Darren McKnight, Centauri; Rohit Arora, Centauri; Harrison Shay, Centauri
Keywords: orbital debris, space safety, space situational awareness, risk management
Abstract:
Space situational awareness (SSA) is a critical aspect of space safety and there is a significant focus on monitoring how operational satellites are behaving and being challenged via collision encounters with space debris. While this component of SSA is important, there is an equally relevant aspect of SSA that involves the collisional dynamics between massive derelict (i.e., non-operational intact and over 700 kg mass) objects. The potential effects from collisions between these objects may affect space operations for decades to come if not remediated. Unfortunately, typical space traffic management (STM) services do not issue warnings unless one of the conjuncting objects is operational.
This paper introduces a web site that is open to the public via daily updates to cumulative tallies of both regions of high debris-generating risk and individual objects that are contributing the most to this risk. The site link is provided along with a review of how to use the data. The Massive Collision Monitoring Activity (MCMA) Automation Site comprises three main components: (1) cumulative collision statistics for eight clusters of massive derelicts that pose a collision risk to LEO satellites, (2) a by-country analysis of contributions to this debris-generating risk by cluster, and (3) two different listings of the top 50 statistically most- concerning (SMC) objects being monitored.
This data is made available to the community to (1) encourage independent research on the data for better space safety awareness, (2) highlight the need for debris remediation through differentiation of individual objects potentially affecting LEO space operations, and (3) provide background for individuals assessing the general state of space debris hazard.
Date of Conference: September 15-18, 2020
Track: Orbital Debris