A Dual-Purpose Camera for Attitude Determination and Resident Space Object Detection on a Stratospheric Balloon

Abstract

Space systems play an integral role in every facet of our daily lives, including national security, communications, and resource management. Therefore, it is critical to protect our valuable assets in space and build resiliency in the space environment. In recent years, we have developed a novel approach to Space Situational Awareness (SSA), in the form of a low-resolution, Wide Field-of-View (WFOV) camera payload for attitude determination and Resident Space Object (RSO) detection. Detection is the first step in tracking, identification, and characterization of RSOs, including natural and artificial objects orbiting the Earth. A space-based dual-purpose camera that can provide attitude information alongside RSO detection can enhance the current SSA technologies which rely on ground infrastructure. A CubeSat form factor payload with real-time attitude determination and RSO detection algorithms was developed and flown onboard the CSA/CNES stratospheric balloon platform in August 2023. Sub-degree pointing information and multiple RSO detections were demonstrated during operation, with opportunities for improvement discussed. This paper outlines the hardware and software architecture, system design methodology, on-ground testing, and in-flight results of the dual-purpose camera payload.

Technology Demonstration of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Mission on Stratospheric Balloon Platform

“…This section provides an overview of Subpayload 2's software (version 1.0). Further details on the operation of this subpayload are in [32].…”

“…For the PCO camera, this was performed by visually distinguishing the RSOs within the images from the background stars. The RSO detection capability of the IDS camera was investigated in [32] and was achieved by comparing the onboard algorithm's detections to the actual images to verify the detections. Given the unstable flight conditions, only the last 92 min of data were used for this analysis.…”