Mobile Aerial Tracking and Imaging System (Matris) for Aeronautical Research

A mobile, rapidly deployable ground-based system to track and image targets of aeronautical interest has been developed. Targets include reentering reusable launch vehicles as well as atmospheric and transatmospheric vehicles. The optics were designed to image targets in the visible and infrared wavelengths. To minimize acquisition cost and development time, the system uses commercially available hardware and software where possible. The conception and initial funding of this system originated with a study of ground-based imaging of global aerothermal characteristics of reusable launch vehicle configurations. During that study the National Aeronautics and Space Administration teamed with the Missile Defense Agency/Innovative Science and Technology Experimentation Facility to test techniques and analysis on two Space Shuttle flights.