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![Monthly number of objects in the Earth orbit cataloged by the US Space Surveillance Network (SSN), organized by object type. The two step increases in 2007 and 2009 result from fragments from the FY-1C ASAT test and Iridium 33/Cosmos 2251 collisions, respectively [1].](publication/264863542/figure/fig3/AS:268850222596098@1441110296802/Monthly-number-of-objects-in-the-Earth-orbit-cataloged-by-the-US-Space-Surveillance.png)
Monthly number of objects in the Earth orbit cataloged by the US Space Surveillance Network (SSN), organized by object type. The two step increases in 2007 and 2009 result from fragments from the FY-1C ASAT test and Iridium 33/Cosmos 2251 collisions, respectively [1].
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The number of man-made debris objects orbiting the Earth, or orbital debris, is alarmingly increasing, resulting in the increased probability of degradation, damage, or destruction of operating spacecraft. In part, small objects (<10 cm) in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) are of concern because they are abundant and difficult to track or even to detect on a...
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Context 1
... and all operating satellites in these particular orbital regions will quickly degrade or be destroyed within months or years, contributing further to the debris field. The Kessler syndrome represents an extreme condition, but can easily be envisaged, especially considering the trend toward increasing quantities of orbital debris in recent years. Fig. 1 shows the rapid increase in the number of objects in the Earth orbit greater than 10 cm. In 2002, Crowther categorized objects 410 cm as "cataloged", e.g. via the SSN, objects 1-10 cm as "lethal", and objects o1 cm as a "risk" and provided estimates for each category, with more than 100,000 objects in the "lethal" category [4]. Levin ...Context 2
... in 2009, have added approximately 40% to the debris in LEO, signifi- cantly increasing the challenges of operating in LEO [6][7][8][9]. The effects of these collisions can be observed in the step [10]). More information on the distribution of orbital debris and projections for the future can be found in the literature (e.g. [10,11]). changes in Fig. 1 for the years 2007 and 2009 and the difference in debris profiles for 2007 and 2010 in Fig. 2. Concomitant increases in the "lethal" and "risk" debris categories may also be reasonably expected, although these have not been quantified, significantly increasing the hazards to ...Similar publications
An orbital debris evolutionary model for geosynchronous Earth region named GEODEEM is upgraded for better understanding. One of keys of this upgrade is that all satellites larger than 10 cm in size are tracked individually. The benefits of this upgrade are: 1) collision accidents can be estimated based upon one-by-one collision probabilities, and 2...
Citations
... The scientific and space community continually conducts research on space debris, including data collection and tracking of objects in orbit, with the aim of better understanding the problem and developing effective solutions [7][8][9]. At present, ground-based RADAR and LiDAR are the main research tools that contribute to space debris cataloging databases [10][11][12][13]. ...
This article presents an alternative approach to detecting and mapping space debris in low Earth orbit by utilizing commercially available automotive LiDAR sensors mounted on CubeSats. The main objective is to leverage the compact size, low weight, and minimal power consumption of these sensors to create a “Large Cosmic LiDAR” (LCL) system. This LCL system would operate similarly to a giant radar circling the Earth, with strategically positioned LiDAR sensors along the target orbit. The article examines the feasibility of this concept by analyzing the relative orbital velocity between the sensor and debris objects, and calculating the time required to scan a complete orbit.
... Within this context, solar sails, unlike conventional chemical propulsion methods requiring propellant, are being seriously considered as a feasible alternative. Additionally, the majority of debris in low Earth orbit is concentrated between 600 and 1000 km altitude [15,16], with debris below 1000 km altitude showing a rapid increase [17]. Consequently, this study aims to design trajectories for debris removal in low Earth orbit using solar sails, with a specific focus on the perspective of multiple debris removal. ...
In this study, preliminary trajectory design for debris removal in low Earth orbit using solar sails is explored. Emphasis is placed on regions below 1000 km altitude, where the debris population is rapidly growing. The aim is to propose a mission concept capable of repetitively executing removal processes. The trajectory is intricately crafted, segmented into rendezvous, proximity operations, and deorbiting phases. Safety is prioritized by leveraging walking safety ellipses during proximity operations, ensuring efficient capture of targeted debris. Additionally, the feasibility and limitations of the mission concept are assessed through numerical simulations based on characteristic acceleration, a pivotal performance index of solar sails.
... Radar systems can sometimes detect such space objects, but can, at best, localize them with lower precision than the shorter-wavelength optical systems. A stand-alone optical system based on the use of a light-sheet illumination and scattering concept [9] for spotting debris within meters of a spacecraft has been proposed. A second system can localize all three coordinates of an unresolved, scattering debris [10,11] by utilizing either the parallax between two observations, a pulsed laser ranging system, or a hybrid system. ...
Three-dimensional (3D) point source recovery from two-dimensional (2D) data is a challenging problem with wide-ranging applications in single-molecule localization microscopy and space-debris localization telescops. Point spread function (PSF) engineering is a promising technique to solve this 3D localization problem. Specifically, we consider the problem of 3D localization of space debris from a 2D image using a rotating PSF where the depth information is encoded in the angle of rotation of a single-lobe PSF for each point source. Instead of applying a model-based optimization, we introduce a convolution neural network (CNN)-based approach to localize space debris in full 3D space automatically. A hard sample training strategy is proposed to improve the performance of CNN further. Contrary to the traditional model-based methods, our technique is efficient and outperforms the current state-of-the-art method by more than 11% in the precision rate with a comparable improvement in the recall rate.
... The minimum elevation of the ground ε is shown in the figure below. It should be noted that ε should be more than 5° to 10° [11] . According to the triangle sine theorem, we can get: ...
... Then the weight coefficient matrix is: 11 ...
In order to demonstrate the key functionalities of large-scale LEO navigation constellations, this paper investigates the small-scale LEO experimental constellation design problem. The major requirements include achieving quadruple coverage of specific ground target areas. The regional navigation constellation consists of four satellites distributed on two orbit planes. Considering the sustainable regional navigation, it is expected that the orbits of the satellites are regressional such that it takes little effort for the constellation to cover the designated region. In this way, the structure of the optimization problem is set up, which is constrained by the quadruple coverage and accuracy requirements. It takes the maximum task time as the objective function. The differential evolution algorithm (DE) is utilized to solve the optimization problem. The optimal regional navigation constellation design scheme satisfying the constraints is obtained. The simulation results show that the regional navigation constellation designed by this method can meet the predetermined requirements.
... Currently, there is at least one in orbit sensor, the Canadian NEOSSAT (Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite) (Abbasi et al., 2019;Laurin et al., 2008), Following recommendations of (Englert et al., 2014;Worms et al., 1999), ESA has recently started the project on developing Coincident laser sheet particle monitor (COLA), to study the feasibility of a new orbital sensor . The idea is based on placing one or more thin laser sheet light fields around the satellite, and several fast cameras measuring the precise coordinates and brightness of the flashes caused by bypassing particles. ...
We have developed a scattering model allowing to study interaction of light with particles populating the near-Earth environment: satellite explosion remnants, collisional debris, particles detached from peeling paint surfaces, and ejecta resulting from micrometeorite bombardment. In its present configuration the model accounts for rough needles, grains, and plates as primary shape elements. More complex shapes are built upon combining them.
The model is compared and validated against laboratory measurements. The studied samples include a set of space debris analogue samples obtained from the controlled MIRAD (Microparticle impact related attitude disturbances) experiment that collided solar cell panels with a projectile. The resulting samples are mostly carbon needles and curved aluminium sheets. We have both measured and modelled the scattering of light from a set of these samples.
The model agrees rather well with the measurements. The shape and orientation of the particles are found to be the main contributor in how light is scattered, whereas the material dependence shows a weaker trend. Large amount of data with varying viewing and illumination angles are needed to allow for inversion of the target characteristics.
The experimental results exploited in our study have significantly aided the model development. In the future, this work can be expanded to a real-mode in-orbit scattering model that can be utilised in Earth system and/or astronomical observations and space mission concept designs. Additional measurements with larger variety of samples and their expanded size range are required to extend and solidify the model for the full range of populations representing space particles.
... The amount of space debris is currently increasing at a rate of 5% per year, which suggests that spacecraft in their orbits face the rising threat of debris impact [8,13,24]. The bare electrodynamic tether (EDT) is a tool invented by Sanmartin [33] for deorbiting missions. ...
The electrodynamic tether (EDT) is a type of propulsion system that uses the geomagnetic field and ionospheric plasma and has the potential to conduct a space-debris removal mission without consuming a large amount of propellant. To understand the dynamic properties of the bare EDT system, an orbital dynamic model based on a detailed environmental space model and the real discharge characteristics of a hollow cathode plasma contactor (HCPC) was built. By numerical simulation, the differences in the bare tether performance caused by various orbital conditions and HCPC voltage models (at constant or various voltages) were compared and discussed. The results suggest that dynamic distinctions generated by the two bias voltage models increased as the latitude increased from 0° to 60°.
... Radar systems can sometimes detect such space debris objects, but can at best localize them with lower precision than shortwavelength optical systems. A stand-alone optical system based on the use of a light-sheet illumination and scattering concept [3] for spotting debris within meters of a spacecraft has also been proposed. A second system can localize all three coordinates of an unresolved, scattering debris [7,25] by utilizing either the parallex between two observations, or a pulsed laser ranging system, or a hybrid system. ...
We consider three-dimensional (3D) localization and imaging of space debris from only one two-dimensional (2D) snapshot image. The technique involves an optical imager that exploits off-center image rotation to encode both the lateral and depth coordinates of point sources, with the latter being encoded in the angle of rotation of the PSF. We formulate 3D localization into a large-scale sparse 3D inverse problem in the discretized form. A recently developed penalty called continuous exact l0 (CEL0) is applied in this problem for the Gaussian noise model. Numerical experiments and comparisons illustrate the efficiency of the algorithm.
... As of January 2019, more than 128 million bits of debris which are less than 1cm were estimated (D Mahrholz, 2002) [2]. Space debris is extended over 160km to 36000km above the Earth's surface (Christoph R Englert, 2014) [3]. The tracking and cataloguing of space debris are efficiently done by the US Space surveillance Network. ...
... A stand-alone optical system based on the use of a light-sheet illumination and scattering concept [1] for spotting debris within meters of a spacecraft has been proposed. A second system can localize all three coordinates of an unresolved, scattering debris [2,3] by utilizing either parallex between two observatories or a pulsed laser ranging system or a hybrid system. ...
An optical imager that exploits off-center image rotation to encode both the lateral and depth coordinates of point sources in a single snapshot can perform 3D localization and tracking of space debris. When actively illuminated, unresolved space debris, which can be regarded as a swarm of point sources, can scatter a fraction of laser irradiance back into the imaging sensor. Determining the source locations and fluxes is a large-scale sparse 3D inverse problem, for which we have developed efficient and effective algorithms based on sparse recovery using non-convex optimization. Numerical simulations illustrate the efficiency and stability of the algorithms.
... American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 8 For a given material and given required change in velocity, Equation 1 [23] helps in calculating the drag force due to magnetic field on a spherical body of diameter 10cm. This gives approximate results at high velocities also: [24] The number of artificial man-made objects orbiting earth is increasing at alarming rates. The large objects can be tracked by ground based observatories. ...
... Since these debris particles can't be tracked from existing earth based tracking mechanisms, a real-time debris tracking approach needs to be adopted. The Optical Orbital Debris Spotter [24] is one such mechanism which can be used for tracking debris as small as 0.01cm in the vicinity of the satellite. The concept of this system is to create a light sheet using a collimated source and a conic mirror [24] . ...
... The Optical Orbital Debris Spotter [24] is one such mechanism which can be used for tracking debris as small as 0.01cm in the vicinity of the satellite. The concept of this system is to create a light sheet using a collimated source and a conic mirror [24] . When the orbit trajectory of a debris object intersects the light sheet, the object will scatter, reflect, transmit and/or absorb some amount of light. ...
