Trajectory Estimation for a Ballistic Missile in Ballistic Phase using IR Images

It is possible to respond to threats of ballistic missile by using IR images from a geosynchronous satellite. However, IR images from the geosynchronous satellite are mainly used to detect ballistic missile, not to track. In this paper, we proposed a trajectory tracking algorithm for the ballistic missile using satellite IR image. The proposed algorithm estimates the trajectory of the ballistic missile by solving the optimization problem to find the initial value of the midcourse phase. For the ballistic missile flight and IR image measurement simulation, a pseudo 6-DOF was constructed and numerically showed the performance of the proposed algorithm.