competitive environment with growing threats. The 2022 National Defense Strategy and the National Space Intelligence Center both emphasize the urgency of this mission, highlighting the potential for adversaries like China and Russia to disrupt vital space-based services, jeopardizing critical infrastructure and national security. The current state of the art electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) technology is significantly limited by field of view, resolution tradeoffs that hinder the identification and detailed analysis of space-based assets over a wide field of regard. Specifically during flyovers, fast speeds and limited field of view hinder our ability to characterize space-based threats. To address this capability gap, Circle Optics developed an innovative electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) lens technology offering a groundbreaking solution to a critical challenge in space domain awareness: the extended-range detection and characterization of enemy satellites and space-based threats, particularly from nations like China and Russia.