A Better Telescope to Track Space Junk

Satellites that support U.S. military missions around the world can fall prey to collisions with space junk, tiny meteoroids and even enemy microsatellites. Now the Pentagon's DARPA division has begun deploying new ground-based telescopes that can take wide-angle views of small deep-space objects and keep the space sentinels safe.

The innovative design of DARPA's telescope can provide the same space surveillance data "in a matter of nights" that existing telescopes require weeks or months to provide, according to Lt. Col. Travis Blake, DARPA's Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) program manager and an Air Force officer.

"Currently we have a 'soda straw' view of deep space, where we can only see one narrow segment of space at a time," Blake said. "The Space Surveillance Telescope should give us a much wider 'windshield' view of deep space objects, significantly enhancing our space situational awareness."…

See SPACE.com for links to further info.