MIRROR MOUNT TRACKING SYSTEM
In
1968 Photo-Sonics was awaded a contract by the U.S. Army to design, manufacture,
and install a short range tracking system specifically for the test and evaluation of the
Sprint missile system.
The resulting instrument was called the Mirror Mount and was
successfully
deployed at the Kwajalein Atoll.
The Mirror Mount was configured very
uniquely.
The images entered a small optical assembly at the top of the tracking
mount and
were
transferred
to the base of the tracking mount where the payload
was placed in a fixed
position.
This configuration was necessary to achieve the 2,200° per second
squared
acceleration
necessary to track the Sprint missile.
Shortly
after deployment of the Mirror Mount, a treaty was signed with the
Soviet Union
which restricted
the development of the Sprint missile as a
weapons
system.
Since the Mirror Mount was designed specifically to track this missile,
and no other weapons systems required the extreme acceleration of the Mirror
Mount,
these tracking systems were decommissioned.