Optimization of CubeSat Constellations for Uncued Electrooptical Space Object Detection and Tracking

The proliferation of onorbit debris has motivated much of the recent space situational awareness missions and related research. Space-based missions are typically carried out by large spacecraft, yet the emerging and improving technology for CubeSat-class satellites offers a potential new platform for space situational awareness. This paper formally defines space object detectability for a given electrooptical sensor and applies an optimization problem approach to mission design for a CubeSat space situational awareness constellation. The optimization of the design parameters for this constellation is separated into a formal description of the concept of operations, an optimization of the electrooptical sensor payload itself, and an optimization of the constellation parameters via the number of satellites and traditional orbital parameters. A Pareto frontier of mission design points in terms of object detection capability and lifecycle cost is presented.