Carolin Fruh (Astronomical Institute, University of Bern), Thomas Schildknecht (Astronomical Institute, University of Bern), Martin Ploner (Astronomical Institute, University of Bern)
Keywords:
Abstract:
Surveys searching for unknown space debris objects gain so called tracklets, short series of astrometric positions spanning an interval of a few minutes. These tracklets do not yet allow determining a full six parameter orbit. The observed positions and velocities are compared on one hand with ephemerides generated from the two line elements of the external DISCOS catalogue, and on the other hand with ephemerides generated from an internally maintained orbit catalogue. Two different ways to generate ephemerides from TLEs are compared in terms off consistency. Position and velocity errors assessed from correlating observations with ephemerides stemming from the DISCOS catalogue are compared with the errors assessed from correlating observations with the internal orbit catalogue. The different error values are discussed. Understanding the differences between predicted and observed positions of objects is also relevant in the context of space situation awareness and collision avoidance.
Date of Conference: September 1-4. 2009
Track: