Autonomous Passive Optical Staring Of LEO Flying Objects (Apparillio®)
Brief description
The APPARILLIO® is an integrated system for monitoring the near-Earth orbit. Equipped with a sensitive, high-resolution astro camera and a wide-angle lens, it detects and measures sun-illuminated objects during twilight.
Applications
- Space surveillance
- Optical detection of orbital objects
- New discovery of uncatalogued objects (satellites and space debris)
- Cost-effective alternative to radar sensors
- Transportable and self-sufficient system to supplement existing networks
Facts and figures
- Detection of ~500 objects per night at up to 162 objects / h
- Detection threshold (minimum object size): 1 m
- Measuring accuracy: 100 m
- Exposure time: 1 s
- Mass 200 kg
The APPARILLIO® (Autonomous Passive Optical Staring Of LEO Flying Objects) is an integrated system for monitoring low-Earth orbit. APPARILLO can autonomously capture and process images of solar-illuminated objects in low-Earth orbit. Housed in a weatherproof enclosure and equipped with extensive control and image processing software, the system can measure the angular positions of orbital objects and forward them to existing databases.
The images are taken by a sensitive astro camera with a powerful wide-angle lens (up to 20° field of view). A GPS timer ensures that the images are precisely timed. With an exposure time of 1 second, passing orbital objects produce a line trace that is clearly distinguishable from the star background.
An astrometry module recognises stars in the image and uses their known positions to determine the equatorial coordinates of the start and end points of the line traces. This eliminates the need for precise alignment of the sensor.
The data of the detected objects is made available in standardised formats (e.g. Tracking Data Message, TDM) and can either be archived or sent to a server for further processing. The measurement accuracy of the orbital objects located using the method described is 100 metres in the direction of flight (along-track) and 100 metres perpendicular to the direction of flight (cross-track).
An even higher orbital accuracy of the objects initially detected with APPARILLIO® can subsequently be achieved by distance measurements with a laser-based (SLR) ground station.