Cislunar SDA with Low-Fidelity Sensors and Observer Uncertainty

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

9-16-2022

Abstract

With an increased interest in the cislunar domain for both civilian and military applications comes a need for Space Domain Awareness (SDA) of objects in cislunar space. Space-based SDA in cislunar space is challenging in part due to difficulties associated with accurately estimating the position of the observer satellite, which is a requirement for effectively performing the SDA mission. Using multiple observation satellites with lower-fidelity equipment helps alleviate these concerns by aggregating together multiple data sets with higher variance to achieve the same level or better accuracy as compared to fewer higher-quality measurement systems. Earth-Moon periodic orbits are used for the observer constellation with a target spacecraft in a L1 Halo orbit. All orbits are modeled using the circular restricted three body problem (CR3BP). Systems Tool Kit (STK) is used to calculate orbit geometries and angles- only measurements are extracted to simulate observing spacecraft with optical sensors. The measurement data is then processed utilizing an Extended Kalman Filter to estimate the position of the target spacecraft. The analysis focuses on comparing the effectiveness of different numbers of observer spacecraft. The results of this simulation found that the use of a low-fidelity constellation can match the performance achieved by a constellation with higher-fidelity systems.

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Copyright © 2022 Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference (AMOS)

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2022 Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference (AMOS)

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