All Sky Survey Mission Observing Scenario Strategy
Sara C. Spangelo, Raj M. Katti, Stephen C. Unwin, Jamie J. Bock

TL;DR
This paper presents a flexible, constraint-based strategy for planning all-sky survey missions in Low Earth Orbit, optimizing observation scheduling to meet scientific coverage goals while respecting dynamic environmental constraints.
Contribution
It introduces a novel, adaptable observing strategy with a heuristic scheduling algorithm tailored for all-sky surveys in constrained orbital environments.
Findings
Strategy successfully applied to SPHEREx mission
Achieves comprehensive sky coverage including poles and galactic plane
Ensures feasibility under realistic thermal and stray-light constraints
Abstract
This paper develops a general observing strategy for missions performing all-sky surveys, where a single spacecraft maps the celestial sphere subject to realistic constraints. The strategy is flexible such that targeted observations and variable coverage requirements can be achieved. This paper focuses on missions operating in Low Earth Orbit, where the thermal and stray-light constraints due to the Sun, Earth, and Moon result in interacting and dynamic constraints. The approach is applicable to broader mission classes, such as those that operate in different orbits or that survey the Earth. First, the instrument and spacecraft configuration is optimized to enable visibility of the targeted observations throughout the year. Second, a constraint-based high-level strategy is presented for scheduling throughout the year subject to a simplified subset of the constraints. Third, a…
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Taxonomy
TopicsSpacecraft Design and Technology · Satellite Communication Systems · Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
