Next-Gen Tools and Techniques for Space Situational Awareness and Space Traffic Management

Abstract:
Space debris remains a persistent threat to assets and humans in space. The proliferation of low Earth orbit (LEO) with replenishable small satellite constellations driven by commercial interests has further stressed Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and put focus onSpace Traffic Management (STM). While the trackable debris catalog has grown significantly over the last decade, lethal non-trackable (LNT) debris smaller than the order of centimeters in size remains a challenge as they fall below the detection and tracking capability of most ground-based sensors. In addition to catalog maintenance under SSA, STM has put focus on enhanced and concerted space operations that includes conjunction assessment and collision avoidance.

The US Space Policy Directive-3, National STM Policy has emphasized the necessity “to make significant contributions to establish a quality threshold for actionable collision avoidance warning to minimize false alarms”. Accurate calculation of Probability of Collision (PoC) for confident decision-making requires realistic covariance information since maneuvers are expensive (personnel cost, science data or commercial service outage, fuel costs). This talk will cover the work developing tools and algorithms targeted at addressing the challenge of LNT debris and enhancing LEO operations, critical for a safe and sustainable space economy and environment.