Surveillance and Tracking of Space Objects
Publish date: 2022-12-02
Report number: FOI-R--5325--SE
Pages: 58
Written in: Swedish
Keywords:
- SDA
- SSA
- SST
- Sensors
- Radar
- Telescope
- Satellite
- Catalogue
- Database
Abstract
The Swedish Armed Forces' declaration of space as an operative domain further stresses the need for a space domain awareness (SDA) capability. An SDA is not only a prerequisite for military operations in space, but it is also an essential information component for decisions in other operative domains that contributes to a military freedom of action. The ambition of this report is to provide an overview of the functions needed to enable an SDA at own disposition. The report discusses the requirements on the different function included, and how they can be integrated. This includes sensor systems, analysis tools, scheduling of observations and derived services. The initial components of an SDA may be acquired through commercial actors or organizations, both national and international, that can deliver basic SSA functionalities. However, the addition of sensors, owned and operated by the Swedish Armed Forces, is an important extension that enables the possibility of verifying and refining third-party data and that can contribute to an improved military intelligence. This report should be considered as a summary and continuation of previous work on space situational awareness, and further details on many of the concepts described here are available in the references listed.