Citation
Abstract
The growing inactive satellite population near geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) motivates improved understanding of these satellites’ dynamical evolution. Proposed active debris removal and servicing missions will require accurate spin state knowledge and predictions to capture and de-spin these large, inactive satellites. Spin state estimation from ubiquitous non-resolved ground-based optical measurements is very challenging due to complex satellite geometry and reflections. In this paper, we investigate how spin state estimates can be achieved through radar observations of inactive GEO satellites by the Deep Space Network (DSN). Leveraging time-varying viewing geometry due to Earth’s rotation and limited satellite geometry knowledge, we find that we can greatly constrain a satellite’s inertial spin pole. Analysis of 2017 Doppler echoes for the Echostar 2 satellite yielded pole solutions consistent with earlier optical studies. In addition, we have developed a radar observation model and unscented batch filter for radar-based spin state estimation.
Details
- Volume
- 42-222
- Published
- August 15, 2020
- Pages
- 1–14
- File Size
- 4 MB