SBIR Phase I: Space Object Tracking Unit

SBIR 第一阶段：空间物体跟踪单元

• 批准号: 2052297
• 负责人: Russell Case
• 金额: $ 25.6万
• 依托单位: SPACE DOMAIN AWARENESS INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-12-01 至 2022-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2052297&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Space; Object; Tracking

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to enable sustainable growth of the space ecosystem by making transparency, accountability, and predictability easy and simple for space asset operators and owners. Over the next decade, mankind will launch more objects into orbit than have launched in the entire history of space exploration. Current systems are not adequately equipped to manage the increased traffic and collision avoidance models need better data to scale. There are no unambiguous, persistent, and low-cost means to identify, track, and troubleshoot assets launched into orbit. The proposed system would fill this gap by making it easy and simple for customers to be good stewards of the orbital domain and enable fail-safe communications with a satellite. The proposed system would significantly increase the quality of space data to help avoid collisions and prevent unnecessary “space junk” due to an inability to identify newly-launched assets. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to fill the capability gap of current systems to support the explosive growth of the space economy by building a laser beacon that is a space orbit tracking unit. Current beacon systems rely on radio frequency communications, which are too bulky for small satellites, contribute to interference problems, and require a license from governing agencies. The proposed solution bypasses the limitations of the state-of-the-art by using a low-power optical signal. This signal is sent from a tiny device compatible with small satellites which makes adoption simple for the predominant form-factor on orbit. Research goals include miniaturization of the electronic systems, modeling the optical link between beacon and detector, and determining optimal configuration for the power supply/generation so the beacon does not draw host resources.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是通过在未来十年为空间资产运营商和所有者提供简单明了的透明度、问责制和可预测性来实现空间生态系统的可持续发展。人类将向轨道发射的物体比整个太空探索历史上发射的物体还要多。当前的系统没有足够的能力来管理不断增加的交通量，而防撞模型需要更好的数据来扩展。没有明确的、持久的和低成本的模型。意味着识别、跟踪和排除故障拟议的系统将填补这一空白，使客户能够轻松、简单地成为轨道领域的良好管理者，并实现与卫星的故障安全通信。拟议的系统将显着提高空间数据的质量。帮助避免碰撞并防止由于无法识别新发射的资产而产生不必要的“太空垃圾”。该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在填补当前系统的能力差距，以支持太空经济的爆炸性增长。通过建造一个空间激光信标当前的信标系统依赖于射频通信，这对于小型卫星来说过于庞大，会导致干扰问题，并且需要管理机构的许可。所提出的解决方案通过以下方式绕过了现有技术的限制。该信号是从与小型卫星兼容的微型设备发送的，这使得轨道上主要形状因素的采用变得简单，包括电子系统的小型化、信标和探测器之间的光学链路建模。 ，并确定最佳配置该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。