<title>Photometric measurements of deep space satellites</title>

Abstract

We seek to examine near-IR photometric signatures for geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) communication satellites. To this end, we present a set of high quality photometric measurements for a sample of ten GEOs. The observations were made with a standard set of broad band astronomical filters (Johnson filters), using the 3.6 meter telescope at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate Starfire Optical Range, Kirtland AFB, NM. The results indicate that near-IR photometric signatures can be used to distinguish among different satellite classes. Other uses of the data, e.g. anomaly resolution and health status, are discussed.