Andrew Ash, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory; Jovan Skuljan, Defence Technology Agency; Robert “Lauchie” Scott, Defence R&D Canada; Wesley Martin, Secretary of the Airforce/Internal Affairs, Virginia Wright, Air Force Research Laboratory, Travis Bessell, Defence Science and Technology Group
Keywords: SSA, CSPO, 5-eyes
Abstract:
This paper provides an update on international research collaboration (IRC) activities underway within the 5-eyes military community (UK, US, AUS, CAN, NZ) that is aiming to enhance allied Space Situational Awareness (SSA) capability and highlight opportunities for involvement within ongoing experimentation.
SSA is a growing area of interest internationally as the domain becomes ever contested, congested and competitive; with increasing emphasis within governments worldwide on securing access to services provided from or through this domain. S&T has a key role to play in this by exploring novel solutions to enhance SSA beyond the capability of existing system that account for the multitude of future challenges posed by a more stressing domain.
Since 2014 representatives from the 5-eyes nations have been enhancing S&T collaboration on SSA in support of shared national objectives and to enhance allied SSA operations. In particular a series of distributed experiments have been conducted as a vehicle to explore the fundamental challenges posed by SSA in terms of sensor scheduling, data sharing, access, processing and astrodynamics. Performance analysis of novel sensor as applied to SSA has been conducted that provide insight into potential architectural options for future SSA architecture designs.
This paper will review progress made to date, some of our challenges (both resolved and open) and set out our vision for future collaboration in support of initiatives such as Combined Space Operations (CSpO). It will provide greater insight into emerging SSA requirements being generated within the respective operational centres and comments on priorities for future development needs. Particular emphasis will be placed on highlighting open areas of research and experimentation where we would value additional engagement from the SSA industry base (including academia) and other possible IRC partner nations. Specific examples of ongoing research and analysis related to de-orbit sail technology orbit determination (under the Daedalus experiment), use of non-traditional sensors for LEO cataloguing and challenges presented by Active Debris Removal concepts will be covered in additional detail.
This paper provides an update on international research collaboration (IRC) activities underway within the 5-eyes military community (UK, US, AUS, CAN, NZ) that is aiming to enhance allied Space Situational Awareness (SSA) capability and highlight opportunities for involvement within ongoing experimentation.
SSA is a growing area of interest internationally as the domain becomes ever contested, congested and competitive; with increasing emphasis within governments worldwide on securing access to services provided from or through this domain. S&T has a key role to play in this by exploring novel solutions to enhance SSA beyond the capability of existing system that account for the multitude of future challenges posed by a more stressing domain.
Since 2014 representatives from the 5-eyes nations have been enhancing S&T collaboration on SSA in support of shared national objectives and to enhance allied SSA operations. In particular a series of distributed experiments have been conducted as a vehicle to explore the fundamental challenges posed by SSA in terms of sensor scheduling, data sharing, access, processing and astrodynamics. Performance analysis of novel sensor as applied to SSA has been conducted that provide insight into potential architectural options for future SSA architecture designs.
This paper will review progress made to date, some of our challenges (both resolved and open) and set out our vision for future collaboration in support of initiatives such as Combined Space Operations (CSpO). It will provide greater insight into emerging SSA requirements being generated within the respective operational centres and comments on priorities for future development needs. Particular emphasis will be placed on highlighting open areas of research and experimentation where we would value additional engagement from the SSA industry base (including academia) and other possible IRC partner nations. Specific examples of ongoing research and analysis related to de-orbit sail technology orbit determination (under the Daedalus experiment), use of non-traditional sensors for LEO cataloguing and challenges presented by Active Debris Removal concepts will be covered in additional detail.
Date of Conference: September 11-14, 2018
Track: Space Situational Awareness