L3Harris Technologies, working alongside its partner nation, Australia, has completed a major mirror refurbishment for the US Space Force’s Space Surveillance Telescope (SST).
“Working with our partners in Western Australia, maintainers of the Space Surveillance Telescope have successfully completed their first primary mirror recoat, significantly improving our ability to detect small targets in GEO (geostationary Earth orbit)," Mission Delta 2 commander, Col. Barry Croker, stated.
Located in the Southern Hemisphere, SST provides wide-area detection and tracking of objects in geosynchronous orbits, roughly 22,000 miles (approx. 35.4 km) above Earth, ranging from operational satellites and debris to potential hazards and emerging threats.
“SST is a cornerstone capability for protecting the nation’s space assets,” President, Space Systems, L3Harris, Jeff Hanke, said. “This milestone ensures Space Force operators continue to receive the precise, reliable sensor performance they need to detect threats, avoid collisions and defend the space infrastructure our military, economy, and citizens depend on.”
This upgrade has required the careful removal, restoration, and enhancement of SST’s primary and tertiary mirrors – the optical core that enables long-range detection and accurate object tracking. L3Harris engineers repaired and strengthened critical connection points.
The primary mirror underwent a full refurbishment, including stripping, cleaning and recoating using a Vacuum Deposition System custom-built for SST.
The tertiary mirror received specialised cleaning to meet enhanced coating standards, along with structural repairs to its support hardware.
Relocated from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, to Australia in 2017 and operational since 2022, SST plays a key role in a US- Australia space situational awareness partnership supporting the US, its allies and global partners.
Unlike space-based sensors, which degrade permanently once on orbit, ground-based systems like SST can be upgraded and restored.