3.67 m Advanced Electro Optical System Telescope, Optical telescope at Haleakalā Observatory, US

The 3.67-meter telescope at Haleakalā Observatory is a space surveillance instrument at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex. Light collected by large mirrors passes through the structure and is directed to seven separate research rooms below.

The Department of Defense initiated this project during the 1980s to develop better ways to monitor satellites and other objects orbiting Earth. The technology was refined over time to improve how well it could track space objects.

The AEOS is a Department of Defense instrument, not a public observatory, so there is no visitor programme and the telescope cannot be viewed. Its cultural role is institutional: it belongs to the Maui Space Surveillance Complex, itself part of the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site (AMOS) at Haleakalā Observatory, where military space tracking and scientific data collection share the same 75-ton facility.

The 75-ton telescope slews at nearly 20 degrees per second, fast enough to track low-Earth satellites and ballistic missiles. It sits within the Maui Space Surveillance Complex at Haleakalā Observatory, a Department of Defense facility, so public access is not routine and any visit must be arranged in advance.

The device uses an advanced system with 941 actuators in its deformable mirror to correct atmospheric distortion in real time. This adaptive mirror continuously adjusts its shape to respond to changing air conditions and produce clearer images of space objects.