The results of an observation campaign devoted to the determination of the rotational state of uncontrolled disposed upper stages by ground-based optical observations are presented. The photometric analysis is performed to extract light curves from photographs obtained by a camera based on charge-coupled devices. The rotation-axis direction and rotation period are determined comparing measurements with theoretical predictions obtained in the simplifying assumption of cylindrical diffusely reflecting cylinders. The angular speed is evaluated by the light-curve period. The direction of rotation axis is evaluated by measuring the difference between the maximum and minimum apparent magnitude of disposed upper stages. This evaluation can be performed from a single observing site by combining measurements collected during a suitable observation time span. The results achieved for two orbiting objects are reported showing a good agreement between determinations obtained in completely different observation geometries.


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    Title :

    Determination of Disposed-Upper-Stage Attitude Motion by Ground-Based Optical Observations


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2013-04-22


    Size :

    8 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





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