CANBERRA-based EOS Space Systems is establishing a major space tracking network by deploying a fleet of proprietary space tracking sensors.
EOS Space Systems is working with Lockheed Martin to construct the network, which will help manage the threat of collisions between satellites and space craft with pace debris.
EOS Space Systems is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Electro Optic Systems Holdings. The space tracking network will provide timely and accurate space situation awareness (SSA) data to commercial and government customers globally.
EOS and Lockheed Martin are now actively collaborating in the production, deployment and operation of proprietary space tracking sensors.
Space debris is a serious and growing threat to operating spacecraft. Potential debris collisions with individual satellites are becoming increasingly likely and can cause economic loss of between $25 million and $500 million per event.
Additionally, any one collision can trigger an avalanche of other collisions, potentially resulting in many other satellites being destroyed, and disrupting the global economy for decades.
According to EOS Space, collisions can be avoided if orbits of pieces of debris are accurately predicted well in advance of the time of potential collision with frequent updates so that operators of satellites can alter their own orbits sufficiently.
Current collision alerts, designed for defence purposes, lack the accuracy and timeliness for satellite manoeuvres. The new network will be more flexible, allowing rapid response to space emergencies, and also be dedicated to collision avoidance.
EOS says it is in a good position to build this network, since it has demonstrated laser tracking of space debris as far back as 1997, more than a decade before its nearest competitor.
Since then, the company has developed and refined an integrated suite of sensor technologies that can track space debris with the accuracy and sensitivity required for large-scale collision avoidance operations.
EOS sensors are the first, and currently the only, non-US space sensor qualified to contribute data directly to the US SSN. The sensors are also cost-effective, allowing their mass deployment in a network that can meet most commercial space data requirements.
Rather than selling the sensors, EOS and Lockheed will cooperate to produce, install and operate the space tracking sensor network to deliver critical space data on a daily basis to government and commercial satellite operators.
The current expansion of EOS’ space tracking network will allow up to 10,000 space objects to be tracked with the same accuracy as is currently available, or fewer objects with typically much higher accuracy.
This capability will be operational within 2016.