Satellite Observatory

From 1973 to 1999, TU Delft operated an observatory for satellite geodesy in Kootwijk on behalf of the Faculty of Geodesy. From here, accurate measurements were made with a Builders Maksutov camera and a laser rangefinder for ten years to measure the earth as precisely as possible.

Around 1967, the idea arose to move the activities to a new observatory to be built near Kootwijk, which would be included in the Dutch triangular network. In the practice of triangulation, it was a question of determining as accurately as possible the location of the satellite observatory to be set up in relation to similar observatories in other parts of the world.

Satellite Laser Ranging made it possible to determine these locations very accurately. At an exactly agreed time, the researchers shot a pulse of laser light at a satellite from at least two points on Earth. Reflectors on the satellite reflected the beam of light in exactly the same direction back to Earth, where the light was captured by a telescope. From the time that the light was on the road, it was deduced how far the satellite was from the transmitting station at that time. Three such measurements, carried out in quick succession, in combination with the orbital data from the satellite, yielded the distance between the two stations, even though they were located on different continents.

Dromos