Jeffrey Van Cleve, Ball Aerospace; Anna Lawitzke, Ball Aerospace; Emily MacAnlis, Ball Aerospace; Jacob Griesbach, Ball Aerospace; Melissa Sampson, Ball Aerospace; David Osterman, Ball Aerospace; Elvis Silva, Ball Aerospace; Christopher Grant, Ball Aerospace; Amelia Bloom, Ball Aerospace
Keywords: Cislunar, Imaging, Sensors, Optical Systems, Space Domain Awareness, Lunar Lander, LUNINT, Space Situational Awareness, lunar regolith
Abstract:
While a high-performance sensor at EML-1 could surveil the key orbital trajectories in Earth-Moon space, Low Lunar Orbit (LLO) would remain a challenging subdomain in which to identify unknown objects or detect maneuvers and configuration changes. In addition to the phase angle disadvantages in common with the rest of cislunar space, objects in LLO can be hidden by straylight when near the lunar limb, passing in front of the lunar disk, or obscured by the Moon itself in a conical volume between the Moon and EML-2. In this paper, we explore the pros (and cons) of a smallsat-scale Lunar Surface Observatory (LSO) as an adjunct to a high-performance L1-based sensor or cislunar constellation, delivered to the lunar surface by commercial lunar payload service (CLPS) providers vetted by NASA. We consider
Astrodynamics, coverage, and radiometry of objects in regions hidden from EML-1
Incremental deployment of a network of several stations, starting with an initial operational capability (IOC) of a south polar station with near-perpetual solar illumination and Earth LOS for comm
Site selection methodology using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) VIS, IR, and LIDAR maps
FOV sensor design
Designed Payload: Gimbaled Wide-Angle/Narrow Angle Camera (WAC/NAC) for SDA (WAC) and limited (10 cm pixels at 50 km range) resolved imaging (NAC)
COTS-ish Payload derived from the Ball CT-2020 star tracker as a productized ride-along package for building a low-performance but ubiquitous optical fence
Ball dust mitigation and dry lubrication technology to protect optics, solar panels, and moving parts
Moon-unique thermal engineering experience learned in our L-CiRIS thermal imaging camera to be delivered to the lunar S pole in 2023
CONOPS for data collection and analysis for detecting faint moving targets in LLO and in Lagrangian manifolds
Lunar surface delivery as a commercial product by vendors pre-approved by NASA accommodation, cost, data security
Bonus science: levitating lunar dust, pathfinder for large EOIR lunar observatories for astronomy
Date of Conference: September 14-17, 2021
Track: Cislunar SSA