Coordinated efforts to catalogue high area-to-mass ratio GEO objects
- Paper number
IAC-06-B6.P.1.09
- Author
Dr. Vladimir Agapov, Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, RAS, Russia
- Coauthor
Dr. Thomas Schildknecht, Astronomical Institute University of Bern (AIUB), Switzerland
- Coauthor
Dr. Reto Musci, Astronomical Institute University of Bern (AIUB), Switzerland
- Coauthor
Ms. Edith Stöveken, Astronomical Institute University of Bern (AIUB), Switzerland
- Coauthor
Dr. Vladimir Titenko, Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, RAS, Russia
- Coauthor
Dr. Vasiliy Yurasov, Space Informatics Analytical Systems JSC, Russia
- Year
2006
- Abstract
During the searches for debris in the geostationary and the geostationary transfer orbit region a new population of objects in unexpected orbits, where no potential progenitors exist, was found. By following-up some of these objects it became evident that these objects have extreme area-to-mass ratios, which are by several orders of magnitudes higher than for ‘normal-type’ debris. The discovery of this new population of space debris has triggered enormous attention and activity in the space debris community. The identification of the nature of these totally unexpected objects and of the corresponding source is of highest interest. In order to study the nature of these debris it became necessary to build-up and maintain a catalogue of orbits using observations from multiple sites. In the context of a collaboration between the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB, Switzerland) and the Center on collection, processing and analysis of information on space debris at the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics (KIAM RAS, Moscow) follow-up observations of objects with high area-to-mass ratios are planned for a network of optical telescopes in near real-time. The corresponding measurements from several optical instruments at more than 5 sites are collected and a catalogue of orbits is maintained. The paper gives an overview on these efforts. We will in particular address problems related to continuous tracking of faint objects with high area-to-mass ratio over time span ranging from days to months. The discussion includes aspects of the physical motion model and the propagation errors. An interesting outcome of this collaboration is the first ever tracking of a Meteosat MSG-2 cover over several months, which illustrates the capability of such a network.
- Abstract document