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ESA’s IZN-1 laser ranging station on top of the Iza\u00f1a mountain in Tenerife, Spain, has recently undergone months of testing and commissioning, passing its final tests with flying colours. As it reached \u2018station acceptance\u2019, it was handed over to ESA from the German company contracted to build it, DiGOS. The station is a technology test bed and a vital first step in making debris mitigation widely accessible to all space actors with a say in the future of our space environment.<\/p>\n
IZN-1, developed and now operated by ESA is a test-bed for future technologies and was installed in mid-2021 at the Teide Observatory. The station, telescope and laser have undergone months of testing and commissioning and since July last year have aimed the laser beam of concentrated green light to the sky to actively detect, track and observe active satellites.<\/p>\n
Currently, the laser light operates at 150mW but it will soon be upgraded to also track space debris on the basis of much more powerful infrared lasers with an average power of 50 Watts.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently, only satellites fitted with \u2018retroreflectors\u2019 can be tracked from ESA\u2019s Iza\u00f1a station, making up just a proportion of the total population,\u201d explains Clemens Heese, Head of the Optical Technologies Section.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe station will be upgraded in the next couple of years, enabling it to perform the same vital \u2018ranging\u2019 services with uncooperative targets \u2013 vitally, debris objects and older satellites fitted without retroreflecting patches.\u201d<\/p>\n