Experimental results of debris orbit predictions using sparse tracking data from Mt. Stromlo

Sang, Jizhang; Bennett, James; Smith, Craig H.

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2014.06.012

Cited by 20 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…To make the transition from the optical tracking to the DLR as fast as possible, one would demand the OD use as little angular data of the object as possible. It is well known, however, when only angular data over a short orbit arc is available, the OD computation would not converge because of the poor distribution of tracking data and the unknown ballistic coefficient of the object [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. To achieve the OD convergence, extra information has to be used in the OD computation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Real-Time Orbit Determination Method for Smooth Transition from Optical Tracking to Laser Ranging of Debris

Sang

Zhang

2016

Sensors

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A critical requirement to achieve high efficiency of debris laser tracking is to have sufficiently accurate orbit predictions (OP) in both the pointing direction (better than 20 arc seconds) and distance from the tracking station to the debris objects, with the former more important than the latter because of the narrow laser beam. When the two line element (TLE) is used to provide the orbit predictions, the resultant pointing errors are usually on the order of tens to hundreds of arc seconds. In practice, therefore, angular observations of debris objects are first collected using an optical tracking sensor, and then used to guide the laser beam pointing to the objects. The manual guidance may cause interrupts to the laser tracking, and consequently loss of valuable laser tracking data. This paper presents a real-time orbit determination (OD) and prediction method to realize smooth and efficient debris laser tracking. The method uses TLE-computed positions and angles over a short-arc of less than 2 min as observations in an OD process where simplified force models are considered. After the OD convergence, the OP is performed from the last observation epoch to the end of the tracking pass. Simulation and real tracking data processing results show that the pointing prediction errors are usually less than 10″, and the distance errors less than 100 m, therefore, the prediction accuracy is sufficient for the blind laser tracking.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Real-Time Orbit Determination Method for Smooth Transition from Optical Tracking to Laser Ranging of Debris

Sang

Zhang

2016

Sensors

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The following perturbation models will be employed in the OD and OP process; the gravity effect modeled using the EGM 2008 (70 × 70) gravity model; the solid tide model corresponding to the international Earth rotation service (IERS) conventions was used [18]; the gravitational accelerations by Sun and Moon are only considered for the third body perturbations; and the Jacchia-Bowman 2008 atmospheric density will be used in the drag model. When computing the solar radiation force, the area-to-mass ratio of the space debris will first be determined as B C /C D where B C is the initial value of the ballistic coefficient and C D begin the drag coefficient, respectively [19]. Fixing the solar radiation pressure reflectivity coefficient C R , 1.0 (solar radiation is absorbed) [20], and taking its product with the pre-determined area-to-mass simply gives the solar radiation force exerted on the space debris of interest for this study.…”

Section: Ballistic Coefficient Application To the Od/op Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Space Debris Orbit Prediction Using Angle and Laser Ranging Data from Two Tracking Sites under Limited Observation Environment

Kim

Lim

Bennett³

et al. 2020

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The global electro-optical (EO) and laser tracking sensor network was considered to investigate improvements to orbit prediction (OP) accuracy of space debris by combining angle and laser ranging data. However, it is worth noting that weather, schedule and visibility constraints can frequently limit the operations of such sensors, which may not result in sufficient tracking data for accurate OP. In this study, several 1-day OP results for low Earth orbit (LEO) space debris targets were demonstrated under a limited observation environment to verify the OP accuracy through the combination of angle and laser ranging data from two sites. For orbit determination (OD) processes, it was considered to analyze the OP accuracy by one site providing both 2–day arc angle data and 1-day arc laser ranging data, while the other was limited to 1-day arc angle data. In addition, the initial ballistic coefficient ( B C ) application method was proposed and implemented for the improvement of OD/OP accuracy, which introduces the modified correction factor depending on the drag coefficient. In the cases of combining the angle and laser ranging data, the OP results show the 3D position difference values are below 100 m root mean square (RMS) with small position uncertainty. This value satisfies the target OP accuracy for conjunction assessments and blind laser ranging (about 50–100 m at 1000 km altitude). The initial B C application method also shows better OP accuracy than the method without the correction factor.

show abstract

“…Research related to the initial orbit determination of space objects using shortarc or sparse measurements from different observation sources is studied in depth (DeMars et al, 2012;Li et al, 2012;Ansalone & Curti, 2013;Bennett et al, 2014;Sang et al, 2014). To the orbit determination using GPS measurements, a large number of studies and effectual methods have been carried out in the past (Montenbruck et al, 2005;Bock et al, 2007;Choi et al, 2010;Gu & Yi, 2011;Chicharro et al, 2013;Wang Xin, 2013).…”

Section: ．．．．Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Injected transfer orbit determination of lunar probe Chang’E 5T1 using short-arc rocket GPS measurements

Fang

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2015

Advances in Space Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Experimental results of debris orbit predictions using sparse tracking data from Mt. Stromlo

Cited by 20 publications

References 10 publications

A Real-Time Orbit Determination Method for Smooth Transition from Optical Tracking to Laser Ranging of Debris

A Real-Time Orbit Determination Method for Smooth Transition from Optical Tracking to Laser Ranging of Debris

Analysis of Space Debris Orbit Prediction Using Angle and Laser Ranging Data from Two Tracking Sites under Limited Observation Environment

Injected transfer orbit determination of lunar probe Chang’E 5T1 using short-arc rocket GPS measurements

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About