Bill McClintock, The Stratagem Group; Duane Cornish, The Stratagem Group; Chris Tapley, The Stratagem Group; Sarar Aseer, The Stratagem Group; Thomas Kelecy, The Stratagem Group
Keywords: Debris break-up; Orbit propagation; High Area-to-Mass Ratio (HAMR), RUST, Web Assembly (WASM), Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)
Abstract:
Propagation of large numbers of Resident Space Objects (RSOs) poses a challenge in any reasonable computational platform when the number of RSO exceeds a few 10s to (at most) 100s of RSOs when using high fidelity force models. High fidelity modeling is required for both Low Earth Orbit (LEO) models and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) models to account for the Earth gravity model, atmospheric drag perturbations, and solar radiation pressure (SRP) for High Area-to-Mass Ratio (HAMR) debris objects. Satellite break-ups can result in hundreds to thousands of objects requiring propagation in conjunction with the existing population of tracked RSOs (10s of thousands). This can present a daunting challenge for propagation and visualization of the dynamic space environment. This work presents the first steps towards applying modern software performant propagation algorithms with a target of client-side computation. Technologies utilized include Rust and Web Assembly (WASM) with an eventual goal of client-side processing via hosted Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and modern browser-based visualization technologies to address this challenge. For this research, we implement a high-fidelity propagator employed in modern web technologies and compare performance to current server-based processing technologies. We utilize a GEO break-up dataset with 500 debris objects and propagated the objects over a week of time. Our work also includes an implementation of a 3-dimensional graphical visualization using Cesium to display the propagation. Performance metrics for the improved processing are compared with the current server-based platform technology. The goals of these processing improvements are to enable rapid propagation and visualization which will support near real-time updates to the initial orbit states necessitating re-propagation of the updated RSOs.
Date of Conference: September 27-20, 2022
Track: Space Debris