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Full-Text Articles in Space Vehicles
Lasers For Communication And Coordination Control Of Spacecraft Swarms, Himangshu Kalita, Leonard Dean Vance, Vishnu Reddy, Jekan Thanga
Lasers For Communication And Coordination Control Of Spacecraft Swarms, Himangshu Kalita, Leonard Dean Vance, Vishnu Reddy, Jekan Thanga
Space Traffic Management Conference
Swarms of small spacecraft offer whole new capabilities in Earth observation, global positioning and communications compared to a large monolithic spacecraft. These small spacecraft can provide bigger apertures that increase gain in communication antennas, increase area coverage or effective resolution of distributed cameras and enable persistent observation of ground or space targets. However, there remain important challenges in operating large number of spacecrafts at once. Current methods would require a large number of ground operators monitor and actively control these spacecraft which poses challenges in terms of coordination and control which prevents the technology from scaled up in cost-effective manner. …
Responsible Behavior For Constellations And Clusters, Darren Mcknight, Jonathan Rosenblatt, Darren Garber
Responsible Behavior For Constellations And Clusters, Darren Mcknight, Jonathan Rosenblatt, Darren Garber
Space Traffic Management Conference
Many large constellations are being considered for deployment over the next ten years into low earth orbit (LEO). This paper seeks to quantify the risks that these constellations pose to the debris environment, the risks that the debris environment poses to these constellations, and the risks that these constellations pose to themselves. The three representative constellations examined in detail in this paper are operated (or planned to be operated) by Spire Global, Iridium, and OneWeb. This paper provides a balanced risk analysis including collision risk, operational risk, and non-adherence risk. For perspective, the risk posed by these economically useful constellations …