Application of Initial Orbit Determination Methods to Telescope Observations

Open Access
- Author:
- Hunsberger, Carson
- Area of Honors:
- Aerospace Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Roshan Thomas Eapen, Thesis Supervisor
Mark David Maughmer, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Orbit Determination
Gauss's Method
Falcon Telescope Network
Sensor Tasking
Topocentric Propagator - Abstract:
- Space Domain Awareness is aimed at providing timely and accurate information of the space environment. This was originally done by maintaining a catalog of space objects states (position and velocity). With the ever-increasing population of man-made space debris, in-orbit explosions, collisions and potential impacts of near Earth objects, it has become imperative to modify the traditional approach to a more predictive, tactical and exact rendition. Hence, a precise orbit propagation model coupled with state-of-the-art orbit determination techniques need to be developed which warrants a better understanding of the perturbations in the near Earth space. Additionally, the sensors used to track these objects in space have to be tasked appropriately to observe and catalog these Resident Space Objects (RSO). This work outlines the intricacies of using inertial measurements from an observation site on the surface of the Earth. Optical measurements from the Falcon Telescope Network nodes at Penn State, and Colorado, managed by USAFA, is utilized to schedule observations of objects in the geosynchronous belt. An orbit determination algorithm is implemented to obtain the osculating orbital elements of the observed RSO. Further, a rudimentary sensor tasking strategy is developed by modeling the dynamics equations in a topocentric frame thereby allowing for fast generation of a ”tasking surface”. Its utility is demonstrated through simulations showing detections of over 200 RSOs from the geosynchronous satellite catalog.