Grant: Alliance Grants
York University
$70,000.00
Satellite Technologies for Space Situational Awareness (SSA)
FY 2023-24
Summary
Space systems play an important and integral role in every facet of our daily lives, including national security and resource management. Therefore, it is critical to protect our valuable assets in space. In recent years, the growing numbers of resident space objects (RSOs) have become a significant concern worldwide. In the proposed NSERC Alliance program, we propose to examine a novel approach to develop technologies for space surveillance and space situational awareness (SSA-continuous monitoring of conditions and threats in space). In particular, we propose to use wide field-of-view (FOV), low resolution imagers for space-based detection, tracking, identification and characterization of RSOs, including natural/artificial, friendly/adversarial space assets, debris, near-Earth asteroids, space-related threats, and space hazards; and to support the upcoming SSA Microsatellite mission. Magellan plans to perform mission-level management as well as the design, manufacture, assembly, and test of the microsatellite bus at its Winnipeg facilities. As a research partner, our team at York will contribute to the initial background research and core technology development, outlined in this proposal. The proposed Alliance program consists of two main components: Phase 1 - Background Research (first 18 months) and Phase 2 - Mission Design (Years 2 through 5). In the first phase, we propose to examine three key areas of satellite technologies for SSA, namely (1) Resident Space Object (RSO) observation prediction, (2) tracking algorithm implementation on FPGA and (3) RSO identification. These technologies can operate on any spacecraft with optical imaging hardware, including commercial star trackers commonly used for attitude determination. In the second phase, we will develop, test, integrate and demonstrate the proposed payload for upcoming microsatellite mission. This leverages on-going research in collaboration with DRDC and other academic and industry partners with the ambitious goal to provide Canadian-made solutions to SSA from space.
Program
Alliance Grants
Recipient
Location
Ontario, Canada
Recipient Type
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
As published
Application id
577761-2022
Name nom
Lee, Regina RSK
Department département
Earth and Space Science and Engineering
Organization id
38
Institution établissement
York University
Province en
Ontario
Province fr
Ontario
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2023
Competition year année de concours
2022
Award amount
70000
Program id
ALLRP
Program name en
Alliance Grants
Program name fr
Subventions Alliance
Group en
RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS
Group fr
PARTENARIATS DE RECHERCHE
Committee code
96
Committee name en
RPP Internal Decision Cttee
Committee name fr
Cté de décision interne - PPR
Area of application code
703
Area of application group en
Transportation systems and services
Area of application group fr
Services et systèmes de transport
Area of application en
Aerospace
Area of application fr
Aérospatial
Research subject code
3250
Research subject group en
Space science
Research subject group fr
Space science
Research subject en
Recherche spatiale
Research subject fr
Recherche spatiale
Application title
Satellite Technologies for Space Situational Awareness (SSA)
Keyword
FPGA; Image Processing; Mission Design; Object detection; Orbit Determination; Resident Space Object (RSO); RSO identification; Satellite; Space Situational Awareness (SSA); Star Tracker
Application summary
Space systems play an important and integral role in every facet of our daily lives, including national security and resource management. Therefore, it is critical to protect our valuable assets in space. In recent years, the growing numbers of resident space objects (RSOs) have become a significant concern worldwide. In the proposed NSERC Alliance program, we propose to examine a novel approach to develop technologies for space surveillance and space situational awareness (SSA-continuous monitoring of conditions and threats in space). In particular, we propose to use wide field-of-view (FOV), low resolution imagers for space-based detection, tracking, identification and characterization of RSOs, including natural/artificial, friendly/adversarial space assets, debris, near-Earth asteroids, space-related threats, and space hazards; and to support the upcoming SSA Microsatellite mission. Magellan plans to perform mission-level management as well as the design, manufacture, assembly, and test of the microsatellite bus at its Winnipeg facilities. As a research partner, our team at York will contribute to the initial background research and core technology development, outlined in this proposal. The proposed Alliance program consists of two main components: Phase 1 - Background Research (first 18 months) and Phase 2 - Mission Design (Years 2 through 5). In the first phase, we propose to examine three key areas of satellite technologies for SSA, namely (1) Resident Space Object (RSO) observation prediction, (2) tracking algorithm implementation on FPGA and (3) RSO identification. These technologies can operate on any spacecraft with optical imaging hardware, including commercial star trackers commonly used for attitude determination. In the second phase, we will develop, test, integrate and demonstrate the proposed payload for upcoming microsatellite mission. This leverages on-going research in collaboration with DRDC and other academic and industry partners with the ambitious goal to provide Canadian-made solutions to SSA from space.
