In the late 1970s, the Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site facility (observatory code 704) was built at White Sands Missile Range.[3][4] The project's prototype used low-light video cameras.[5] In 1994 a new proposal was made for automated detection of asteroids, this time using newer digital detector technology.[6] The LINEAR project began operating a near-Earth object discovery facility in 1996 using a 1.0 m (39 in) aperturetelescope designed for the Air Force Space Command's Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS). The wide-field Air Force telescopes were designed for optical observation of Earth-orbiting spacecraft. Initial field tests used a 1024 × 1024 pixelcharge-coupled device (CCD) detector. While this CCD detector filled only about one fifth of the telescope's field of view, four near-earth objects were discovered. A 1960 × 2560 pixel CCD which covered the telescope's two-square degree field of view was then installed, and both detectors were used in later tests.[7]
The first LINEAR telescope became fully operational in March 1998.[8] Beginning in October 1999, a second 1.0 m telescope was added to the search effort.[9] In 2002, a 0.5 m (20 in) telescope equipped with the original CCD was brought on-line to provide follow-up observations for the discoveries made by the two search telescopes.[10] This allowed about 20% more of the sky to be searched each night. Data recorded by the telescopes is sent to a Lincoln Laboratory facility at Hanscom Air Force Base in Lexington, Massachusetts for processing. Detections are then forwarded to the Minor Planet Center.[2]
^Beatty, D. E.; Sorvari, J. M.; Taff, L. G. (1980). "Artificial satellites, minor planets, and the ETS". NASA Sti/Recon Technical Report N. 81: 12143. Bibcode:1980STIN...8112143B.
^Tennyson, Peter D.; Rork, Eugene W.; Kostishack, Daniel F. (1994). "Applying electro-optical space surveillance technology to the detection of near-Earth asteroids". Proceedings of SPIE. Instrumentation in Astronomy VIII. 2198: 1286. Bibcode:1994SPIE.2198.1286T. doi:10.1117/12.176813. S2CID129557577.
^Stokes, G. H.; Viggh, H. E. M.; Shelly, F. L.; Blythe, M. S.; Stuart, J. S. (1998). "Results from the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) Project". American Astronomical Society. 30: 1042. Bibcode:1998DPS....30.1607S.
^Elowitz, R. M.; Stokes, G. H.; Bezpalko, M.; Blythe, M. S.; Evans, J. B.; Pearce, E. C.; Sayer, R. W.; Shelly, F. C.; Viggh, H. E. M. (1999). "A Progress Report on the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research Project". American Astronomical Society. 195: 1531. Bibcode:1999AAS...19510801E.
^Stokes, G. H.; Evans, J. B.; Shelly, F. C. (2002). "LINEAR Search and Operations Experience". American Astronomical Society. 201: 1315. Bibcode:2002AAS...20113003S.