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| Jyri Kuusela, Physicist Optical Ground Station (OGS) Tenerife, Canary Islands 2014 background: OGS observatory patners |
The OGS (Optical Ground Station) telescope, installed in the Teide Observatory, Tenerife, Canary Islands has been built by Carl Zeiss, is owned by ESA (European Space Agency) and is operated by the IAC (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias). More precisely a small 3 men crew sub-contractor led by Mr. Jyri Kuusela, an Finnish astrophysicist that has attempted also our local University of Turku, Finland is now operating this instrument of precision to observe the solar system. His company is in charge of the operations.
I had the chance to interview Mr. Kuusela at the OGS
(Optical Ground Station) telescope at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife, Canary Islands. This is what he told me:
Since its building in 1991, the OGS telescope has been
directed by the institute of Astrophysics of Canary Islands
(Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias). They helped achieve the requested
observation mandated by ESA, the European Space Agency, but had reservations on
the way it should be executed. That is where Mr. Kuusela comes in and applied
for a solution to start a company to be sub-contracted by the Inst. Astrophysics.
Canary Isl. To run the ESA agenda. Now few years later, the 3 men crew led by
Jyri Kuusela and two more graduate works together to control the Optical Ground
Station Telescope.
There are specific tasks to be done, for example this camera
has to be installed today, says Mr. Kuusela with a smile.
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| OGS telescope in Teide Observatory 1 m Ritchey-Chretien / Coudé telescope supported by an English-built mount inside a dome 12.5 m in diameter. |
Mr. Kuusela mentioned the 3 most important investigations
led by the OGS telescope were to conduct optical laser communication between
this Optical Ground Station and a Satellite above in space. Also another
important work with the telescope is the observation consecrated to space debris created by
satellites on Geo-stationary orbit around the planet. These satellites are satellites we have send and
have malfunctioned, caught on fire or exploded and now are space debris
in this specific location of Geo-stationary orbits.
Their last invetigation they conduct with the telescope is to
identify Near Earth Objects (Neo’s). Many new Neo’s has been identified by Mr.
Kuusela and he’s crew from the total of almost 100,000 Near Earth Objects
identified as of today, around the astronomy community. The OGS telescope is
one of the few ESA telescopes that chase’s the NEO objects as part of the European
Space Agency programs.
The future of the OGS telescope lies with the accountability
of its findings says Mr. Kuusela. “What I mean is that this OGS telescope has
to have good results to keep on going and this depends always on the operating
body that is controlling it.” Mr. Kuusela knows his business.
When visiting the telescope he showed me the “basement of
the instrument" there you could find a optical bench “table” where you could
conduct optical interferometry that could be really used with this 1 meter OGS
telescope he mentioned.
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| New CCD Camera attached to the 1 meter telescope at OGS, Teide Observatory. |
At the moment of this interview, Mr. Kuusela was changing
the camera used to record data for his investigations. It last camera component
suppliers didn’t supply anymore, so a new system had to be made, says Mr. Kuusela.
This is part of our work here at the OGS.
Please visit The OGS website: http://www.iac.es/eno.php?op1=3&op2=6&lang=en&id=7
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