Modeling of space debris fragment restoring technologies in the non-redundant array of aperture synthesis

Abstract

The problem of monitoring space debris (SD) of anthropogenic origin is discussed to ensure the safety of near-Earth space environment exploration. For dynamic low-orbit SD fragments, acquisition and processing technologies of short-exposure image series, obtained in a non-redundant aperture synthesis array, are proposed and investigated. Specific features of the optical transfer function (OTF) of the non-redundant array, namely, its "insular" character, lead to difficulties in restoring the spatial spectrum of the control object, undistorted by the atmosphere, in the whole spatial-frequency domain of the array. It is shown that to restore the object's spatial spectrum module, undistorted by the atmosphere, in the whole spatial frequency domain of the array, it is necessary to use algorithm of the Labeyrie method, modified by the authors of the present work. To restore the phase of the spatial spectrum, it is necessary to use the algorithms of unfolding the closed phase equations of the triple correlations method. By physical modeling of the formation and registration processes of analog images in the atmosphere-array system and subsequent statistical processing of digitized images, experimental evidence is given of the effectiveness of the proposed restoring technologies to achieve high resolution of SD fragments in the array, aimed at their subsequent identification and removal. Recommendations are given for practical implementation of the considered promising construction and application technologies of optical systems to control SD fragments.