Houman Hakima, Space Strategies Consulting Ltd; Barry Stoute, Space Strategies Consulting Ltd; Marc Fricker, Space Strategies Consulting Ltd; Jerami Williams, Space Strategies Consulting Ltd; Peter Boone, Space Strategies Consluting Ltd; Maria Rey, Space Stratetegies Consulting Ltd; Andre Dupuis, Space Strategies Consulting Ltd; Simon Turbide, INO; Louis Desbiens, INO; Linda Marchese, INO; Patrice Topart, INO; Alain Bergeron, INO
Keywords: Space Object Identification, Space Situational Awareness, synthetic aperture LADAR, optoelectronics processor, formation flying
Abstract:
This paper presents the mission design, concept of operations, and systems design for a Canadian Space Situational Awareness system called Space Object Identification Satellite, SOISat. With the increasing congestion of man-made objects in all orbital regimes around Earth, detection, classification, recognition, and identification of these resident space objects have become increasingly important to spacefaring nations such as Canada and her allies. The proposed SOISat spacecraft is intended for the surveillance of resident space objects in low-Earth, medium-Earth, and geostationary orbits. In particular, SOISat can be utilized for a) maintenance of the Space Situational Awareness catalogue for particular space assets, b) detection and identification of DarkSats, i.e., satellites designed to be covert/invisible to the traditional means of detection, c) detection and characterization of unexpected propulsive events, and d) inspection and identification of space objects of interests such as debris objects. Current approaches to space object tracking and identification have significant limitations, especially in the geostationary orbit. An overview of some of the current commercial and non-commercial Space Situational Awareness systems is presented, some of the limitations associated with these systems are described, and SOISat capabilities in addressing these issues are explained. Leveraging the flight heritage of off-the-shelf SmallSat components integrated with the novel payloads envisioned for SOISat, it is expected that the resultant technology brings an unparalleled capability to Space Situational Awareness which does not currently exist. There are two state-of-the-art payload instruments onboard SOISat, namely, a synthetic aperture LADAR and an optoelectronic synthetic aperture processor. The preliminary theoretical results suggest that, at a range of 1000 km, the proposed space-object identification system is capable of imaging objects at a 1-cm resolution. Use of an optoelectronic sensor processor produces a human-readable image in a fraction of the time it would take to digitally process the synthetic aperture LADAR data using conventional techniques. The SOISat system can put forth significant technology development in the synthetic aperture LADAR systems, and meets a critical operation need in improving the understanding of resident space objects. Simulation scenarios are included in order to verify the performance of SOISat in detecting and tracking the resident space objects of interest.
Date of Conference: September 15-18, 2020
Track: Space-Based Assets