Kaitlyn Raub, InTrack Radar Technologies, Inc.; Tim McLaughlin, InTrack Radar Technologies, Inc.; Nathan Holzrichter, MITRE; Stefan Doucette, MITRE; Francis Chun, United States Air Force Academy
Keywords: cislunar, telescope, astronomy, observatory, algorithms
Abstract:
Over the next several years, an increase of scientific, commercial, and military missions will be driving a dramatic rise in cislunar traffic. Whereas missions beyond geosynchronous orbit were previously limited to a select few nations, lowered costs and increased demand are causing a wide variety of nations’ space programs and commercial entities to visit the Moon, including some spacecraft with humans on board! Cislunar space poses a host of new challenges with regards to Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Spaceflight Traffic Safety. Complex gravitational dynamics caused by the Moon, Earth, and Sun that allow for low-energy trajectories that rapidly reduce predictability and expand the volume of space requiring surveillance. Further, the vast ranges associated with objects in cislunar space exacerbate sensor sensitivity challenges. Recent work to adapt traditional observing procedures to cislunar ranges has been developed, tested, and deployed, allowing existing ground-based, small aperture optical observatories the ability to track, detect, and image cislunar objects (See Raub 2023, Raub 2022). While these techniques enable observers to update the state of known satellites, the next step in applying existing terrestrial sensors to cislunar SSA is to develop methods for the discovery of unknown or lost targets.
This report details the results of the application of an asteroid detection algorithm to both decrease the required target signal and perform un-cued discovery for cislunar spacecraft. The algorithm is tested utilizing data collected from the Pine Park Observatory (PPO) and the United States Air Force Academy’s Falcon Telescope Network (FTN).
Date of Conference: September 17-20, 2024
Track: Cislunar SDA