Accurate Optical Observation of Space Objects in LEO Regime
Abstract
Observation of space objects for estimating the orbital parameters of the observed objects are normally done from passive optical sensors (telescopes), radars and SLR sensors. SLR sensors required the observed object to have a retro-reflector system to allow detection, improved observation techniques have lead to observe non 'collaborative' objects. Radar sensors are normally used for observing objects in Low Earth Orbits (LEO) as their efficiency reduces largely with the distance between the sensor and observed object. On the contrary, passive optical sensors work well at large distances, but observation at short distances are impacted by limitations that shall be accounted to provide accurate observations in the LEO regime.
Those limitations are mainly derived from the Earth shadow, the meteorological and diurnal constraints but also the high relative velocity between the observed object and sensor, which increases the requirements on the sensor capabilities in terms of speed, sensitivity and UTC registry accuracy. Therefore the main aspects to be considered are related to field of view -, which shall be traded-off with the read-out time; the image triggering mechanism allowing an extremely accurate time tag of the observations; the impact of trailing loss and trail detection mechanism which lead on the optimal exposure times, and derived signal to noise ratio. These aspects need to be addressed to design a suitable passive optical sensor for LEO object observation, and to define the proper observation strategies in terms of prioritization of target objects and the way they would be processed subsequently. This paper describes these theoretical aspects and present the solution considered during the design and deployment of a new LEO sensor within the DEIMOS Sky Survey (DeSS) observatory. Some results from observation campaigns are provided, allowing evaluating the data rate and accuracy achievable with such a sensor.- Publication:
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The Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference
- Pub Date:
- September 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018amos.confE..59S
- Keywords:
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- Telescope;
- optical sensor;
- LEO;
- measurements;
- accuracy