Space domain awareness is the study and monitoring of satellites orbiting the Earth. It involves the detection, tracking, cataloging and identification of artificial objects, i.e. active/inactive satellites, spent rocket bodies, or fragmentation debris.
Aims
Space domain awareness accomplishes the following:
- Predicting when and where a decaying space object will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere;
- Preventing a returning space object, which to radar looks like a missile, from triggering a false alarm in missile-attack warning sensors;
- Charting the present position of space objects and plot their anticipated orbital paths;
- Detecting new human-made objects in space;
- Producing a running catalogue of human-made space objects;
- Determining which country owns a re-entering space object;
- Informing countries whether or not objects may interfere with satellites and International Space Station orbits;
- Providing data for future anti-satellite weapons systems.
Systems
Systems include:
References
External links