Cargando…

Daylight space debris laser ranging

Satellite laser ranging allows to measure distances to satellites equipped with retroreflectors in orbits up to 36000 km. Utilizing a higher powered laser, space debris laser ranging detects diffuse reflections from defunct satellites or rocket bodies up to a distance of 3000 km. So far space debris...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Steindorfer, Michael A., Kirchner, Georg, Koidl, Franz, Wang, Peiyuan, Jilete, Beatriz, Flohrer, Tim
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7403592/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32753617
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17332-z
_version_ 1783566973138894848
author Steindorfer, Michael A.
Kirchner, Georg
Koidl, Franz
Wang, Peiyuan
Jilete, Beatriz
Flohrer, Tim
author_facet Steindorfer, Michael A.
Kirchner, Georg
Koidl, Franz
Wang, Peiyuan
Jilete, Beatriz
Flohrer, Tim
author_sort Steindorfer, Michael A.
collection PubMed
description Satellite laser ranging allows to measure distances to satellites equipped with retroreflectors in orbits up to 36000 km. Utilizing a higher powered laser, space debris laser ranging detects diffuse reflections from defunct satellites or rocket bodies up to a distance of 3000 km. So far space debris laser ranging was only possible within a few hours around twilight while it is dark at the satellite laser ranging station and space debris is illuminated by the sun. Here we present space debris laser ranging results during daylight. Space debris objects are visualized against the blue sky background and biases corrected in real-time. The results are a starting point for all space debris laser ranging stations to drastically increase their output in the near future. A network of a few stations worldwide will be able to improve orbital predictions significantly as necessary for removal missions, conjunction warnings, avoidance maneuvers or attitude determination.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7403592
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher Nature Publishing Group UK
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-74035922020-08-13 Daylight space debris laser ranging Steindorfer, Michael A. Kirchner, Georg Koidl, Franz Wang, Peiyuan Jilete, Beatriz Flohrer, Tim Nat Commun Article Satellite laser ranging allows to measure distances to satellites equipped with retroreflectors in orbits up to 36000 km. Utilizing a higher powered laser, space debris laser ranging detects diffuse reflections from defunct satellites or rocket bodies up to a distance of 3000 km. So far space debris laser ranging was only possible within a few hours around twilight while it is dark at the satellite laser ranging station and space debris is illuminated by the sun. Here we present space debris laser ranging results during daylight. Space debris objects are visualized against the blue sky background and biases corrected in real-time. The results are a starting point for all space debris laser ranging stations to drastically increase their output in the near future. A network of a few stations worldwide will be able to improve orbital predictions significantly as necessary for removal missions, conjunction warnings, avoidance maneuvers or attitude determination. Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-08-04 /pmc/articles/PMC7403592/ /pubmed/32753617 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17332-z Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Steindorfer, Michael A.
Kirchner, Georg
Koidl, Franz
Wang, Peiyuan
Jilete, Beatriz
Flohrer, Tim
Daylight space debris laser ranging
title Daylight space debris laser ranging
title_full Daylight space debris laser ranging
title_fullStr Daylight space debris laser ranging
title_full_unstemmed Daylight space debris laser ranging
title_short Daylight space debris laser ranging
title_sort daylight space debris laser ranging
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7403592/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32753617
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17332-z
work_keys_str_mv AT steindorfermichaela daylightspacedebrislaserranging
AT kirchnergeorg daylightspacedebrislaserranging
AT koidlfranz daylightspacedebrislaserranging
AT wangpeiyuan daylightspacedebrislaserranging
AT jiletebeatriz daylightspacedebrislaserranging
AT flohrertim daylightspacedebrislaserranging