Joseph Mazur, The Aerospace Corporation; Donn Murray, USSF Space Systems Command Space Based Space Domain Awareness Branch SZGZ; George Eberwine, Space Systems Command SSC/SZGZ
Keywords: space environment, space weather, space debris, space sensor infrastructure, environmental threat on-orbit, SDA, Space Domain Awareness, Energized Charged Particles, ECPanomaly resolution, anomaly detection,
Abstract:
Space Domain Awareness Advanced Radiation Awareness Technology: Hosted Payloads
1st Lt George Eberwine1, Dr. Joseph Mazur2, Mr. Donn Murray1
1Space Systems Command, United States Space Force, 2The Aerospace Corporation
As the warfighter is ever more reliant on space assets, and as the space environment grows increasingly contested, the Space Force must have accurate, reliable, and timely Space Domain Awareness (SDA) capabilities. When a Space Force satellite experiences an anomaly, the operator needs the ability to rapidly make a distinction between anomalies resulting from natural (i.e. related to the space environment) or non-natural phenomena. The Space Force and its partners have developed and prototyped a family of in-situ sensors including Energetic Charged Particle (ECP) prototypes such as ECP-Lite, as well as Catcher, for local monitoring of radiation and other potential causes of satellite anomalies. The data flowing from such sensors not only informs the space vehicle operator on real-world environmental and man-made effects, but can also inform the overall space weather and operational picture. Hosted ECP sensors provide a low Size Weight Power and Cost (SWaP-C) means to measure space weather conditions associated with space vehicles in all orbital regimes, thus allowing accurate environmental assessment.
The Catcher sensor is designed as a rapid response detection system that can keep up with the changing debris and environmental threat on-orbit. The Space Force has launched both of these types of sensors as part of a research and development campaign. This paper delves into their on-orbit capability and promotes their integration into a future SDA architecture. Ideally, the Space Force will deploy ECP-sensors and Catcher-like devices on numerous spacecraft in a variety of orbits to provide robust situational awareness at reasonable cost. This paper provides an overview of each sensor and examples of how they work and contribute to space domain awareness, facilitating the safety of our infrastructure in space and our warfighters on the ground.
Date of Conference: September 19-22, 2023
Track: Space-Based Assets