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Secure World Foundation (SWF) is proud to announce the launch of the Global Space Situational Awarenss Sensors Website, and we invite you to explore and contribute. Keep Reading
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Welcome to the Global Space Situational Awareness Sensor Database, an online compendium of SSA sensors around the world.
Latest News
Launch of the Global SSA Sensors Website!
Featured Sensor
Matera (MATM)
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SSA Sensors
SSA Sensors are tools that are used to track or collect information about objects in orbit around the Earth. The most common SSA sensors are radars and telescopes located on the ground, but also include lasers and even a trained person with a pair of binoculars. As a space object passes overhead, a sensor will collect observations with the objects position at a specific time. Multiple observations are combined to form a track, and tracks can be combined to create element sets which provide the object's orbit around the Earth.
SSA Networks
Some SSA sensors are organized into networks, where individual sensors are tasked and organized by a central body which collects data from all the individual sensors. This not only increases the tracking coverage of the network as a whole but also increases the accuracy of orbits on space objects derived from more than one set of observations.
SSA Technologies
There are many different technologies used for SSA. Radars (both mechanical and phased array) provide an accurate range to a target but are expensive to build and operate and require large amounts of power. Optical telescopes can be cheaper and can cover a much wider area, but can only operate at night and in good weather. Lasers can also be used to get very precise locations, especially large geostationary satellites. In many cases, the most accurate position of a space objects is derived by combining observations from multiple types of sensors.
