Future Space Debris Tracking Requirements

Space debris collision avoidance requires accurate space debris orbits, to allow confident manoeuvre of an operational satellite to avoid a predicted collision. Operational spacecraft do not have sufficient on-board fuel to manoeuvre with the frequency, and for the long distances, required by the large uncertainties or errors in space debris positions as currently available. There is a significant demand for larger and more accurate space debris catalogues for this reason. Emerging technologies offer the possibility of moving space debris to avoid a collision, either as an alternative to moving an operational spacecraft, or to prevent debris-debris collisions which would add to the overall space debris burden. However any manoeuvre of space debris requires very high levels of confidence that the new, contrived space debris orbit is less likely to cause harm than the old/current orbit. This requires even higher levels of space tracking capability and capacity than have been projected for conventional collision avoidance purposes. We will discuss emerging space tracking capabilities and the prospects of meeting the space tracking and catalogue requirements for both these classes of activity.