Performance estimation for GEO space surveillance

Abstract

For space surveillance Europe is currently strongly depending on external sources. Although some European radar and optical facilities for space object tracking exist, there is no operational European space surveillance system. An ESA-funded feasibility study for a future independent European space surveillance capability was performed recently. Some of the main conclusions are presented here. We discuss the surveillance of the geostationary ring (GEO) by evaluating existing and newly designed optical ground-based sensors in terms of their performance. The main performance-related issues – the coverage of the GEO ring and the minimum detectable objects size – are discussed. In order to perform detailed simulations, an observation strategy was defined and algorithms for the correlation of objects with a catalogue and for the maintenance of that catalogue were developed. We used the ESA PROOF software to estimate the sensor performance and AIUB tools to simulate the catalogue correlation. The performance was validated using data from campaigns performed with the ESA Space Debris Telescope at Tenerife, Spain.