The Open Journal of Astrophysics (May 2025)

Detection of Thermal Emission at Millimeter Wavelengths from Low-Earth Orbit Satellites

  • Allen Foster,
  • A. Chokshi,
  • A. J. Anderson,
  • B. Ansarinejad,
  • M. Archipley,
  • L. Balkenhol,
  • K. Benabed,
  • A. N. Bender,
  • D. R. Barron,
  • B. A. Benson,
  • F. Bianchini,
  • L. E. Bleem,
  • F. R. Bouchet,
  • L. Bryant,
  • E. Camphuis,
  • J. E. Carlstrom,
  • C. L. Chang,
  • P. Chaubal,
  • P. M. Chichura,
  • T. -L. Chou,
  • A. Coerver,
  • T. M. Crawford,
  • C. Daley,
  • T. de Haan,
  • K. R. Dibert,
  • M. A. Dobbs,
  • A. Doussot,
  • D. Dutcher,
  • W. Everett,
  • C. Feng,
  • K. R. Ferguson,
  • K. Fichman,
  • S. Galli,
  • A. E. Gambrel,
  • R. W. Gardner,
  • F. Ge,
  • N. Goeckner-Wald,
  • R. Gualtieri,
  • F. Guidi,
  • S. Guns,
  • N. W. Halverson,
  • E. Hivon,
  • G. P. Holder,
  • W. L. Holzapfel,
  • J. C. Hood,
  • A. Hryciuk,
  • N. Huang,
  • F. Kéruzoré,
  • A. R. Khalife,
  • L. Knox,
  • K. Kornoelje,
  • M. Korman,
  • C. -L. Kuo,
  • K. Levy,
  • A. E. Lowitz,
  • C. Lu,
  • A. Maniyar,
  • E. S. Martsen,
  • F. Menanteau,
  • M. Millea,
  • J. Montgomery,
  • Y. Nakato,
  • T. Natoli,
  • G. I. Noble,
  • Y. Omori,
  • Z. Pan,
  • P. Paschos,
  • K. A. Phadke,
  • A. W. Pollak,
  • K. Prabhu,
  • W. Quan,
  • M. Rahimi,
  • A. Rahlin,
  • C. L. Reichardt,
  • M. Rouble,
  • J. E. Ruhl,
  • E. Schiappucci,
  • J. A. Sobrin,
  • A. A. Stark,
  • J. Stephen,
  • C. Tandoi,
  • B. Thorne,
  • C. Trendafilova,
  • C. Umilta,
  • J. D. Vieira,
  • A. Vitrier,
  • Y. Wan,
  • N. Whitehorn,
  • W. L. K. Wu,
  • M. R. Young,
  • J. A. Zebrowski

DOI
https://doi.org/10.33232/001c.137526
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8

Abstract

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The detection of satellite thermal emission at millimeter wavelengths is presented using data from the 3rd-Generation receiver on the South Pole Telescope (SPT-3G). This represents the first reported detection of thermal emission from artificial satellites at millimeter wavelengths. Satellite thermal emission is shown to be detectable at high signal-to-noise on timescales as short as a few tens of milliseconds. An algorithm for downloading orbital information and tracking known satellites given observer constraints and time-ordered observatory pointing is described. Consequences for cosmological surveys and short-duration transient searches are discussed, revealing that the integrated thermal emission from all large satellites does not contribute significantly to the SPT-3G survey intensity map. Measured satellite positions are found to be discrepant from their two-line element (TLE) derived ephemerides up to several arcminutes which may present a difficulty in cross-checking or masking satellites from short-duration transient searches.