NASA Orbital Debris Observatory facts for kids

Quick facts for kids NASA Orbital Debris Observatory
NASA Orbital Debris Observatory
Organization	NASA
Location	near Cloudcroft, New Mexico
Coordinates	32°58′46″N 105°44′01″W / 32.9795°N 105.7336°W / 32.9795; -105.7336
Altitude	2,751 meters (9,026 ft)
Established	1995 (1995)
Closed	2002 (2002)
Telescopes NASA LMT 3.0 m liquid mirror CCD Debris Telescope 0.32 m reflector

The NASA Orbital Debris Observatory (or NODO) was a special place in New Mexico where scientists watched for "space junk." It was located in the Lincoln National Forest, near a town called Cloudcroft. From 1995 to 2002, NASA used two powerful telescopes here. Their main job was to find and track pieces of old satellites and rockets orbiting Earth. This observatory was also known as the Cloudcroft Observatory. Today, Embry-Riddle University owns the site.

Telescopes for Tracking Space Junk

The NASA Orbital Debris Observatory had two main telescopes. Both were very important for finding and studying space debris.

The NASA Liquid Mirror Telescope (NASA-LMT)

The NASA-LMT was a very unique telescope. It had a main mirror that was 3 m (9.8 ft) wide. This mirror was not made of glass. Instead, it used a spinning pool of liquid mercury.

• This special mirror was shaped like a bowl (a parabolic dish).
• It held about 4 U.S. gallons (15 L) of liquid mercury.
• The mercury spun at 10 rotations per minute, creating a perfect mirror shape.
• Because it used liquid, the telescope could only point straight up. This is called a zenith telescope.
• The NASA-LMT used 20 different color filters to find space debris.
• It helped create a list of all the space junk orbiting Earth.

This telescope was first built in 1994. It was moved to Cloudcroft in 1995 and worked until June 2002. Some parts of it were later used in an even bigger telescope in British Columbia.

The CCD Debris Telescope (CDT)

The CCD Debris Telescope (CDT) was a smaller, portable telescope. It was about 32 cm (13 in) wide.

• The CDT used a special camera sensor called a charge-coupled device (CCD).
• This sensor had 512x512 pixels, like a digital camera.
• It operated at NODO from October 1997 to December 2001.
• The CDT was used to study debris in geosynchronous orbit. This is a very high orbit where satellites stay in the same spot above Earth.
• After it stopped working, the CDT was given to Embry-Riddle University.

Gallery

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  NASA Liquid Mirror Telescope

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  CCD Debris Telescope