Optical Survey of the Tumble Rates of Retired GEO Satellites

Abstract : The Naval Research Lab (NRL) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have made significant progress toward robotic rendezvous and docking between spacecraft, however the long-term attitude motion evolution of uncontrolled resident space objects has never been well-characterized. This effort set out to identify the motion exhibited in retired satellites at or near geosynchronous orbit (GEO). Through analysis of the periodic structure of observed reflected light curves, estimated tumble rates were determined for several retired satellites, typically in a super-GEO disposal orbit. The NRL's 1-meter telescope at Mid- way Research Center was used to track and observe the objects while the sun-satellite-observer geometry was most favorable; typically over a one- to two-hour period, repeated multiple times over the course of weeks. By processing each image with calibration exposures, the relative apparent magnitude of the brightness of the object over time was determined. Several tools, including software developed internally, were used for frequency analysis of the brightness curves. Results show that observed satellites generally exhibit a tumble rate well below the notional bounding case of one degree per second. When harmonics are found to exist in the data, modeling and simulation of the optical characteristics of the satellite can help to resolve ambiguities. This process was validated on spacecraft for which an attitude history is known, and agreement was found.

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