Satellite Required Navigation Performance for Space Traffic Management

The increasing number of Resident Space Objects (RSOs) in the Near-Earth orbital environment threatens the long-term sustainability of space, pushing towards an increased integration of active and passive coordination. A scalable alternative to current methods is represented by orbital slotting, applicable to both inter-shell and intra-shell configurations. This study adapts the aviation-derived concept of Required Navigation Performance (RNP) to Space Traffic Management (STM) to rigorously define satellite operational boundaries. Possible definitions of the spaceborne RNP are provided, integrating control authority and latency as well as navigation/tracking performance. By introducing a quantitative link between RNP metrics and orbital slot size, this work represents an effort towards the definition of a standardized framework to assess “flyability” in high density space environments, ensuring both optimized orbital capacity and operational safety.