Opportunity to be referenced/showcased in the UKSA-commissioned Space Domain Awareness Study Report
At a CGI-hosted SDA study workshop on February 23rd, we discussed a number of capability gaps in global SDA. It was encouraging to learn that there are a number of research initiatives already underway aimed at addressing these gaps and the SDA study team would like to reflect this in its report by suggesting a roadmap to capability delivery by capturing as many of these activities as possible.
If you are happy to have your research included in the roadmap, could you please fill out the table below and return to James Hedges [james.hedges@cgi.com] at your earliest convenience and by March 14th.
We would also welcome any additional material you would be willing to share related to these research activities that could help inform the report and which could be referenced in the “Additional Resources” section of the report – for instance; abstracts, papers, reports, case studies, etc. Many thanks.
For reference, capability gaps that have already been identified are included below. Do feel free to add to that list in your response.
- Which capability gap does this research aim toward closing?
- Please give some brief details on the research
- What are the expected timescales for getting this to TRL-4?
- What level of additional funding do you estimate is required to get this to TRL-4?
- Do you already provide any capabilities/products/services in this area?
- Links to additional information
Capability gaps
1) Inability to track small debris down to 1cm
2) Insufficient system capacity to maintain a catalogue of several hundred thousand small debris objects
3) Lack of coverage and system capacity to track objects more frequently around the globe
4) Insufficient orbit measurement and orbit propagation accuracy to support conjunction warning services
5) Inability to reliably measure size, shape, mass, albedo, and ballistic coefficient in order to identify targets unambiguously
6) Inability to monitor object orientation and motion, (spin, tumble, etc.)
7) Inability to track certain classes of object during daytime
8) No capability to determine the materials of which debris objects are composed
9) Insufficient custody to reliably track objects conducting manoeuvres, especially using low thrust propulsion
10) Limited capability to determine spacecraft operational status unambiguously
11) Sparse measurement of space weather effects
12) Partial understanding of micrometeorite/asteroid flux and its effects on satellites
13) Limited ability to monitor satellite transmissions
14) In-orbit sensing constrained by cost of data collection payloads – need to reduce mass and power requirements of in-orbit sensors
15) Insufficiently mature on-board processing and data integration capabilities to support in-orbit SDA
16) Need for more advanced algorithms for managing and integrating multi-source SDA data
17) Need for global data standards to enable greater data sharing
18) Need for cyber-secure data partitioning to enable greater data sharing
19) Need for more reliable and timely communication routes to enable information to be shared at the “speed of relevance”