Gasdia Forrest, Barjatya Aroh, Bilardi Sergei
Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Lab, Center for Space and Atmospheric Research, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL 32114, USA.
Ann & H. J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
Sensors (Basel). 2017 May 30;17(6):1239. doi: 10.3390/s17061239.
Sunlight reflected off of resident space objects can be used as an optical signal for astrometric orbit determination and for deducing geometric information about the object. With the increasing population of small satellites and debris in low Earth orbit, photometry is a powerful tool in operational support of space missions, whether for anomaly resolution or object identification. To accurately determine size, shape, spin rate, status of deployables, or attitude information of an unresolved resident space object, multi-hertz sample rate photometry is required to capture the relatively rapid changes in brightness that these objects can exhibit. OSCOM, which stands for Optical tracking and Spectral characterization of CubeSats for Operational Missions, is a low cost and portable telescope system capable of time-resolved small satellite photometry, and is field deployable on short notice for simultaneous observation from multiple sites. We present the electro-optical design principles behind OSCOM and light curves of the 1.5 U DICE-2 CubeSat and simultaneous observations of the main body of the ASTRO-H satellite after its fragmentation event.
从在轨空间物体反射的太阳光可作为一种光信号，用于天体测量轨道确定以及推导该物体的几何信息。随着近地轨道上小型卫星和碎片数量的不断增加，光度测量无论是在解决异常情况还是物体识别方面，都是太空任务运行支持中的一项强大工具。为了准确确定未分辨的在轨空间物体的尺寸、形状、自旋速率、可展开部件的状态或姿态信息，需要多赫兹采样率的光度测量来捕捉这些物体可能呈现的相对快速的亮度变化。OSCOM代表用于运行任务的立方星光学跟踪和光谱表征，是一种低成本且便携式的望远镜系统，能够进行时间分辨的小型卫星光度测量，并且可在短时间内实地部署，以便从多个地点同时进行观测。我们介绍了OSCOM背后的电光设计原理，以及1.5U DICE-2立方星的光变曲线，还有ASTRO-H卫星在其碎片事件后对其主体的同步观测。
