Enhancing Multi-payload Launch Support with Netcentric Operations Andrews, S.E., Bougas, W. C., Cott, T.A., Hunt, S. M., Kadish, J.M., Solodyna, C.V. 7 th US/Russian Space Surveillance Workshop October 29 November 2, 2007 This work sponsored by the Air Force under Air Force Contract No. FA8721-05-C-0002. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the United States Government. 999999-1
Launch Character: Yesterday and Today ASUsat 24.5 cm x 32 cm diameter (14 sides) Opal 23.5 x 21 cm (6 sides) FalconSat 17 x 18 inch box Cosmos 1909-1914 (Strela-3) Launched January 1988 6 identical satellites launched together Store and Dump Communications Typical orbit: 1400 km x 1414 km 82.6 degrees inclination Size: Length: 1.50 m (4.90 ft). Max Diameter: 1.00 m (3.20 ft). Mass: 220 kg (480 lb). 999999-2 3 OCS 3.5 meter diameter Jawsat 35 x 35 x 42 inches First Minotaur launch Launched January 2000 5 microsat payloads + 5 picosats Different missions, configurations Orbit: 700 km polar sun-synchronous Task: Identify the OPAL satellite Pass orbit to the Aerospace Corp. via US Space Command Picosat release could not be 4 commanded until OPAL identified
Modern Scientific Small-Sat Launch Multiple, distinctive payload shapes and sizes Slow separation velocities First Minotaur launch 5 0.15 m/s to 0.8 m/s Reliability and lifetime traded out for cost/weight/size First 2 deployed picosats reached too-low power within 15 days of launch 6 Limited or minimal ground support for payload operations 999999-3
Outline Motivation Background Jawsat launch example of challenges Concepts Jawsat launch local net-centricity & expanding the approach Future and summary 999999-4
Space Surveillance Challenges Traditional spacecraft approach Medium to large spacecraft Weeks to months to become operational Limited capacity requirements for dissemination of space surveillance data Available sensors include powerful radars & highquality optical systems Modern small-science launches Small spacecraft Low separation velocities (sub- meter/second) Good identification and orbit required by payload ground station in hours/days Multiple payload types Similar-shaped objects with different missions, owners Separate objects Using metric data Metric data alone may not support Mission timelines 999999-5
Net-centricity Concept of Network Centric Warfare Links sensors, communications systems and weapons systems in and interconnected grid that allows for a seamless information flow to warfighters, policy makers, and support personnel 10 Application Foster simultaneous cooperative operations through sharing of realtime data Provide contextual data to support rapid identification and tracking of objects of interest Provide data to support discrimination between objects to enable rapid development of precision orbits. 999999-6 Simultaneous operations Angle error
Outline Motivation Background Jawsat launch example of challenges Concepts Jawsat launch local net-centricity & expanding the approach Future and summary 999999-7
Jawsat Launch Payloads -10 RCS dbsm -30 ASUsat 24.5 cm x 32 cm diameter (14 sides) 22:32:15 TIME 22:32:30 Millstone Hill Radar narrow-band signature data (RCS vs. Time) 4 Polarization Principal Orthogonal -10 RCS dbsm -30 Opal 23.5 x 21 cm (6 sides) 00:12:30 TIME 00:15:00 +10 RCS dbsm OCS 3.5 meter diameter OCS -30 12:07:00 TIME 12:08:00 999999-8
Jawsat Launch Payloads (cont) -10 RCS dbsm -30 +10 Jawsat 35 x 35 x 42 inches FalconSat 17 x 18 inch box 22:36:15 TIME 22:36:45 Millstone Hill Radar narrow-band signature data (RCS vs. Time) 4 FalconSat Polarization Principal Orthogonal RCS dbsm -30 00:19:30 TIME 00:22:00 +10 RCS dbsm OCS 3.5 meter diameter Jawsat 999999-9 OCS -30 12:07:00 TIME 12:08:00
Time Residual Plot (predicted) Once the OCS sphere was identified, the other payloads 0.100 could be identified using this plot provided by Aerospace Corp. (pre- launch) 0.080 Time Residual Plot Minotaur Time residuals are relative to OPAL A positive residual target is leading OPAL A negative residual target is trailing OPAL 0.060 Time residual (min) 0.040 0.020 Falconsat Jawsat OCS ASUSat OCS FalconSat JAWSAT OPAL Minotaur 0.000 ASUsat 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80 2.00 OPAL -0.020 Time since launch (hours) 999999-10
Jawsat Launch Challenge Task: Support deployment of Aerospace Picosats from OPAL Communications to command deployment using SRI 150 ft dish UHF communications, beamwidth ~ 1 deg, 1 deg/sec slew Element set required to command deployment of Aerospace picosats Picosat battery life in pre-deployment mode ~ 60 hours Activities Locate OPAL and provide element set to USSPACECOM as soon as possible Avoid cross-tagging from pass-to-pass to avoid corruption of element set 7 Opal 23.5 x 21 cm (6 sides) 999999-11
Millstone L-Band Operational Parameters 1 Center Frequency Maximum Bandwidth Peak Power Pulse Width PRF 1295 MHz 8 MHz 3 MW 1 ms 40 Hz Tracking Uncertainty 2 Nominal Bandwidth: 1 MHz Target RCS: 0.3 m 2 Range: 1000 km σ angular σ range 4.80 mdeg (~ 80 m @ 1000 km) 2.83 m 999999-12
Outline Motivation Background Jawsat launch example of challenges Concepts Shared site Site-to-site Algorithms Jawsat launch local net-centricity & expanding the approach Future and summary 999999-13
Shared Site Net-centricity Lincoln Space Surveillance Complex (LSSC) Haystack Radar Haystack Auxiliary Radar ~ 1 km Millstone Hill Radar Millstone High sensitivity RCS vs Time Small object search Haystack Very high sensitivity Range-Doppler imaging HAX High-resolution imaging Millstone Haystack HAX Beamwidth (deg) 0.44 0.05 0.1 Frequency 1295 MHz 10 GHz 16.7 GHz 999999-14
Shared Site Strategy Cooperative Acquisition and Tracking Operations Lincoln Space Situational Awareness Center Control Room Tag-team operations Millstone searches and finds key object Millstone collects metric and RCS vs time data Millstone passes pointing vector to Haystack & HAX Waits for other sensor(s) to acquire Other sensors collect metric, signature and image data Haystack uses object to anchor search for small objects Millstone searches along-orbit for next object in train Data from multiple sensors used to confirm object identity 999999-15
Time Search (along orbit) 5 minute early search at horizon Position dish at horizon 5 minutes before expected rise (time bias of +300 seconds from the satellite s nominal position in the orbit) radar horizon 999999-16
Time Search (along orbit) 5 minute early search at horizon TIME BIAS - 300 seconds predicted elset Position dish at horizon 5 minutes before expected rise (time bias of +300 seconds from the satellite s nominal position in the orbit) Let elset move through the beam range dimension (range window in green) expected rise range radar horizon Searching actual position of target (below horizon) 999999-17
Time Search (along orbit) 5 minute early search at horizon TIME BIAS - 300 250 seconds predicted elset Position dish at horizon 5 minutes before expected rise (time bias of +300 seconds from the satellite s nominal position in the orbit) Let elset move through the beam Search the elset from +300 seconds down to zero (a zero time bias is the actual rise time) range dimension (range window in green) expected rise range radar horizon Searching actual position of target (below horizon) 999999-18
Time Search (along orbit) 5 minute early search at horizon TIME BIAS - 300 200 seconds predicted elset Position dish at horizon 5 minutes before expected rise (time bias of +300 seconds from the satellite s nominal position in the orbit) Let elset move through the beam Search the elset from +300 seconds down to zero (a zero time bias is the actual rise time) range dimension (range window in green) Searching radar horizon actual position of target (below horizon) 999999-19
Time Search (along orbit) 5 minute early search at horizon TIME BIAS - 300 150 seconds predicted elset Position dish at horizon 5 minutes before expected rise (time bias of +300 seconds from the satellite s nominal position in the orbit) Let elset move through the beam Search the elset from +300 seconds down to zero (a zero time bias is the actual rise time) range dimension (range window in green) Searching radar horizon actual position of target (below horizon) 999999-20
Time Search (along orbit) 5 minute early search at horizon TIME BIAS - 300 100 seconds predicted elset Position dish at horizon 5 minutes before expected rise (time bias of +300 seconds from the satellite s nominal position in the orbit) Let elset move through the beam Search the elset from +300 seconds down to zero (a zero time bias is the actual rise time) range dimension (range window in green) Searching radar horizon actual position of target (below horizon) 999999-21
Time Search (along orbit) 5 minute early search at horizon TIME BIAS - - 300 50 seconds predicted elset Position dish at horizon 5 minutes before expected rise (time bias of +300 seconds from the satellite s nominal position in the orbit) Let elset move through the beam Search the elset from +300 seconds down to zero (a zero time bias is the actual rise time) range dimension (range window in green) Searching radar horizon actual position of target (below horizon) 999999-22
Time Search (along orbit) 5 minute early search at horizon TIME BIAS - 30 seconds predicted elset actual elset If target is in a lower than expected orbit, it will rise early relative to the predicted elset. The 5 minute early search will cover this lower orbit and should result in a detection. range dimension radar horizon Target Acquired! Target rises early and is detected at a lower than expected range 999999-23
Time Search (along orbit) 5 minute early search at horizon predicted elset actual elset If target is in a lower than expected orbit, it will rise early relative to the predicted elset. The 5 minute early search will cover this lower orbit and should result in a detection. range dimension radar horizon Target Acquired! 999999-24
Time Search (along orbit) 5 minute early search at horizon range dimension predicted elset actual elset If target is in a lower than expected orbit, it will rise early relative to the predicted elset. The 5 minute early search will cover this lower orbit and should result in a detection. radar horizon Target Acquired! 999999-25
Time Search (along orbit) 5 minute early search at horizon range dimension predicted elset actual elset If target is in a lower than expected orbit, it will rise early relative to the predicted elset. The 5 minute early search will cover this lower orbit and should result in a detection. radar horizon Target Acquired! 999999-26
Benefits of Shared Site Metric data on multiple objects within train Sometimes from two or more sensors Longer data collections on each object per pass Characterization in two phenomenologies Improved chance of correct identification over single-sensor data Better data to support discrimination by other sensors Careful cataloging of relative position with revisit opportunity Small object search Phased-array alternative Multi-object track Ability to catalog relative positions Characterization on object-by-object basis 999999-27
Site-to-Site Hand-off Time off of nominal element set Relative ordering of objects Data on reference object (e.g., large calibration sphere) Element sets Signature data or statistics 999999-28
Hand-off Data Time Off nominal and Relative Position TB= -20 TB= -10 TB=0 Time Residual Plot TB =1 0 Time along orbit TB =2 0 0.100 0.080 0.060 TB =3 0 0.040 0.020 0.000 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80 2.0 Benefits 999999-29 Consistent tagging of observations Supports rapid location of objects of interest Challenges Relative order changes as orbit evolves -0.020 Time since launch (hours) Surface-to-mass ratio larger than normal predicting real delta-v and orbit evolution more difficult than with typical payloads
Hand-off Data Reference Object, Element Sets, and Signatures Combine relative position data with orbital elements on distinctive object Provides basis for relative positions Anchor for searches Signatures to support discrimination Estimated tumble rates for different objects Polarization characteristics Variability of cross-section -10 RCS dbsm -30-10 RCS dbsm -30 FalconSat 17 x 18 inch box 22:36:15 TIME 22:36:45 ASUsat 24.5 cm x 32 cm diameter (14 sides) 22:32:15 TIME 22:32:30 +10 RCS dbsm OCS 3.5 meter diameter 999999-30 -30 12:07:00 TIME 12:08:00
Algorithm Concepts Signature prediction and matching Predict signatures as function of frequency, attitude, illumination angle Predict signature for future collection based on past collection Different object attitude Different frequency, illumination angle Compare two signatures to determine whether on same object Multi-sensor image construction 999999-31
Outline Motivation Background Jawsat launch example of challenges Concepts Jawsat launch local net-centricity & expanding the approach Future and summary 999999-32
Jawsat Launch Lincoln Space Surveillance Operations Strategy Primarily shared site approach (Millstone, Haystack, HAX) Limited multi-site hand-off (ALTAIR) Very limited algorithm support, but savvy operators Results of efforts Time search very effective at finding object train OCS excellent object to use as positional reference Direct pointing hand-off guaranteed same-object track Facilitated multi-phenomenology characterization Provided search anchor Hand-off of element sets and relative positions supported multi-site observations with consistent identification 999999-33
Expanding Cooperative Approach within Lincoln Laboratory Joint control room for shared site Operators can view other sensor activities real-time Direct communications among sensor operators Cross-sensor familiarity Remote viewing of second shared site Real-time viewing of sensor activities and cross-sensor familiarity Best possible planning time Joint control room for multiple sites (notional) Algorithm concepts Model-based signature prediction Statistical signature matching Metric/signature matching Net-centric Infrastructure Active work at MIT LL to enable local operations Test bed for 999999-34 Data distribution Serving applications
Outline Motivation Background Jawsat launch example of challenges Concepts Jawsat launch local net-centricity & expanding the approach Future and summary 999999-35
Future for Space Surveillance Network Operating environment Space becomes more available for small-science applications Multi-payload launch and microsats are enablers Payloads are short-lived and separation velocities slow Current communications allow for large data transmissions Distribute auxiliary information (like signatures) to all participants Supports remote viewing of sensor operations Can enable centralized sensor operations Enables fusion of more complete sensor data Computing power still growing enables: Detailed modeling in practical times Complex statistical matching algorithms Complex data fusion algorithms 999999-36
Concepts for Robust Space Surveillance Disseminate information from one sensor site to all participants Relative order on train of objects Signature data/statistics Element sets, particularly on reference objects Leverage shared-site synergies Direct pointing hand-off for multi-phenomenology characterization Anchor with one sensor, search with another Remote viewing of sensor operations Early view of situation prior to own sensor operations Operator-to-operator interchange Reduction of loss of intangible data Algorithms to aid in identification and characterization Modeling to predict expected signatures Signature matching algorithms Joint signature-metric matching algorithms Incorporation of non-traditional sensor data Plans, models, and predictions by owner/operators Cooperative tracking data by satellite owner/operator 999999-37
Summary Easier access to space requires timely ways to deal with launches with subtle operations Net-centric operations concepts and infrastructures provide means to make broader, better use of existing capabilities Have demonstrated gains from extensive multi-sensor sharing and coordinated operations Proposed ways to expand to broader space surveillance network 999999-38
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