Efficient and robust algorithms for the real-time optical tracking of space debris.

Rodriguez-Villamizar, Julian; Schildknecht, Thomas (2021). Efficient and robust algorithms for the real-time optical tracking of space debris. In: 8th European Conference on Space Debris. Darmstadt, Deutschland. 20. April 2021 - 23. April 2021.

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The latest European Space Agency Annual SpaceEnvironment Report [4] confirms, once more, the everincreasing amount of space debris orbiting around theEarth. Collisions between resident space objects willonly accelerate the growth rate of the current debrispopulation endangering space-related activities. In thatcontext, the surveillance of the outer space becomesof paramount relevance. Current existing surveillancenetworks make extensive use of different observationtechniques to retrieve not only updated information ofthe orbital elements of the object, but also evidence aboutits attitude and attitude motion.One on-going limitation for the tracking of space debriswith optical sensors (active or passive) comes fromthe lack of accurate ephemerides that will not allowpinpointing the object within the field of view of thesensor. The constraint imposed by the field of view issignificantly less stringent in passive-optical systems, butbecomes critical for active systems such as laser rangingstations.The presented work focuses on the development ofalgorithms that allow an automated real-time correctionof the pointing of the telescope while the object is withinthe field of view of the wide angle camera. The final aimis the centring of the target within the narrow field ofview of the laser beam, thus facilitating the acquisitionof laser ranges.We choose estimators according tostatistical properties such as efficiency and robustnessto enable the tracking even in the most challengingobservation conditions: daytime. All experiments wereconducted using real data derived from a tracking camerawith a scientific-CMOS sensor on the ZimmerwaldLaser and Astrometry Telescope (ZIMLAT) at the SwissOptical Ground Station and Geodynamics ObservatoryZimmerwald (SwissOGS) operated by the AstronomicalInstitute of the University of Bern, Switzerland.

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