While Clyde Tombaugh is best known for peering into the deep reaches of space, his greatest contributions to national security involved looking much closer to home. During the mid-20th century, Tombaugh transitioned from a discoverer of worlds to a pioneer of ballistics and optical tracking, placing his unique genius at the service of the United States military during and after World War II.
Training the Next Generation
When the United States entered World War II, the demand for specialized scientific knowledge skyrocketed. From 1943 to 1945, Tombaugh paused his personal research to teach navigation and naval science to U.S. Navy personnel at Northern Arizona University. He understood that the same celestial mechanics he used to find Pluto were vital for sailors navigating the treacherous waters of the Pacific. By teaching officers how to use the stars as their guides, he directly contributed to the precision and safety of American naval operations.
The White Sands Era: Tracking the Future
Following the war, the dawn of the Missile Age brought a new set of challenges. The U.S. Army was testing captured German V-2 rockets and developing its own nascent missile programs at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The problem was that these rockets were moving faster than any existing equipment could track. The military needed to see exactly what happened to a missile in flight—where it vibrated, how it staged, and where it failed.
In 1946, Tombaugh moved to Las Cruces to lead the optical tracking section at White Sands. He applied his “farm-boy” ingenuity and astronomical expertise to create the IGOR (Instrument Ground Optical Recorder). These were essentially massive, high-powered telescopes mounted on heavy-duty gun mounts that could follow a rocket screaming across the sky at thousands of miles per hour.
- He designed optical systems that could photograph a 10-foot missile at an altitude of 100 miles.
- His work provided the essential data that allowed American engineers to refine missile accuracy and safety.
- This transition from “Planet Hunter” to “Rocket Tracker” laid the groundwork for the technology later used to track the first American satellites.
Patrolling the “Near-Earth” Frontier
In the 1950s, during the height of the Cold War, the military became concerned about “satellite surprises”—unidentified objects in orbit that might be Soviet surveillance tools. The Office of Ordnance Research commissioned Tombaugh to conduct a Near-Earth Satellite Search.
Using the same disciplined observation techniques he honed in the search for Pluto, Tombaugh scanned the space immediately surrounding Earth. He was looking for small, natural satellites or “moonlets” that could be used as staging bases for space stations or posed risks to future spacecraft. While his search confirmed that Earth had no other natural moons of significant size, the rigorous methodology he developed helped establish the field of Space Situational Awareness, which remains a cornerstone of U.S. Space Force operations today.
Clyde Tombaugh 