Investigating the Impact of Modeling Diffraction from Solar Cells on Light Curve Analysis
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Abstract
Many space vehicles, especially in geostationary orbits (GEO), are too small and too far away to obtain resolved imagery. Light curve analysis, a commonly utilized technique which assists in characterizing spacecraft by observing spacecraft brightness over time, commonly displays discrepancies between measured glints and predictions on glint behavior. In this work, satellite orbital simulation software is utilized in conjunction with MATLAB code to compute BRDF values at any point on the surface of the earth for a sun-tracking solar cell in geostationary orbit for both an isotropic and anisotropic BRDF model. The BRDF values for both models are then computed for a sun-tracking solar cell on the evening of 11 March 2020 and compared to light curve data collected from observation of DirecTV-14 at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) on the same date. It was concluded that the utilization of an anisotropic BRDF model produces a simulated light curve whose appearance and glint timing can be plausibly attributed to diffraction based on the solar cells orientation, whereas the utilization of an isotropic BRDF model fails to accurately predict glinting behavior.