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Radar and Optical Study of Defunct Geosynchronous Satellites

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Abstract

Understanding and predicting the evolving spin states of defunct geosynchronous (GEO) satellites and rocket bodies is important for space situational awareness, active debris removal, satellite servicing, and anomaly resolution. There is clear evidence that many defunct GEO satellite spin states are predominantly driven by the Yarkovsky-O’Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect. The YORP effect is spin state evolution due to solar radiation and thermal re-emission torques. Observations are crucial to understand how YORP drives spin states and to validate dynamical models. Unfortunately, GEO satellites are non-resolved from ground-based telescopes and extracting spin states (spin periods, rotational angular momentum vector, instantaneous attitude) from ubiquitous photometric light curve data is challenging. Even for well-known objects, light curve inversion often yields several or more well-fitting spin state solutions within the measurement noise and modeling uncertainty (i.e. detailed satellite geometry, reflective properties, etc.). Also, there is strong evidence that the YORP effect drives satellites from uniform rotation to non-principal axis tumbling. Such tumbling states further complicate the light curve inversion process because the motion is driven by two independent periods rather than one. To aid complete spin state analysis, particularly for the tumbling case, Doppler radar observations collected at NASA Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex are incorporated. Observing the well-documented retired GOES 8–12 weather satellites, the radar data yielded unambiguous spin period estimates for all targets and greatly narrowed pole solutions, independent of light curve data. Significant changes in spin rates and pole directions were observed over a two month span. These findings are consistent with YORP-driven evolution.

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Notes

  1. NASA Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, https://www.gdscc.nasa.gov/

  2. Jet Propulsion Laboratory Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility, https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/

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Acknowledgements

The research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). This work was also supported by a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship grant number NNX16AM53H. The authors would like to thank NASA Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex for providing antenna observing time. Finally, the primary author would like to thank Razi Ahmed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for fruitful discussion about radar interferometry that helped inspire this research.

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Funding

The research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). The primary author was also supported by a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship grant number NNX16AM53H.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Conor J. Benson & Daniel J. Scheeres

  2. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Charles J. Naudet, Joseph S. Jao, Scott H. Bryant, Philip C. Tsao, Dennis K. Lee, Umut Yildiz & Huy D. Nguyen

  3. Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, Fort Irwin, CA, USA

    Lawrence G. Snedeker, Marc A. Silva & Jeffrey K. Lagrange

  4. Magdalena Ridge Observatory, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM, USA

    William H. Ryan & Eileen V. Ryan

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  1. Conor J. Benson
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  2. Charles J. Naudet
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  3. Daniel J. Scheeres
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  8. Marc A. Silva
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  9. Jeffrey K. Lagrange
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  10. Scott H. Bryant
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  11. Philip C. Tsao
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  12. Dennis K. Lee
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Correspondence to Conor J. Benson.

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This article belongs to the Special Topic Section:

Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS 2020)

Guest Editors: James M. Frith, Lauchie Scott, Islam Hussein

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Benson, C.J., Naudet, C.J., Scheeres, D.J. et al. Radar and Optical Study of Defunct Geosynchronous Satellites. J Astronaut Sci 68, 728–749 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40295-021-00266-z

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