Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Formulation Of An Optimal Search Strategy For Space Debris At Geo, Daniel J. Jackson

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to create a search strategy to find orbital debris when the object fails to appear in the sky at its predicted location. This project is for NASA Johnson Space Center Orbital Debris Program Office through the MODEST (Michigan Orbital Debris Survey Telescope) program. This thesis will build upon the research already done by James Biehl in “Formulation of a Search Strategy for Space Debris at GEO.” MODEST tracks objects at a specific right ascension and declination. A circular orbit assumption is then used to predict the location of the object at a later time. …