<p>The means to repair/refuel spacecraft and de-orbit objects to reduce orbital debris directly supports the increasingly important mission areas of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Traffic Management. However, natural lighting conditions are not always advantageous for missions to image/inspect or repair/refuel spacecraft due to eclipse conditions or shadowing due to spacecraft geometry relative to incident solar illumination. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the use of space-based reflectors to illuminate resident space objects in cislunar space. A concept of proximity operations, visual magnitude model, and associated algorithm for the prediction of augmented illumination of objects near the Earth–Moon <InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$L_1$</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <msub> <mi>L</mi> <mn>1</mn> </msub> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation>, <InlineEquation ID="IEq2"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$L_2$</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <msub> <mi>L</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msub> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation>, and <InlineEquation ID="IEq3"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$L_4$</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <msub> <mi>L</mi> <mn>4</mn> </msub> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation> Lagrange points is presented. The research advances the ongoing development of cislunar SSA missions and could enable unique lighting opportunities to improve characterization of both natural and artificial objects in the Earth–Moon system. Preliminary analysis indicates that in-track motion yields the highest potential for illumination, while cross-track motion provides only minimal illumination potential. Of the scenarios examined, in-track motion relative to a resident space object in a <InlineEquation ID="IEq4"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$L_2$</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <msub> <mi>L</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msub> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation> halo orbit provides the greatest illumination for both in- and cross-track proximity operations.</p>

Augmented Illumination of Resident Space Objects in Selected Lagrange-Point Orbits via Space-Based Mirrors Conducting Proximity Operations

期刊论文
发表日期：

2025年4月4日

查看全文

Alec E. Cook,
Robert A. Bettinger,
Jacob A. Dahlke

摘要

The means to repair/refuel spacecraft and de-orbit objects to reduce orbital debris directly supports the increasingly important mission areas of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Traffic Management. However, natural lighting conditions are not always advantageous for missions to image/inspect or repair/refuel spacecraft due to eclipse conditions or shadowing due to spacecraft geometry relative to incident solar illumination. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the use of space-based reflectors to illuminate resident space objects in cislunar space. A concept of proximity operations, visual magnitude model, and associated algorithm for the prediction of augmented illumination of objects near the Earth–Moon $L_1$ $L_{1}$ , $L_2$ $L_{2}$ , and $L_4$ $L_{4}$ Lagrange points is presented. The research advances the ongoing development of cislunar SSA missions and could enable unique lighting opportunities to improve characterization of both natural and artificial objects in the Earth–Moon system. Preliminary analysis indicates that in-track motion yields the highest potential for illumination, while cross-track motion provides only minimal illumination potential. Of the scenarios examined, in-track motion relative to a resident space object in a $L_2$ $L_{2}$ halo orbit provides the greatest illumination for both in- and cross-track proximity operations.