Possible contribution of space-based assets for space situational awareness
- Paper number
IAC-08.A6.5.5
- Author
Mr. Xavier Vanwijck, Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA), France
- Coauthor
Mr. Tim Flohrer, Aboa Space Research Oy, Germany
- Year
2008
- Abstract
Since the recent ASAT launches, space surveillance attracted wide public attention. Space situational awareness addresses a wide range of topics, including building up and maintaining a catalogue of orbital elements and object properties, collisions avoidance, strategic concerns or supporting the appliance of international treaties. In Europe, the space situational awareness shows significant gaps in terms of coverage, functionality and sensor availability and is solely ground-based. In 2007, a consortium led by the French Aerospace Lab (ONERA) under ESA contract determined the gaps of the European space surveillance system and proposed first solutions. Most of the functions of this system can be fulfilled from the ground such as the LEO survey with radar or the GEO survey with telescopes but the study revealed space-based solutions being complementary to ground-based sensors improving the survey of the higher altitudes (upper-LEO and GEO) and being mandatory for enabling imaging of objects in the GEO ring from a drifting orbit. This paper concentrates on the dedicated space-based part of this study. We discuss the characteristics of space-based sensors, analyse the requirements related to possible orbits and propose first design solutions for survey, tracking and imaging of the GEO ring. Performance evaluations using simulations are also presented.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.A6.5.5.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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