Matthew Richardson, L3 Applied Defense Solutions; Thomas Kelecy, L3 Applied Defense Solutions
Keywords: mass estimation, astrometric, photometric, data fusion, orbital debris characterization
Abstract:
A formulation is presented for estimating the mass of a space object from the fusion of astrometric and photometric data. The application for such a tool is to characterize the mass of an unknown debris object and quantify the mass uncertainty through the estimation method. Typically, the orbit dynamics are observed with angles measurements to deduce area-to-mass ratio. Photometric data is not sensitive to mass but is a function of the albedo-area and attitude dynamics of the space object. Thus, from these two data types it is possible to disentangle intrinsic properties using albedo-area and area-to-mass and ultimately determine the mass of a space object. Three case studies were analyzed for geosynchronous, highly elliptic, and medium earth orbit regimes. Simulated data was processed through an unscented Kalman filter to estimate the translational and rotational states of the space object as well as the mass and albedo area. In the geosynchronous and highly elliptic cases the process was able to accurately predict the mass value to within plus/minus 5kg of the true value based on a 95% confidence interval which will facilitate understanding of debris objects with quantifiable uncertainty. Observability of the states was examined to help explain and validate the results.
Date of Conference: September 11-14, 2018
Track: Poster