Successful Demonstrations of the ELROI Satellite License Plate

ELROI (Extremely Low Resource Optical Identifier) is a system that attaches a small, cheap, low power, autonomous blinking light to a satellite or other space object to allow it to be unambiguously identified by ground observations using a small telescope. This can provide a resolution to the space object identification problem for future launches at minimal technical and financial costs to the satellite operator. In 2024, two satellites carrying ELROI Space Object Tracking Units were successfully launched on separate rocket launches. As reported here, in both cases ELROI provided the first definitive identification of each satellite, sooner than achieved by conventional techniques.