Orbital debris is a concern to all nations that use satellites or launch space vehicles. The debris field scattered near Earth s geosynchronous orbit (GEO) poses a threat to anything residing in or passing through it. To mitigate risk and minimize this environment s expansion, the environment must be understood. NASA uses the Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope (MODEST), a University of Michigan-owned 0.61-m aperture Schmidt telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile, to help characterize the debris environment in GEO. The objectives for this survey are to determine the extent and character of debris in GEO, specifically by obtaining distributions for the brightness, inclination (INC), right ascension of ascending node (RAAN), and mean motion for the debris. This report describes the collection and analysis of 35 nights of data in contract year (CY) 2002 and 16 nights in CY 2003. Twenty-three objects on average were detected nightly for both years: in CY 2002, 76% were correlated targets (CTs) and 24% were uncorrelated targets (UCTs); in CY 2003, 66% were CTs and 34% were UCTs. Estimates can be made from correlated objects on errors associated with derived quantities of range, INC, and RAAN.


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    Titel :

    Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope Observations of the Geosynchronous Orbital Debris Environment. Observing Years: 2002-2003


    Beteiligte:
    K. J. Abercromby (Autor:in) / P. Seitzer (Autor:in) / E. S. Barker (Autor:in) / H. M. Cowardin (Autor:in) / M. J. Matney (Autor:in)

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    2010


    Format / Umfang :

    44 pages


    Medientyp :

    Report


    Format :

    Keine Angabe


    Sprache :

    Englisch





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