Optical orbital debris spotter

Abstract

The number of man-made debris objects orbiting the Earth, or orbital debris, is alarmingly increasing, resulting in the increased probability of degradation, damage, or destruction of operating spacecraft. In part, small objects (<10cm) in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) are of concern because they are abundant and difficult to track or even to detect on a routine basis. Due to the increasing debris population it is reasonable to assume that improved capabilities for on-orbit damage attribution, in addition to increased capabilities to detect and track small objects are needed. Here we present a sensor concept to detect small debris with sizes between approximately 1.0 and 0.01cm in the vicinity of a host spacecraft for near real time damage attribution and characterization of dense debris fields and potentially to provide additional data to existing debris models.