Perspectives in Space Surveillance

The development of deep space surveillance technology and its later application to near-Earth surveillance, covering work at Lincoln Laboratory from 1970 to 2000.

In the 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union raced to develop space-based intelligence gathering capability. The Soviets succeeded first, with SPUTNIK I in 1957. The United States began to monitor the growing Soviet space presence by developing technology for the detection and tracking of man-made resident space obje…