Operational collision avoidance of small satellite missions

Abstract

Collision avoidance is a topic of increasing importance. The number of satellites in Earth orbit is steadily growing and with the high amount of space debris, either crossing through or resident in orbit, collision probabilities between two such objects can become critical. Small satellite missions usually operate with limited capabilities when it comes to locating potential collision occurrences and deriving the associated collision probability. Accordingly, they have to rely on external organizations, such as the Joint Space Operation Center (JSpOC) and their information system to plan for contingency operations. This paper reviews the benefits of using such an external service for a small satellite constellation. It analyses the relevant data for use in daily operations and shows collision avoidance approaches based on the available data. Conjunction summaries for the RapidEye satellite constellation are evaluated and their influence on the planning of collision avoidance maneuvers is shown.