Statistical Analysis of the ESA Optical Space Debris Surveys
- Paper number
IAC-07-A6.1.02
- Author
Dr. Thomas Schildknecht, Astronomical Institute University of Bern (AIUB), Switzerland
- Coauthor
Mr. Tim Flohrer, Astronomical Institute University of Bern (AIUB), Switzerland
- Coauthor
Dr. Rüdiger Jehn, European Space Agency/ESOC, Germany
- Coauthor
Dr. Reto Musci, Astronomical Institute University of Bern (AIUB), Switzerland
- Year
2007
- Abstract
In the framework of ESA’s space debris research program optical measurements to search for space debris in high-altitude orbits are performed with the ESA 1-meter telescope on Tenerife. Observations have been acquired during more than 500 nights during the past 6 years. This data set may be analyzed in various ways with different questions in mind. The most basic questions, however, remain the most difficult to be answered: ‘how many debris are there?’, ‘what is their size distribution?’, ‘what are their orbits?’. Due to the narrow field of view of the telescope the optical surveys provide only snapshot-like samples of the space debris environment. Furthermore the data is ‘statistical’ in the sense that no catalogue of orbital data for individual objects is produced but only a list of ‘detections’ including rough orbital information, e.g. circular orbits, and a visual magnitude for each of these detections. There is no simple relation between the observed quantities, e.g. the detection rates, and the sought properties of the population, e.g. the total number of objects. We therefore need to model the observation process. The chosen approach consists of simulating observations for a given space debris population and to compare the results with the actual observations. The simulations are performed with a software suite that links the ESA PROOF tool to our tools and takes into account the detailed observation scenarios, and the details of the telescope and the camera system. Analyzing the differences between the observed and the simulated data for a set of basic model populations allows assessing some of the important characteristics of the surveys. In particular we may quantify the selection effects and identify coverage gaps in the orbital parameter space. Eventually, we derive an estimate for the number of debris in the geostationary and the geostationary transfer orbit regions and for their size distribution.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-A6.1.02.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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