Air Force Maui Space Surveillance Complex (MSSC) - Haleakala, HI

USA / Hawaii / Pukalani / Haleakala Highway (HI 378)
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If it wasn't needlessly complicated and didn't have a lot of acronyms then it wouldn't be the government, so try to follow along...

The marked region is the Maui Space Surveillance Complex (MSSC). The MSSC includes the Maui Space Surveillance System (MSSS). The MSSS houses the largest telescope in the Department of Defense, the 3.67-meter Advanced Electro Optical System (AEOS), as well as several other telescopes ranging from 0.4 to 1.6 meters. This whole thing is run by the Air Force Maui Optical & Supercomputing Site (AMOS): wikimapia.org/#lat=20.74871&lon=-156.440174&z=16&l=0&m... . AMOS also runs the Maui High Performance Computing Center (MHPCC) and the Remote Maui Experiment (RME), all located in Kihei.

For those who have visited the summit of Haleakala or seen photos, AEOS is the big shiny cylinder. It's the largest, oddest, and most noticeable observatory on the summit. You can't miss it.

Official Site: www.maui.afmc.af.mil/index.html
Reference: www.ifa.hawaii.edu/haleakala/LRDP/images/F-LRDPApril200... (PDF, 10.6 MB, Figure 2-3)
Photo of AEOS: www.maui.afmc.af.mil/Photos/AEOS3_lg.jpg
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Maui_Optical_and_Supercomputing_observatory
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   20°42'29"N   156°15'25"W

Comments

  • You didn't mention the Star Wars Laser
  • from Wikipedia.......... The High Precision Tracking Experiment (HPTE), launched with the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51-G, was tested June 21, 1985 when a Hawaii-based low-power laser successfully tracked the experiment and bounced the laser off of the HPTE mirror.
  • We used to watch that laser from Kihei. It went from The observatory, to the shuttle and back down to the research and technology park in Kihei. I am not sure which direction it fired from but those were the two points. It happened on not a few ocassions.
This article was last modified 10 years ago