An adaptive optics aided differential optical positioning for passive orbit determination of the space debris at the geostationary orbit

Abstract

Proliferation of space debris presents an imminent threat to all space assets. The problem is especially severe for the geostationary band of orbits (GEO) because the GEO objects never leave their orbit and, at the same time, are difficult to observe and operate due to large distance from the Earth. Under the influence of tidal forces, even passive GEO objects achieve high local velocities without vacating GEO positions, which may potentially lead to devastating collisions. Our ability to predict collisions in GEO is limited by the scarcity of the accurate orbital data, especially about the small and passive objects. The efforts to address this omission strongly rely on the ground-based optical sensors and, consequently, on the efficient space object detection and tracking techniques. In this paper we propose a passive differential optical debris tracking technique combining adaptive optics and a high accuracy astrometric references resulting in a significant improvement in the GEO object positioning accuracy. The achievable accuracy is estimated via detailed numerical simulations of two telescopes in different locations.