Innovative methods of correlation and orbit determination for space debris

Farnocchia, Davide and Tommei, Giacomo and Milani, Andrea and Rossi, Alessandro (2010) Innovative methods of correlation and orbit determination for space debris. Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 107 (1-2). pp. 169-185. ISSN 1572-9478

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Abstract

SUMMARY We propose two algorithms to provide a full preliminary orbit of an Earth-orbiting object with a number of observations lower than the classical methods, such as those by Laplace and Gauss. The first one is the Virtual debris algorithm, based upon the admissible region, that is the set of the unknown quantities corresponding to possible orbits for a given observation for objects in Earth orbit (as opposed to both interplanetary orbits and ballistic ones). A similar method has already been successfully used in recent years for the asteroidal case. The second algorithm uses the integrals of the geocentric 2-body motion, which must have the same values at the times of the different observations for a common orbit to exist. We also discuss how to account for the perturbations of the 2-body motion, e.g., the $J_2$ effect.

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