Invention:
THALASSA (Software Tool for High-Accuracy, Long-Term Analyses for Space Situational Awareness) is a numerical code for software that is to be used to calculate trajectories of uncontrolled objects in near-Earth space from initial position and velocity. This software also poses a non-averaged method of calculating Earth satellite orbit propagations. The software efficiently handles strong lunar gravitational perturbations through a trajectory splitting algorithm.
Background:
Due to increased access to space attributed to technological advancements, Resident Space Objects (RSOs) are expected to rise significantly in the coming years. There are currently methods to catalog these RSOs; however, there is a need for more highly accurate technologies for space surveillance to calculate the trajectories of uncontrolled objects in near-Earth space.
Current methods generally involve averaging methods to measure long-term orbit propagation, which are only subject to long-periodic and secular behaviors for use on long-time spans. The advantage of this technology over existing commercial and free orbit propagation packages consists in the excellent computational performance of the software. This will significantly improve on existing methods for orbit determination and collision avoidance of Earth satellites, which is necessary to avoid the proliferation of orbital debris.
Applications:
- Calculate trajectories of uncontrolled objects in near-Earth space
- Comparison of semi-analytical and non-averaged propagation methods for Earth satellite orbits
- Identify Resident Space Objects (RSOs)
Advantages:
- Higher accuracy than competitors
- Non-averaging, novel measurement method
