Keith Morris (Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company), Chris Rice (Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company)
Keywords: Space Situational Awareness, Space Based Assets, Orbital Debris
Abstract:
With space becoming more congested, competitive, and contested, new space situational awareness architectures are required to maintain the US advantage in space. This, along with government budget concerns, requires new and potentially radical approaches for performing Space Situational Awareness (SSA). Previous studies have shown that CubeSats can fill holes in the GEO SSA architecture and provide point of light observations of objects. The next logical step is to develop a CubeSat constellation that provides complete coverage of the GEO belt while minimizing the cost to field the architecture. CubeSats provide value to the GEO SSA mission by hosting optical systems and taking pictures along the GEO belt, however, CubeSats do have limitations when it comes to mission assurance. Because of this, mission orbits must be chosen such that failed CubeSats do not become pieces of debris. In addition, recent advances in CubeSat propulsion systems open up new orbits and constellations due to the increased thrust and Delta V. Analyzing the CubeSat capabilities along with launch rideshare options determined the most cost effective architecture to provide high accuracy tracks to all objects at GEO with minimal gaps between observations. Several mission orbits are combined to provide the access and coverage required. The few launches direct to GEO can accommodate CubeSats that can be place in a GEO +500 km orbit. The CubeSats would image the GEO belt as they drift with respect to GEO performing the track and custody missions. More launches occur to the GEO transfer orbit during the and CubeSats ridesharing on these launches reside in an elliptical orbit with the apogee at GEO and the CubeSat propulsion system can be used to raise perigee to maintain a reasonable mission life. CubeSats in this orbit can image the GEO belt near apogee from different angles than the +500 km orbits that contributes to higher accuracy tracks. Finally, ridesharing as hosted payloads on commercial satellites allows direct access to the GEO belt. These CubeSats would be maneuvered from the host to the western and eastern wells to detect objects coming in and leaving the area. The wells provide an ideal location for CubeSats as objects tend to stay at the wells. By combining CubeSats in these mission orbits, complete track coverage and custody is maintained while minimizing the cost to field the architecture.
Date of Conference: September 9-12, 2014
Track: Space Systems