Stereoscopic Light Curve Analysis of Space Debris Objects

Kurzfassung

As an object in orbit rotates, the amount of sunlight which it reflects towards Earth varies. When measured by an observer on the ground, these perceived changes in brightness are know as a light curve. The shape of a light curve is determined, in part, by the attitude and rotation state of the object but also depends on a great many other parameters. Research into how useful information might be recovered from an object’s light curve is an active area of research. If solved it would have important implications in the fields of orbit propagation and active space debris removal. One possible route to better understanding light curves is through stereoscopic observation, where two observers simultaneously measure the brightness changes from different vantage points. This thesis documents the planning and execution of a collaborative campaign of stereoscopic light curve acquisition between the German Aerospace Center’s Institute of Technical Physics and Institute for Planetary Research. In these experiments, the light curves of space debris objects in MEO were observed using a pair of telescopes separated by a baseline of 1595 km. These two observatories being, the Uhlandshöhe Forschungsobservatorium (UFO) in Stuttgart, Germany and the Centro Astronómico Hispano-Alemán (CAHA) in Almeriá province, Spain. Also documented is the complete development of Raxus Prime 2.0, a program for performing the analysis and simulation of stereoscopic light curves. An early attempt at estimating the spin state of space debris objects from stereoscopic light curves using Raxus Prime 2.0 is detailed.