Related papers: Machine Learning in Orbit Estimation: a Survey

The exponential increase in artificial satellites, growing from 852 in 2004 to over 9,000 in 2023, has intensified the risk of the Kessler Syndrome: a cascading chain reaction of orbital collisions. This paper analyzes the dynamics of space…

After decades of space travel, low Earth orbit is a junkyard of discarded rocket bodies, dead satellites, and millions of pieces of debris from collisions and explosions. Objects in high enough altitudes do not re-enter and burn up in the…

The increasing volume of space objects in Earth's orbit presents a significant challenge for Space Situational Awareness (SSA). And in particular, accurate orbit prediction is crucial to anticipate the position and velocity of space…

Due to the lack of information such as the space environment condition and resident space objects' (RSOs') body characteristics, current orbit predictions that are solely grounded on physics-based models may fail to achieve required…

Over 34,000 objects bigger than 10 cm in length are known to orbit Earth. Among them, only a small percentage are active satellites, while the rest of the population is made of dead satellites, rocket bodies, and debris that pose a…

In recent years (2000-2021), human-space activities have been increasing faster than ever. More than 36000 Earth' orbiting objects, all larger than 10 cm, in orbit around the Earth, are currently tracked by the European Space Agency (ESA).…

We present a dynamic physico-economic model of Earth orbit use with endogenous satellite collision risk to study conditions under which debris-producing collisions between orbiting bodies result in debris growth that may render Earth's…

The space environment around the Earth is populated by more than 130 million objects of 1 mm in size and larger, and future predictions shows that this amount is destined to increase, even if mitigation measures are implemented at a far…

In the outer solar system, the Kuiper Belt contains dynamical sub-populations sculpted by a combination of planet formation and migration and gravitational perturbations from the present-day giant planet configuration. The subdivision of…

Currently the only method to establish the prevalence of particles, space debris or meteoroids, sized between 1 micrometre and a few centimetres, in Earth orbit is by instruments or witness plates dedicated to in-situ detection. Derived…

Space debris larger than 1 cm can damage space instruments and impact Earth. The low-Earth orbits (at heights smaller than 2000 km) and orbits near the geostationary- Earth orbit (at 35786 km height) are especially endangered, because most…

For objects in the low Earth orbit region, uncertainty in atmospheric density estimation is an important source of orbit prediction error, which is critical for space situational awareness activities such as the satellite conjunction…

Space debris is a major threat to the satellite infrastructure. A collision with even small particle, e.g. 1 cm of size, can cause a catastrophic event when the parent body, spacecraft or upper stage, will break up into hundreds of…

This article aims to highlight the impact for ground based astronomical observations in different windows of the electromagnetic spectrum coming from the deployment of fleets of telecommunications satellites. A particular attention is given…

Given a set of astrometric observations of the same object, the problem of orbit determination is to compute the orbit and to assess its uncertainty and reliability. For the next generation surveys, with much larger number density of…

The rapid advancement and miniaturization of spacecraft electronics, sensors, actuators, and power systems have resulted in growing proliferation of small-spacecraft. Coupled with this is the growing number of rocket launches, with…

The risk of collision between resident space objects has significantly increased in recent years. As a result, spacecraft collision avoidance procedures have become an essential part of satellite operations. To ensure safe and effective…

The growing number of man-made debris in Earth's orbit poses a threat to active satellite missions due to the risk of collision. Characterizing unknown debris is, therefore, of high interest. Light Curves (LCs) are temporal variations of…

We present the results of a large scale simulation, reproducing the behavior of a data center for the build-up and maintenance of a complete catalog of space debris in the upper part of the low Earth orbits region (LEO). The purpose is to…

While building up a catalog of Earth orbiting objects, if the available optical observations are sparse, not deliberate follow ups of specific objects, no orbit determination is possible without previous correlation of observations obtained…