DOCSLIB.ORG

Optical Co-Orbital Measurements in Low Earth Orbit

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Optical Co-Orbital Measurements in Low Earth Orbit Optical Co-orbital Measurements in Low Earth Orbit by Kevin Bernard A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Aerospace Engineering Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2019 Kevin Bernard For all the support my family has provided over the years, this work is dedicated to them. ii Abstract The increasing access to the space domain has led to the growth of the on-orbit object population, as well as the evolution of space surveillance capabilities. With the increased public attention paid to spacecraft proximity and rendezvous operations, is an opportunity to examine what and how current space surveillance capabilities can contribute to this field. This thesis examines the feasibility and challenges associated with re-purposing an existing on-orbit space surveillance capability, the NEOSSat microsatellite, to per- form proximity operations. The ability of NEOSSat to collect a sufficient number of accurate optical observations to determine the relative orbit of a target spacecraft is explored. A variety of observation events are explored with a collection of space- craft to generate relative orbits using inertial orbit determination techniques. These practical results, to the author's knowledge, are the first in the field of relative or- bit determination using inertial techniques between two co-orbital Low Earth Orbit satellites. iii Acknowledgements I would like to sincerely thank my supervisors, Dr. Steve Ulrich and Dr. Lauchie Scott. Thank you Steve for providing guidance, and for taking a chance on someone who walked in to your office in the Spring of 2016. Thank you Lauchie for supporting this work with access to NEOSSat, and especially for convincing me that I should. I would also like to express my gratitude to Stefan Thorsteinson for the insights he provided on NEOSSat image processing, as well as taking the time to produce the required NEOSSat schedules to observe satellites in close proximity. Finally, I would like to thank USSTRATCOM and the ILRS for providing high- precision ephemerides on a variety of target spacecraft, for without those, this work would not have been possible. iv Table of Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgements iv List of Tables x List of Figures xi List of Accronyms xv Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Motivation ................................. 1 1.2 Problem Statement ............................ 2 1.3 Previous Work .............................. 3 1.3.1 Inertial-based Techniques ..................... 3 1.3.2 LVLH-based Techniques ..................... 4 1.4 Thesis Objectives ............................. 6 1.5 Contributions ............................... 7 1.6 Organization ............................... 7 Chapter 2 Fundamental Concepts 9 2.1 Introduction ................................ 9 2.2 Satellite Orbits .............................. 9 2.2.1 Orbit Classes ........................... 12 2.2.2 Reference Frames ......................... 13 2.3 Space Surveillance ............................ 14 2.3.1 Ground-Based Observers ..................... 14 2.3.2 Space-Based Observers ...................... 15 2.3.3 NEOSSat ............................. 16 v 2.4 Relative Motion Dynamics ........................ 21 2.5 Observability ............................... 25 2.6 Relative Orbit Determination ...................... 28 2.6.1 Relative Orbit Observability ................... 29 2.6.2 Relative Orbit Observability Solutions . 31 Chapter 3 Proposed Methodologies 36 3.1 Introduction ................................ 36 3.2 Orbit Determination ........................... 36 3.2.1 Dynamics ............................. 38 3.2.2 Initial Orbit Determination ................... 39 3.2.3 Least Squares ........................... 40 3.2.4 Linearization ........................... 42 3.2.5 Differential Correction ...................... 43 3.2.6 Covariance Matrices ....................... 45 3.2.7 Sequential Processing ....................... 45 3.3 Method 1 ................................. 47 3.4 Method 2 ................................. 48 3.5 Metric Assessment ............................ 48 Chapter 4 Experiment Setup 51 4.1 Introduction ................................ 51 4.2 Close Approaches ............................. 51 4.3 Observed Spacecraft ........................... 53 4.3.1 SARAL .............................. 53 4.3.2 Sapphire .............................. 54 4.3.3 BriteAustria ............................ 54 4.3.4 UniBRITE-1 ........................... 55 4.3.5 AAUSAT3 ............................. 55 4.3.6 QuikScat .............................. 56 4.4 Observation Events ............................ 57 vi 4.4.1 Observation Schedule ....................... 59 4.5 Data Processing .............................. 59 4.5.1 NEOSSat Tasking ......................... 60 4.5.2 Image Processing ......................... 61 4.5.3 Reference Ephemerides ...................... 63 4.5.4 ODTK Orbit Determination ................... 65 4.5.5 Generated Orbits vs. Reference Ephemerides . 67 4.5.6 LVLH Transformation & Exploitation . 67 4.6 Error Characterization .......................... 67 4.6.1 Data Source Errors ........................ 68 4.6.2 Observation Errors ........................ 68 4.6.3 Data Processing Errors ...................... 69 Chapter 5 Experiment Results 70 5.1 Introduction ................................ 70 5.2 Metric Assessment ............................ 70 5.3 BriteAustria (1) .............................. 75 5.3.1 Method 1 ............................. 75 5.3.2 Method 2 ............................. 76 5.3.3 LVLH ............................... 78 5.4 UniBRITE-1 ................................ 81 5.4.1 Method 1 ............................. 81 5.4.2 Method 2 ............................. 82 5.4.3 LVLH ............................... 83 5.5 AAUSAT3 (1) ............................... 87 5.5.1 Method 1 ............................. 87 5.5.2 Method 2 ............................. 89 5.5.3 LVLH ............................... 90 5.6 SARAL .................................. 93 5.6.1 Method 1 ............................. 93 vii 5.6.2 Method 2 ............................. 94 5.6.3 LVLH ............................... 96 5.7 AAUSAT3 (2) ............................... 99 5.7.1 Method 1 ............................. 99 5.7.2 Method 2 ............................. 99 5.7.3 LVLH ............................... 100 5.8 BriteAustria (2) .............................. 101 5.8.1 Method 1 ............................. 101 5.8.2 Method 2 ............................. 102 5.8.3 LVLH ............................... 102 5.9 QuikScat .................................. 103 5.9.1 Method 1 ............................. 103 5.9.2 Method 2 ............................. 104 5.9.3 LVLH ............................... 105 5.10 Sapphire .................................. 108 5.10.1 Method 1 ............................. 108 5.10.2 Method 2 ............................. 110 5.10.3 LVLH ............................... 111 5.11 Discussion ................................. 111 Chapter 6 Conclusion 113 6.1 Introduction ................................ 113 6.2 Objectives Review ............................ 113 6.3 Summary of Findings . 114 6.4 Recommendations for Future Work . 117 6.5 A Final Note ............................... 118 Bibliography 119 Appendix A Data Formats 122 A.1 ILRS Standard Product 3 Format Ephemeris . 122 viii A.2 STK Ephemerides ............................. 123 Appendix B ODTK Settings 124 ix List of Tables 2.1 GPS Campaign Metric Results (values in arcseconds) . 21 4.1 PSLV C20 Spacecraft Orbit Parameters . 52 4.2 QuikScat Orbit Parameters .................... 57 4.3 Observation Events ........................ 59 5.1 Metric Assessment Results (values in arcseconds) . 72 5.2 UniBRITE-1 Observations .................... 81 5.3 AAUSAT3 Observations ...................... 87 5.4 Saral Observations ......................... 93 5.5 BriteAustria Observations . 101 5.6 QuikScat Observations . 103 5.7 Sapphire Observations . 108 5.8 Results Summary . 112 B.1 ODTK Settings . 124 x List of Figures 2.1 Orbit Types ............................ 10 2.2 Keplerian Elements ........................ 11 2.3 Orbit Classes ........................... 13 2.4 Artist's Rendition of NEOSSat . 17 2.5 NEOSSat TRM Image ...................... 18 2.6 NEOSSat SSM Image ....................... 18 2.7 NEOSSat Science and Star Tracker CCD FOVs observing a GEO satellite ........................... 20 2.8 LVLH ............................... 21 2.9 Target (red) and Chaser (blue) orbit planes intersecting . 29 2.10 Shape Parameter [1] (modified) . 30 2.11 LOS altered by manoeuvres [1] (modified) . 32 2.12 Constrained Cylindrical Coordinates [2] (modified) . 34 3.1 Right Ascension and Declination . 37 3.2 Initial Gooding Iteration ..................... 40 3.3 Final Gooding Iteration ..................... 40 3.4 Method 1 Data flow ........................ 47 3.5 Method 2 Data flow ........................ 48 4.1 Sapphire and NEOSSat aboard the PSLV dual launch adapter 52 4.2 SARAL .............................. 53 4.3 Artist's Rendition of Sapphire . 54 4.4 BriteAustria and UniBRITE ................... 55 4.5 AAUSAT3 ............................. 56 4.6 Artist's rendition of QuikScat. 56 4.7 Close Approaches with NEOSSat . 58 4.8 Data Flow for observation campaign . 59 xi 4.9 SARAL's Relative Angular Velocity relative to NEOSSat dur- ing an observation interval in arcsec/sec . 61 4.10 Predicted NEOSSat Orbit while observing
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Orbital Lifetime Predictions
    Orbital LIFETIME PREDICTIONS An ASSESSMENT OF model-based BALLISTIC COEFfiCIENT ESTIMATIONS AND ADJUSTMENT FOR TEMPORAL DRAG co- EFfiCIENT VARIATIONS M.R. HaneVEER MSc Thesis Aerospace Engineering Orbital lifetime predictions An assessment of model-based ballistic coecient estimations and adjustment for temporal drag coecient variations by M.R. Haneveer to obtain the degree of Master of Science at the Delft University of Technology, to be defended publicly on Thursday June 1, 2017 at 14:00 PM. Student number: 4077334 Project duration: September 1, 2016 – June 1, 2017 Thesis committee: Dr. ir. E. N. Doornbos, TU Delft, supervisor Dr. ir. E. J. O. Schrama, TU Delft ir. K. J. Cowan MBA TU Delft An electronic version of this thesis is available at http://repository.tudelft.nl/. Summary Objects in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) experience low levels of drag due to the interaction with the outer layers of Earth’s atmosphere. The atmospheric drag reduces the velocity of the object, resulting in a gradual decrease in altitude. With each decayed kilometer the object enters denser portions of the atmosphere accelerating the orbit decay until eventually the object cannot sustain a stable orbit anymore and either crashes onto Earth’s surface or burns up in its atmosphere. The capability of predicting the time an object stays in orbit, whether that object is space junk or a satellite, allows for an estimate of its orbital lifetime - an estimate satellite op- erators work with to schedule science missions and commercial services, as well as use to prove compliance with international agreements stating no passively controlled object is to orbit in LEO longer than 25 years.
    [Show full text]
  • Sapphire-Like Payload for Space Situational Awareness Final
    Sapphire-like Payload for Space Situational Awareness John Hackett, Lisa Li COM DEV Ltd., Cambridge, Ontario, Canada ([email protected]) ABSTRACT The Sapphire satellite payload has been developed by COM DEV for a Surveillance of Space mission of the Canadian Department of National Defence, which is scheduled to be launched later in 2012. This paper presents a brief overview of the payload, along with the potential for using this optical instrument as a low cost, proven Space Situational Awareness hosted payload on geostationary satellites. The Sapphire payload orbits on a dedicated satellite and hence the payload was not required to actively point. The proposed hosted payload version of Sapphire would be enhanced by incorporating a two dimensional scan capability to increase the spatial coverage. Simulations of the hosted payload version of Sapphire performance are presented, including spatial coverage, approximate sensitivity and positional accuracy for detected resident space objects. The moderate size, power and cost of the Sapphire payload make it an excellent candidate for a hosted payload space situational awareness application. 1. INTRODUCTION The Sapphire payload is described elsewhere [1] and was developed by COM DEV on a moderate budget for MDA Systems Ltd. and the Canadian Department of National Defence and is scheduled to fly in 2012. The Sapphire payload combines the SBV heritage [2] through the telescope design/contractor, with high quantum efficiency CCDs and advanced high reliability electronics. The Sapphire mission [3] was developed by the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) as part of its Surveillance of Space project. MDA Systems Ltd. was the mission prime contractor, and COM DEV was the payload prime contractor.
    [Show full text]
  • Advanced Virgo: Status of the Detector, Latest Results and Future Prospects
    universe Review Advanced Virgo: Status of the Detector, Latest Results and Future Prospects Diego Bersanetti 1,* , Barbara Patricelli 2,3 , Ornella Juliana Piccinni 4 , Francesco Piergiovanni 5,6 , Francesco Salemi 7,8 and Valeria Sequino 9,10 1 INFN, Sezione di Genova, I-16146 Genova, Italy 2 European Gravitational Observatory (EGO), Cascina, I-56021 Pisa, Italy; [email protected] 3 INFN, Sezione di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa, Italy 4 INFN, Sezione di Roma, I-00185 Roma, Italy; [email protected] 5 Dipartimento di Scienze Pure e Applicate, Università di Urbino, I-61029 Urbino, Italy; [email protected] 6 INFN, Sezione di Firenze, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 7 Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento, Povo, I-38123 Trento, Italy; [email protected] 8 INFN, TIFPA, Povo, I-38123 Trento, Italy 9 Dipartimento di Fisica “E. Pancini”, Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo, I-80126 Napoli, Italy; [email protected] 10 INFN, Sezione di Napoli, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo, I-80126 Napoli, Italy * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The Virgo detector, based at the EGO (European Gravitational Observatory) and located in Cascina (Pisa), played a significant role in the development of the gravitational-wave astronomy. From its first scientific run in 2007, the Virgo detector has constantly been upgraded over the years; since 2017, with the Advanced Virgo project, the detector reached a high sensitivity that allowed the detection of several classes of sources and to investigate new physics. This work reports the Citation: Bersanetti, D.; Patricelli, B.; main hardware upgrades of the detector and the main astrophysical results from the latest five years; Piccinni, O.J.; Piergiovanni, F.; future prospects for the Virgo detector are also presented.
    [Show full text]
  • Short-Term Variability and Mass Loss in Be Stars I
    A&A 588, A56 (2016) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201528026 & c ESO 2016 Astrophysics Short-term variability and mass loss in Be stars I. BRITE satellite photometry of η and μ Centauri D. Baade1, Th. Rivinius2, A. Pigulski3,A.C.Carciofi4, Ch. Martayan2,A.F.J.Moffat5,G.A.Wade6,W.W.Weiss7, J. Grunhut1, G. Handler8,R.Kuschnig9,7,A.Mehner2,H.Pablo5,A.Popowicz10,S.Rucinski11, and G. Whittaker11 1 European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching, Germany e-mail: [email protected] 2 European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile 3 Astronomical Institute, Wrocław University, Kopernika 11, 51-622 Wrocław, Poland 4 Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão 1226, Cidade Universitária, 05508-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil 5 Département de physique and Centre de Recherche en Astrophysique du Québec (CRAQ), Université de Montréal, CP 6128, Succ. Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3J7, Canada 6 Department of Physics, Royal Military College of Canada, PO Box 17000, Stn Forces, Kingston, Ontario K7K 7B4, Canada 7 Institute of Astronomy, University of Vienna, Universitätsring 1, 1010 Vienna, Austria 8 Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, ul. Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland 9 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z1, Canada 10 Institute of Automatic Control, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland 11 Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 50 St. George St, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3H4, Canada Received 21 December 2015 / Accepted 1 February 2016 ABSTRACT Context.
    [Show full text]
  • The History Problem: the Politics of War
    History / Sociology SAITO … CONTINUED FROM FRONT FLAP … HIRO SAITO “Hiro Saito offers a timely and well-researched analysis of East Asia’s never-ending cycle of blame and denial, distortion and obfuscation concerning the region’s shared history of violence and destruction during the first half of the twentieth SEVENTY YEARS is practiced as a collective endeavor by both century. In The History Problem Saito smartly introduces the have passed since the end perpetrators and victims, Saito argues, a res- central ‘us-versus-them’ issues and confronts readers with the of the Asia-Pacific War, yet Japan remains olution of the history problem—and eventual multiple layers that bind the East Asian countries involved embroiled in controversy with its neighbors reconciliation—will finally become possible. to show how these problems are mutually constituted across over the war’s commemoration. Among the THE HISTORY PROBLEM THE HISTORY The History Problem examines a vast borders and generations. He argues that the inextricable many points of contention between Japan, knots that constrain these problems could be less like a hang- corpus of historical material in both English China, and South Korea are interpretations man’s noose and more of a supportive web if there were the and Japanese, offering provocative findings political will to determine the virtues of peaceful coexistence. of the Tokyo War Crimes Trial, apologies and that challenge orthodox explanations. Written Anything less, he explains, follows an increasingly perilous compensation for foreign victims of Japanese in clear and accessible prose, this uniquely path forward on which nationalist impulses are encouraged aggression, prime ministerial visits to the interdisciplinary book will appeal to sociol- to derail cosmopolitan efforts at engagement.
    [Show full text]
  • Cubesat Communication Systems 2003-2013: a Historical Look
    CubeSat Communication Systems 2003-2013: A Historical Look Bryan Klofas SRI International [email protected] Nanosatellite Ground Station Workshop San Luis Obispo, California 23 April 2013 Two Survey Papers • “A Survey of CubeSat Communication Systems” – Paper presented at the CubeSat Developers’ Workshop 2008 – By Bryan Klofas, Jason Anderson, and Kyle Leveque – Covers the CubeSats from start of program to 2008 • “A Survey of CubeSat Communication Systems: 2009-2012” – Paper presented at the CubeSat Developers’ Workshop 2013 – By Bryan Klofas and Kyle Leveque – Covers the CubeSats from 2009 to ELaNa-6/NROL-36 launch in 2012 Slide 2 Summary of CubeSat Launches 2003 to 2013 • Eurockot (30 June 2003) • Dnepr Launch 2 (17 Apr 2007) – AAU1 CubeSat – CSTB1 – DTUsat-1 – AeroCube-2 – CanX-1 – CP4 – Cute-1 – Libertad-1 – QuakeSat-1 – CAPE1 – XI-IV – CP3 • SSETI Express (27 Oct 2005) – MAST – XI-V • NLS-4/PSLV-C9 (28 Apr 2008) – NCube-2 – Delfi-C3 – UWE-1 – SEEDS-2 • M-V-8 (22 Feb 2006) – CanX-2 – Cute-1.7+APD – AAUSAT-II • Minotaur 1 (11 Dec 2006) – Compass-1 – GeneSat-1 Slide 3 Summary of CubeSat Launches 2003 to 2013 • Minotaur-1 (19 May 2009) • NLS-6/PSLV-C15 (12 July 2010) – AeroCube-3 – Tisat-1 – CP6 – StudSat – HawkSat-1 • STP-S26 (19 Nov 2010) – PharmaSat – RAX-1 • ISILaunch 01 (23 Sep 2009) – O/OREOS – BEESAT-1 – NanoSail-D2 – UWE-2 • Falcon 9-002 (8 Dec 2010) – ITUpSAT-1 – Perseus (4) – SwissCube – QbX (2) • H-IIA F17 (20 May 2010) – SMDC-ONE – Hayato – Mayflower – Waseda-SAT2 – PSLV-C18 (12 Oct 2011) – Negai-Star – Jugnu Slide 4 Summary
    [Show full text]
  • Development of Magnetometer-Based Orbit And
    DEVELOPMENT OF MAGNETOMETER-BASED ORBIT AND ATTITUDE DETERMINATION FOR NANOSATELLITES THOMAS WRIGHT A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, ONTARIO AUGUST, 2014 © THOMAS WRIGHT, 2014 Abstract Attitude and orbit determination are critical parts of nanosatellite mission operations. The ability to perform attitude and orbit determination autonomously could lead to a wider array of mission possibilities for nanosatellites. This research examines the feasibility of using low-cost magnetometer measurements as a method of autonomous, simultaneous orbit and attitude determination for the novel application of redundancy on nanosatellites. Individual Extended Kalman Filters (EKFs) are developed for both attitude determination and orbit determination. Simulations are run to compare the developed systems with previous work on attitude and orbit determination. The EKFs are combined to provide both attitude and orbit determination simultaneously. Simulations are run and show that this approach for autonomous attitude and orbit determination on nanosatellites provides 8.5 and 12.5 km of attitude and orbit knowledge, respectively. The results of the simulations are then validated using Hardware-In-The-Loop (HITL) testing. Additionally, a Helmholtz cage is evaluated for future use in the HITL test setup. ii Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge my supervisors Professor Sunil Bisnath and Professor Regina Lee for their guidance and support. I will carry the skills they helped me to develop through the rest of my career. I would also like to thank the grad students in both the GNSS and YuSEND Labs for their assistance and encouragement throughout my studies.
    [Show full text]
  • The US Response to China's ASAT Test
    Air University Allen G. Peck, Lt Gen, Commander Air Force Research Institute John A. Shaud, Gen, PhD, USAF, Retired, Director School of Advanced Air and Space Studies Gerald S. Gorman, Col, PhD, Commandant John B. Sheldon, PhD, Thesis Advisor AIR UNIVERSITY AIR FORCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE The US Response to China’s ASAT Test An International Security Space Alliance for the Future ANTHONY J. MASTALIR Lieutenant Colonel, USAF Drew Paper No. 8 Air University Press Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama 36112-5962 August 2009 Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center Cataloging Data Mastalir, Anthony J. The US response to China’s ASAT test : an international security space alliance for the future / Anthony J. Mastalir. p. ; cm. – (Drew paper, 1941-3785 ; no. 8) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-58566-197-8 1. Astronautics—International cooperation. 2. Astronautics and civilization. 3. Astronautics and state. 4. United States—Foreign relations—China. 5. China— Foreign relations—United States. 6. Anti-satellite weapons—China. I. Title. II. Series. 333.94—dc22 Disclaimer Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Air University, the United States Air Force, the Department of Defense, or any other US government agency. Cleared for public release: distribution unlimited. This Drew Paper and others in the series are available electronically at the Air University Research Web site http://research.maxwell.af.mil and the AU Press Web site http://aupress.au.af.mil. ii The Drew Papers The Drew Papers are occasional publications sponsored by the Air Force Research Institute (AFRI), Maxwell AFB, Alabama.
    [Show full text]
  • Future Technologies
    MANEKSHAW PAPER No. 47, 2014 Future Technologies Puneet Bhalla D W LAN ARFA OR RE F S E T R U T D N IE E S C CLAWS VI CT N OR ISIO Y THROUGH V KNOWLEDGE WORLD Centre for Land Warfare Studies KW Publishers Pvt Ltd New Delhi New Delhi Editorial Team Editor-in-Chief : Maj Gen Dhruv C Katoch SM, VSM (Retd) Managing Editor : Ms Avantika Lal D W LAN ARFA OR RE F S E T R U T D N IE E S C CLAWS VI CT N OR ISIO Y THROUGH V Centre for Land Warfare Studies RPSO Complex, Parade Road, Delhi Cantt, New Delhi 110010 Phone: +91.11.25691308 Fax: +91.11.25692347 email: [email protected] website: www.claws.in The Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, is an autonomous think tank dealing with national security and conceptual aspects of land warfare, including conventional and sub-conventional conflicts and terrorism. CLAWS conducts research that is futuristic in outlook and policy-oriented in approach. © 2014, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi Disclaimer: The contents of this paper are based on the analysis of materials accessed from open sources and are the personal views of the author. The contents, therefore, may not be quoted or cited as representing the views or policy of the Government of India, or Integrated Headquarters of MoD (Army), or the Centre for Land Warfare Studies. KNOWLEDGE WORLD www.kwpub.com Published in India by Kalpana Shukla KW Publishers Pvt Ltd 4676/21, First Floor, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110002 Phone: +91 11 23263498 / 43528107 email: [email protected] l www.kwpub.com Contents 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Neossat: a Collaborative Microsatellite Project for Space
    SSC08-III-5 NEOSSat : A Collaborative Microsatellite Project for Space Based Object Detection William Harvey Canadian Space Agency 6767, Route de l'Aéroport, St-Hubert, QC, Canada, J3Y 8Y9; (450) 926-4477 [email protected] Tony Morris Defence Research and Development Canada 3701 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0Z4; 613 990-4326 [email protected] ABSTRACT Recognizing the importance of space-based Near Earth Object (NEO) detection and Surveillance of Space (SoS), the Canadian Space Agency and Defence Research and Development Canada are proceeding with the development and construction of NEOSSat. NEOSSat's two missions are to make observations to discover asteroids and comets near Earth's orbit (Near Earth Space Surveillance or NESS) and to demonstrate surveillance of satellites and space debris (High Earth Orbit Space Surveillance or HEOSS). This micro-satellite project will deploy a 15 cm telescope into a 630 km low earth orbit in 2010. This will be the first space-based system of its kind. NEOSSat represents a win-win opportunity for CSA and DRDC who recognized there were significant common interests with this microsatellite project. The project will yield data that can be used by the NEOSSat team and leveraged by external stakeholders to address important issues with NEOs, satellite metric data and debris cataloguing. In the contexts of risks and rewards as well as confidence building, NEOSSat is providing CSA and DRDC with valuable insights about collaboration on a microsatellite program and this paper presents our views and lessons learned. INTRODUCTION The NEOSSat microsatellite project satisfies several The Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite objectives: 1) discover and determine the orbits of (NEOSSat) is the first jointly sponsored microsatellite Near-Earth Objects (NEO's) that cannot be efficiently project between the Canadian Space Agency CSA and detected from the ground, 2) demonstrate the ability of Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC).
    [Show full text]
  • Chronology of NASA Expendable Vehicle Missions Since 1990
    Chronology of NASA Expendable Vehicle Missions Since 1990 Launch Launch Date Payload Vehicle Site1 June 1, 1990 ROSAT (Roentgen Satellite) Delta II ETR, 5:48 p.m. EDT An X-ray observatory developed through a cooperative program between Germany, the U.S., and (Delta 195) LC 17A the United Kingdom. Originally proposed by the Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) and designed, built and operated in Germany. Launched into Earth orbit on a U.S. Air Force vehicle. Mission ended after almost nine years, on Feb. 12, 1999. July 25, 1990 CRRES (Combined Radiation and Release Effects Satellite) Atlas I ETR, 3:21 p.m. EDT NASA payload. Launched into a geosynchronous transfer orbit for a nominal three-year mission to (AC-69) LC 36B investigate fields, plasmas, and energetic particles inside the Earth's magnetosphere. Due to onboard battery failure, contact with the spacecraft was lost on Oct. 12, 1991. May 14, 1991 NOAA-D (TIROS) (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-D) Atlas-E WTR, 11:52 a.m. EDT A Television Infrared Observing System (TIROS) satellite. NASA-developed payload; USAF (Atlas 50-E) SLC 4 vehicle. Launched into sun-synchronous polar orbit to allow the satellite to view the Earth's entire surface and cloud cover every 12 hours. Redesignated NOAA-12 once in orbit. June 29, 1991 REX (Radiation Experiment) Scout 216 WTR, 10:00 a.m. EDT USAF payload; NASA vehicle. Launched into 450 nm polar orbit. Designed to study scintillation SLC 5 effects of the Earth's atmosphere on RF transmissions. 114th launch of Scout vehicle.
    [Show full text]
  • DRAGON - 8U Nanosatellite Orbital Deployer
    DRAGON - 8U Nanosatellite Orbital Deployer Marcin Dobrowolski*, Jerzy Grygorczuk*Â ÃB_*, Marta Tokarz* and Maciej Borys* Abstract The Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences (SRC PAS) together with Astronika company have developed an Orbital Deployer called DRAGON for ejection of the Polish scientific nanosatellite BRITE-PL Heweliusz (Fig. 1). The device has three unique mechanisms including an adopted and scaled lock and release mechanism from the ESA Rosetta mission MUPUS instrument. This paper discusses major design restrictions of the deployer, unique design features, and lessons learned from development through testing. Introduction BRITE Constellation is a group of scientific nanosatellites whose purpose is to study oscillations in the light intensity of the most luminous stars (brighter than magnitude +3.5) in our galaxy. The observations will have a precision at least 10 times better than achievable using ground-based observations. The BRITE (BRight Target Explorer) mission formed by Austria, Canada and Poland will send to space a constellation of six nanosatelites, two from each country. BRITE-PL satellite is based on the Generic Nanosatellite Bus (GNB) from the Canadian SFL/UTIAS (Space Flight Laboratory / University of Toronto, Institute for Aerospace Studies). The spacecraft are to use the SFL XPOD (Experimental Push Out Deployer) as a separation system. Figure 1. DRAGON Orbital Deployer and BRITE-PL Heweliusz Spacecraft (in a safety box) * Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland ! " # 487 The first scientific satellite, BRITE-PL Lem, is a modified version of the original SFL design. The second one, BRITE-PL Heweliusz, has the significant changes – it carries additional technological experiments implemented by SRC PAS.
    [Show full text]