Geostationary orbit development and evaluation for space situational awareness

Awareness of objects and events in and around the Geostationary Earth Orbit satellite belt is currently limited, and the situation is worsening as more satellites are added and the satellites trend toward smaller sizes. A potential solution is to deploy observation satellites near the geostationary altitude to improve monitoring and object characterization capabilities, but the vastness of the geostationary belt creates several unique challenges. Many of these challenges can potentially be mitigated by proper orbit and constellation designs. First, a methodology for evaluating such designs through a system simulation tool is described. Second, an analysis is performed including a variety of circular orbit, eccentric orbit, and maneuvering constellations of geostationary observer satellites. The analysis shows that non-circular orbit designs can result in improved performance for various range- and coverage-based inspection criteria. These tools are useful in mission planning and constellation design, and can be easily expanded to include additional constellation metrics or time history metrics on individual GEO objects such as illumination conditions.

► Awareness of objects and events in and around the GEO satellite belt.
► Observation satellites to improve monitoring and object characterization capabilities.
► GEO inspection orbit and constellation designs.
► Results show non-circular orbit designs improve coverage and resolution.