Scanning the skies for debris hazards

ScienceDaily (June 7, 2011) — Today, orbiting satellites are threatened by over 700 000 pieces of debris. Avoiding them requires knowing where they are, and that means surveillance with radar and telescopes. The European Space Agency is designing a system to catalog debris and warn satellite operators when to take evasive action.

This week, over 150 global experts will meet at an ESA-organised conference to share the latest research findings on space debris, surveillance technology, orbital hazard detection and satellite safety. The first European Space Surveillance Conference (ESS2011) will be held 7-9 June in Madrid, Spain.

The conference spotlights ESA's Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme, now in the preliminary phase, which aims to put in place a 'three-legged' system to warn of hazards posed by orbital debris, space weather and natural objects like asteroids that may strike Earth.

Extensive reuse of existing resources

Since 2009, the Agency's SSA team have been working to define the system's overall technical structure, while actively evaluating existing European assets, such as scientific research radars and telescopes, which could contribute to SSA.

The development strategy is based on an extensive use of national and European assets, as well as the procurement of the missing components of the future SSA System.

2011 is a busy year for SSA surveillance development activities, perhaps the most urgent leg of the programme.

Complex engineering and scientific challenge

A new generation of software was recently implemented to warn when satellites could be hit by orbiting debris.

"At the moment, it is undergoing extensive testing using known debris orbits, but it's a first step toward the software we'll use when Europe has its own surveillance capability," says ESA's Emmet Fletcher, Head of the Space Surveillance and Tracking Segment at the SSA programme office.

Hosting an international conference like ESS2011 is crucial for staying up to date with global best practises and meeting scientific experts who work with current-generation radars and telescopes.

Debris surveillance is a complex engineering and scientific challenge in part due to the fact that even a tiny piece of debris -- just 1 centimetre across -- can seriously damage or even destroy a functioning satellite if it impacts at orbital velocities.

"We are now finalising a pan-European survey and test of existing tracking facilities, such as radars and telescopes located in France, Germany, Italy, Norway, UK, Switzerland and Spain," says Emmet.

"Knowing how precise these are is fundamental to designing ESA's new SSA system, which may make use of their data in combination with debris readings obtained by new, highly accurate radars and telescopes in the future.

"We know there is a huge amount of knowledge across Europe and globally. Having a single forum where experts from around the world can meet and present new information is vital and helps move our collective know-how forward.

"New techniques, new approaches and sharing past experience helps all space-faring nations work more safely in orbit."

Conference brings together global experts

At the conference, over 150 experts from more than 20 nations will take in over 50 presentations. There are also dedicated information sessions on policy, optical and radar observations, and engineering design as well as presentations from the future customers of the SSA system.

Today, Europe cannot scan as much of space as necessary to provide comprehensive debris warning services to private and public spacecraft operators, like those flying telecommunication, climate and weather satellites.

"But we have to ensure that the design for the next-generation debris surveillance and tracking systems that SSA will propose at the end of the current preliminary phase in 2012 will perform as needed at a cost that is realistic," says Emmet.

"This is a challenging task, and achieving it means that conferences like ESS2011, involving a large number of experts, are crucial for knowing the best way forward."

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by European Space Agency.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Spotted: A Very Rutan-Looking Experimental Aircraft Cruising California Skies

An undeniably Burt Rutan-esque aircraft has been spotted in the airspace just a few dozen miles south of Beale Air Force Base, prompting aerospace buffs to post the question: what is this Burt Rutan-esque aircraft doing in the air near Beale Air Force Base? Flight Global has since identified (possibly) the plane as Scaled Composites Model 355, but what’s less clear is what sort of aircraft it might be.

The DEW Line’s Stephen Trimble ventures a guess:

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the Model 355 is not just manned, but is probably optionally unmanned, too. And those antennas on the bottom of the fuselage are clearly not intended for civilian purposes. That is a signals intelligence payload, my friends.

Whoa. An optionally manned/unmanned medium-altitude, long-range experimental aircraft with a SIGINT package strapped to the belly? Consider us intrigued. The image above surfaced on Flickr a couple of weeks back, while the shot above was captured and posted by a photog near Beale yesterday (though this flightplan suggests if took off and landed via regional airports, so the AFB link is dubious). If more photos/information surface, we’ll update here.

The (Purportedly) Scaled Composites Model 355:  jw2513 via Flickr

[The DEW Line]

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