Analyzing long observation arcs for objects with high area-to-mass ratios in geostationary orbits

作者：Musci R^*; Schildknecht T; Ploner M

来源：Acta Astronautica, 2010, 66(5-6): 693-703.

DOI：10.1016/j.actaastro.2009.08.025

• GEO
• High area-to-mass ratio
• Long observation arcs

A new population of objects with high area-to-mass ratios (AMR) in the geostationary orbit (GEO) has been identified recently. The first observations of this new type of objects were acquired in the framework of the European Space Agency's (ESA) search for space debris in the GEO and the geostationary transfer orbit using ESA's 1-m telescope on Tenerife (ESASDT). Since 2005 some of the newly detected objects with high AMR have been maintained in a catalogue. In addition to the ESASDT, the 1-m telescope of the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB) in Zimmerwald and several instruments located in the region of the former Soviet Union have been used to acquire the observations needed to maintain the orbital elements of these objects. The data from the latter telescopes is provided to AIUB by the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics (KIAM) in the framework of a collaboration.
Observation arcs of up to more than three years are currently available for some objects with high AMR. These long observation arcs are used to study the quality of the orbit determination and in particular of the AMR estimation. The results are presented in this paper. Furthermore, the challenges to maintain these orbits, e.g., to recover the objects after several days or weeks, are discussed.

• 出版日期2010-4