Identification of Space Debris

2013

Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca, conducting the La Sagra Sky Survey and DEIMOS Elecnor S.L.U. have been involved in a co-founded project devoted to testing the operational feasibility of enhanced optical surveyonly strategies minimizing the tracking needs to create and maintain a catalogue of high altitude objects. It was also aimed to minimize the routinely human efforts during the nightly control of the telescopes and particularly to avoid manual steps when processing of the images for delivering the astrometric measurements of the detected objects. This paper is focused on this second topic, to show some of the strategies and the robotic capabilities of the La Sagra telescopes and the processing tools for automatically detecting and delivering accurate measurements. Traditionally, these steps require humans in the loop, carrying out repeated tasks, making all the process non-practical and expensive when the aim is not an experimental campaign but to produce a regular service.

Proceedings of the …, 2007

For 14 nights in March 2007, we used two telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile to study the nature of space debris at Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO).

2014

: Space-based object detection and tracking represents a fundamental step necessary for detailed analysis of space objects. Initial observations of a resident space object (RSO) may result from careful sensor tasking to observe an object with well understood dynamics, or measurements-of-opportunity on an object with poorly understood dynamics. Dim and eccentric objects present a particular challenge which requires more dynamic use of imaging systems. As a result of more stressing data acquisition strategies, advanced techniques for the accurate processing of both point and streaking sources are needed. This paper will focus on two key methods in computer vision used to determine interest points within imagery. The Harris Corner method and the method of Phase Congruency can be used to effectively extract static and streaking point sources, and to indicate when apparent motion is present within an observation. The geometric inferences which can be made from the resulting detections wi...

ABSTRACT As part of the Phase-A feasibility study for a new Solar Mission, ADAHELI, financed by the Italian Space Agency, an algorithm for detecting debris using images produced by the on-board solar telescope, has been developed. ESA's GSTP-5 ELEMENT 3 provisions, for activities related to Space Situational Awareness, identify optical systems as key elements for monitoring orbiting objects. So far, only ground based telescopes, such as VLT, have been considered as elements of a debris-monitoring capability.

2018

Since the beginning of space exploration, the amount of space debris has increased with thedevelopment of new space technologies. In fact, when a collision happens, new space debris aregenerated. H ...

Acta Astronautica, 2019

The size distribution of space debris constitutes an important input to risk analysis for current and future space missions. In preparation for future observations with the zenith-pointing 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT), the 1.3-m Devasthal Fast Optical Telescope (DFOT) was used to gain experience with zenith-pointing observations and, serendipitously, to detect, identify and characterize orbital debris. Observational data were acquired on 11 nights in May 2015 using a 2048 × 2048-pixel CCD detector operating in time-delay integration mode. Thirteen debris streaks were detected, mostly during dawn and twilight. All were identified by correlation with available two-line element sets. By modeling each of the objects as a diffuse-specular Lambertian sphere with an albedo ρ = 0.175, their effective diameters were estimated from the observed apparent magnitudes, altitudes, velocities and solar phase angles. Seven objects were found to be in low Earth orbits and five in mid-Earth or geo-transfer orbits. The apparent Gaia magnitudes of the identified objects range from 5.6 to 12.0 and their estimated effective diameters from 0.8 to 7.6 m. The detection size limit of DFOT is found to be 50 cm for objects orbiting at an altitude of 1000 km. Images from the future ILMT photometric survey are expected to provide detections of space debris having diameters as small as 5 cm at this altitude.

2015

The population of space debris increased drastically during the last years. Collisions involving massive objects may produce large number of fragments leading to significantly growth of the space debris population. An effective remediation measure in order to stabilize the population in LEO, is therefore the removal of large, massive space debris. To remove these objects, not only precise orbits, but also more detailed information about their attitude states will be required. One important property of an object targeted for removal is its spin period and spin axis orientation. If we observe a rotating object, the observer sees different surface areas of the object which leads to changes in the measured intensity. Rotating objects will produce periodic brightness vari ations with frequencies which are related to the spin periods. Photometric monitoring is the real tool for remote diagnostics of the satellite rotation around its center of mass. This information is also useful, for exa...

Acta Polytechnica

The main purpose of the “Pi of the Sky” system is to investigate short timescale astrophysical phenomena (particularly gamma-ray bursts, optical transients and variable stars). Wide field, short exposures and full automation of the system, together with effective algorithms, give good prospects for effective identification of space debris elements. These objects can be a great danger for current and future space missions, and should be continuously monitored and cataloged. Algorithms for identifying optical transients (OT), designed for the “Pi of the Sky” experiment enable moving objects like planes, satellites and space debris elements to be identified. The algorithm verifies each OT candidate against a database of known satellites and is also able to automatically self-identify moving objects not present in this database. The data collected by the prototype in the Las Campanas Observatory enabled us to obtain a large sample of observations of moving objects. Some of these objects...

2020

Space debris are dysfunctional artificial objects that are orbiting around the earth. Miniaturization and advancement in space technology have encouraged the increase in the number of small-satellite constellations. Over the years, in-orbit catastrophic events have resulted in an exponential increase in space pollution with the ever-expanding coverage area of space debris. An international consortium of private institutions and space agencies works together to address the concern by extensive research and development related to active debris tracking and removal methods. On the same grounds, the Institute of Technical Physics of German Aerospace Center is developing ground based high energy laser facility and optical instruments to track and remove space debris from Low Earth Orbit. The internship project aims to develop a motion tracker software to track the sample in a technology demonstration experiment of impulse generation through laser-matter interaction. Several object detection and motion tracking algorithms in computer vision were reviewed and analyzed to accomplish it. For object detection, Harris Corner Detector and Scale Invariant Feature Transform algorithms exhibit a decent success rate. Optical flow point based tracking was most promising to obtain a 3-Dimensional sample track specifically in a multi-view camera configuration. The reference data files used for software development are the high-speed videos originally obtained during the laser-matter interaction experiment throughout the project.