Satellite Tracking with a Portable Telescope and Star Camera

A ground station for communicating with a satellite, the ground station comprising:

• a telescope to receive an optical signal from the satellite;
• a gimbal, supporting the telescope, to rotate the telescope through a plurality of gimbal positions;
• a star camera, attached to the telescope, to capture a plurality of star camera images, each star camera image in the plurality of star camera image being at a different gimbal position in the plurality of gimbal positions;
• and
• a processor, operably coupled to the imager and the star camera, to determine an alignment of the gimbal to an Earth-centered reference frame and an alignment of the star camera to the gimbal based on the plurality of star camera images and the plurality of gimbal positions and to command the gimbal to point the telescope at the satellite based on the alignment of the gimbal to the Earth-centered reference frame, the alignment of the star camera to the gimbal, and an alignment of the telescope to the star camera.