Improved Uncooperative Spacecraft Maneuver Detection with Space-based Optical Observations

TL;DR

This paper presents an improved method for detecting uncooperative spacecraft maneuvers using space-based optical observations, accounting for long-duration maneuvers and estimating maneuver parameters more accurately.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach that considers maneuver duration and estimates start/end times and thrust vectors, enhancing detection over previous impulsive models.

Findings

Successfully applied to Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-6A data

Effectively estimates maneuver start/end times and thrust directions

Handles long-duration maneuvers better than impulsive models

Abstract

Building and maintaining a space object catalog is necessary for space situational awareness. To realize this, one great challenge is uncooperative spacecraft maneuver detection because unknown maneuver events can lead to deviated orbital predictions and losses of tracking. Nowadays, more and more spacecraft equip electric propulsion and perform long-duration maneuvers to realize orbital transfer. Previous studies have investigated impulsive maneuver detection with space surveillance data. But, the developed method does not suffice for cases where maneuver durations are long. In this study, an improved uncooperative spacecraft maneuver detection method with space-based optical observations is proposed. Instead of a sudden maneuver event, the maneuver duration is considered. The maneuver starting/ending times are estimated along with the thrust acceleration vector. The angular residuals of nonlinear least square estimates are used to judge whether a maneuver policy could be a potential solution. The global optimum maneuver policy is chosen from multiple local minima according to the minimum-fuel principle. It is demonstrated that the maneuver duration is poorly observable if the thrust is along the orbital normal direction attributed to the nature of orbital dynamics. Real maneuver data of the Senitnel-3A spacecraft and the Senitnel-6A spacecraft is used to test the capability of the developed method.