Speaker
Description
The exploitation of the lunar orbits through space missions has gained significantly increased interest. Space agencies and private organisations across the globe are returning to the Moon.
Very limited knowledge on fragments and on “lost” defunct satellites and launch vehicles exists in this region. Operational mission safety, verification of compliance with requirements on space debris mitigation, and for space policy implementation, relies on the availability of validated actionable data of cis-lunar objects.
Searching, detecting, and tracking of objects in cis-lunar orbits is challenging from ground-based sensors alone due to limiting observation conditions, e.g.:
- low signal-to-noise ratio due to large distances between telescope and the object, straylight from the Moon, and atmospheric scattering.
- limited visibility windows due to Moon occultations.
- poor orbit determination accuracy due to limited diversity in observation geometries.
- long revisit times due to the large search volume.
Ground-based monitoring systems must be therefore combined with a space-based observer, especially for finding objects in lower lunar orbits. Space-based data is required to obtain and maintain a comprehensive picture of the cis-lunar debris environment and enable sustainable operations and exploration.
A mission to monitor the lunar debris environment is presented. The feasibility of the mission is currently studied in a Phase-A study with two parallel industry contracts and the implementation is included in the planning of the Space Safety Period 3 draft programme.