The Operational Impact of SARGASSIA on Space Traffic Management

The rapid proliferation of space objects poses a severe threat to the orbital environment, making Space Traffic Management (STM) and Space Situational Awareness (SSA) essential for space safety and sustainability. While Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) provide centimeter-level Precise Orbit Determination (POD) in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), the use of traditional active receivers is often unfeasible for small, failing, or inactive satellites due to stringent Size, Weight, Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) constraints. To overcome these limitations, this paper introduces the SARGASSIA (Search & Rescue and GNSS for Space Situational Awareness) architecture, which integrates Search and Rescue (SAR) devices with low-SWaP-C snapshot GNSS receivers. This configuration allows satellites to activate receivers during critical phases, such as system failure or end-of-life, and transmit positional data via the Galileo SAR service. By minimizing power consumption and required onboard processing while increasing ground coverage, SARGASSIA effectively transforms inactive objects into cooperative targets. Furthermore, equipping space objects with snapshot GNSS receivers improves state estimation accuracy compared to traditional tracking sensors (e.g. radar and sensors). This can help to minimize false collision alarms and reduce the operational burden of unnecessary collision avoidance maneuvers, enhancing overall SSA capabilities to ensure long-term orbital sustainability.