Preliminary Orbit Determination Using the Transit of Satellites in Front of Space-Based Illumination Sources

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

9-2021

Abstract

A novel method of preliminary satellite orbit determination is presented utilizing a union of the techniques used in astronomical occultation analysis, short arc orbit determination techniques integral to asteroid orbit determination, and satellite optical tracking. Departing from the convention of employing ground- and/or space-based radar to obtain angle and position data for near-Earth orbit determination, such information is instead obtained by using a combination of ground or space-based visual light sensor and a space-based mirror. In this new method, the space-based mirror reflects light towards the Earth and the resultant illumination disk is observed for the transit of satellites or other resident space objects (RSO). The sensor observes the passing shadow of the satellite or RSO and directly computes the relative position of the object casting the shadow to the space-based mirror.

Comments

The "Link to Full Text" on this page opens or saves the conference paper (PDF), hosted at the conference website.

Co-author Daniel Dombrowski was an AFIT graduate student (M.S.) at the time of this conference. (AFIT-ENY-MS-21-D-065, December 2021)

Source Publication

2021 Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference (AMOS)

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