Sapienza Space debris Observatory Network (SSON): A high coverage infrastructure for space debris monitoring

Hossein, Shariar Hadji; Acernese, Marco; Cardona, Tommaso; Cialone, Giammarco; Curianò, Federico; Mariani, Lorenzo; Marini, Veronica; Marzioli, Paolo; Parisi, Leonardo; Piergentili, Fabrizio; Santoni, Fábio

doi:10.1016/j.jsse.2019.11.001

Cited by 17 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…University space debris observatories, typically with an overall hardware on the order of tens of thousands of dollars, can be implemented for the LED boards observation. A typical configuration of an optical observatory in VIS-band band is reported, as part of the Sapienza ground stations network that will be used for LEDSAT [6,31]. The observational techniques to be considered for the LED data acquisition are the following:…”

Section: Ground Segment: Optical Observatories Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) operations are usually guaranteed by the exploitation of radars, optical tracking can support the surveillance tasks and improve the accuracy of the Two-Line Elements (TLE) estimation for tracked objects [5]. The availability of optical measurements shows an obvious correlation with weather and lighting conditions, since the observation site, besides being influenced by good weather, shall be in darkness while the target object is in sunlight [5].The inherently passive nature of the measurements to be acquired allows one to relax the requirements for the spacecraft tracking equipment, resulting in relatively low-cost instrumentation and data acquisition architectures [6]. This enhances the possibility of building observational networks all over the world at low cost and with a high measurements availability [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Usage of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for improved satellite tracking

et al. 2021

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With the increasing number of satellite launches, especially in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), optical tracking can offer a convenient enhancement of tracking precision and availability. Spaceborne active illumination devices, such as LED payloads, can offer a significant improvement to optical observations, extending the observability interval to the whole eclipse time and performing optimized flash sequences for identification, orbit determination, attitude reconstruction or low data rate communication. The main features of LED panels for optical tracking mounted on small satellites platforms (and with particular regards to nano-satellite platforms) are outlined in this paper, along with the description of the design drivers. The analysis of the performance is referred to Sun-Synchronous (at 700 km of altitude) and International Space Station (400 km) orbits, while the ground segment and the optical link budget reference design relies on a standard university space debris observation station architecture. The paper also outlines the advantages of using different observation techniques and the variety of flashing patterns. The LEDSAT 1U CubeSat, aiming at demonstrating the effectiveness of an LED-based payload for observation and tracking, is used as a study case for examples of the LED payloads and related operations that are reported and described in this paper.

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Section: Ground Segment: Optical Observatories Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Usage of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for improved satellite tracking

et al. 2021

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“…The S5Lab observatories network includes many telescopes located in different countries around the world [19]. To obtain the real light-curve presented in this article, the Remote Space Debris Observation System (RESDOS) and the Sapienza Coupled University Debris Observatory (SCUDO) observatories, located in Rome (RM) and Collepardo (FR), respectively, are used.…”

Section: System Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent years, the Sapienza Space System and Space Surveillance (S5Lab) gained experience in satellite systems manufacturing and launches, and in the space debris field [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], operating networks [19][20][21][22][23][24][25] of completely remote optical observatories, which are able to observe, catalogue and identify a huge number of objects both known that unknown, thanks to which it was possible to refine the correlation between light curves and attitude dynamics of the observed debris. For these reasons, every methodology discussed in this paper is strongly based on a great number of observations, which makes it possible to obtain reliable and solid results.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

LEO Object’s Light-Curve Acquisition System and Their Inversion for Attitude Reconstruction

et al. 2020

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In recent years, the increase in space activities has brought the space debris issue to the top of the list of all space agencies. The fact of there being uncontrolled objects is a problem both for the operational satellites in orbit (avoiding collisions) and for the safety of people on the ground (re-entry objects). Optical systems provide valuable assistance in identifying and monitoring such objects. The Sapienza Space System and Space Surveillance (S5Lab) has been working in this field for years, being able to take advantage of a network of telescopes spread over different continents. This article is focused on the re-entry phase of the object; indeed, the knowledge of the state of the object, in terms of position, velocity, and attitude during the descent, is crucial in order to predict as accurately as possible the impact point on the ground. A procedure to retrieve the light curves of orbiting objects by means of optical data will be shown and a method to obtain the attitude determination from their inversion based on a stochastic optimization (genetic algorithm) will be proposed.

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“…If, nowadays, satellite tracking data acquisition is mainly performed by active surveillance systems, i.e., primary radars and laser ranging, often supported by optical observations [4], the implementation of multilateration systems offers interesting perspectives for spacecraft tracking and orbit determination [5,6]. In particular, these systems are able to achieve position determination when deploying a network of distributed sensors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) Networks Performance for Launcher Vehicles and Spacecraft Tracking

2020

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Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) networks could support spacecraft orbit determination or near-space (launcher and suborbital) vehicle tracking for an increased number of satellite launches and space missions in the near future. The evaluation of the geometry of TDOA networks could involve the dilution of precision (DOP), but this parameter is related to a single position of the target, while the positioning accuracy of the network with targets in the whole celestial vault should be evaluated. The paper presents the derivation of the MDOP (minimum dilution of precision), a parameter that can be used for evaluating the performance of TDOA networks for spacecraft tracking and orbit determination. The MDOP trend with respect to distance, number of stations and target altitude is reported in the paper, as well as examples of applications for network performance evaluation or time precision requirement definitions. The results show how an increase in the baseline enables the inclusion of more impactive improvements on the MDOP and the mean error than an increase in the number of stations. The target altitude is demonstrated as noninfluential for the MDOP trend, making the networks uniformly applicable to lower altitude (launchers and suborbital vehicles) and higher altitude (Low and Medium Earth Orbits satellites) spacecraft.

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Sapienza Space debris Observatory Network (SSON): A high coverage infrastructure for space debris monitoring

Cited by 17 publications

References 11 publications

Usage of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for improved satellite tracking

Usage of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for improved satellite tracking

LEO Object’s Light-Curve Acquisition System and Their Inversion for Attitude Reconstruction

Evaluation of Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) Networks Performance for Launcher Vehicles and Spacecraft Tracking

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