FAS

Sourcebook on the Altay Optical Laser Research Center

01.07.08 | 1 min read | Text by Steven Aftergood

A Russian satellite tracking facility in Siberia called the Altay Optical Laser Research Center is profiled in a newly updated document collection (pdf).

A proposed expansion of the facility calls for a high-resolution satellite imaging telescope with an aperture of 3.12 meters and angular resolution of 0.044 arc seconds.

“This is diffraction-limited performance, indicating serious adaptive optics,” observed Allan Thomson, the former CIA analyst who prepared the new sourcebook, which is in Russian and English.