Developing a closed loop satellite tracking functionality for optical telescopes

The number of satellites in orbit – especially in low earth orbit (LEO) – is currently increasing rapidly. Some operators are very transparent in informing the public about the orbits, mission, and function of their satellites, while others tend to hide this information. As a result, not enough is known about many objects to assess their threat to other satellites and infrastructure in LEO.
To analyze and characterize such objects, observations with optical telescopes are necessary. This can be done – if very precise orbital data are available – with so-called « open loop tracking ». If the known orbital data are too old or not very precise, the satellite is quickly lost from the field of view (FOV) of the telescope camera during tracking.
To prevent this, telescopes need a feedback-based control system that automatically adjusts the tracking based on the measured position change of the satellite on the camera sensor → « closed loop tracking ».