Optical Ground Station (OGS)

ESA's Optical Ground Station (OGS) is a facility built by ESA to support tests of optical communication between Earth and orbiting satellites. The instrument is routinely used by ESA's Space Safety teams to obtain observations of both NEOs and space debris.

 

OGS Specs

MPC Code J04
Latitude +28.3010°
Longitude -16.5118°
Altitude 2390 m
Aperture 1.0 m
Focal ratio f/4.4
Default passband IR-cutting Schott KG3 clear glass
Altitude limit ~20°
Typical PSF FWHM ~3”
FoV 47’×47’
Sensor 4k×4k e2v CCD (usually binned 2×2)
Pixel scale (unbinned) 0.70”
Download time ~5 s