Potential and Challenges of Large Baseline Distributed Systems for Space-Based Space Surveillance

The overpopulation of the Earth orbital environment due to space debris and deployment of satellite mega-constellations requires advanced Space Situational Awareness capabilities. Space-based space surveillance (SBSS) systems represent a promising solution to complement traditional ground-based tracking systems. This paper investigates an innovative SBSS concept employing large baseline Distributed Satellite Systems (DSS) equipped with optical sensors to improve space object detection and orbit determination. The proposed system may enhance surveillance performance by exploiting sensor spatial diversity for accurate triangulation, thus enabling direct range measurements while ensuring similar illumination conditions. The paper discusses the basic requirements of the proposed concept and presents observability analyses in terms of the observation volume. The potential contribution of a large baseline DSS to improve surveillance performance and orbit determination capabilities is assessed considering synthetic test cases that exploit realistic simulations including detectability constraints.