ARCTICSDASTUDY

Arctic Space Domain Awareness Study

1 October 2024 - 30 April 2025

Lead Scientist: Charles Schramka

Observatory: NSA

The Air Force Research Laboratory Space Electro-Optics Division (AFRL/RDS) is developing advanced sensing concepts for low cost and proliferatable space domain awareness (SDA) sensors. In particular, AFRL is interested in exploring ways to expand coverage within new geographic regions. The Arctic is a special area of interest because it offers recurring coverage of sun synchronous and other highly inclined low-earth orbit objects. There are also lengthy day/night cycles, allowing long observational periods. Several commercial mega-constellations also plan to launch communications spacecraft in highly inclined orbits, further congesting the regime and increasing the likelihood of satellite conjunctions. In this study, AFRL will place a low-cost optical SDA sensor developed by Cloudstone Innovations Inc in the Arctic region and conduct an observation campaign. The sensor has been optimized for the cold weather environment of the Arctic and requires minimal human intervention over the course of the experiment. The data collected will inform future sensor design and site surveys in the Arctic Circle.