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Questions tagged [collision-avoidance]

Should be used for questions related to preventing collisions in orbit. This includes risk assesment, evasive manuevors, avoidance althorithims, and other safety measures.

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Ready-made tool for satellite maneuver detection

I am looking for a tool to detect satellite maneuvers from TLE data. The tool should be easy-to- apply (not my field at all) to many satellites, i.e., not rely on visual inspection or similar. Shorten ...
Adrian's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
623 views

Round number bias in selecting operating altitude of satellites?

With more and more satellites in orbit and increasing risk of collisions, should satellite owners not select satellite altitudes more diligently or even at "random"? Is there a specific ...
Adrian's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
42 views

Inter-constellation Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite collision risks - mitigation is some "relayed AIS" in use?

I saw some news about Starlink satellites often having the do maneuvers to avoid collisions. I don't know what % of the maneuvers were related to collisions between 2 Starlink ones (I guess their ...
Tuomo's user avatar
  • 111
3 votes
0 answers
90 views

Mean motion as indication for satellite (evasion) maneuvers

I am interested in detecting satellite maneuvers, e.g., to avoid collissions. As far as I understand the best publicly available data comes from TLEs although they have their own problems. What is the ...
Adrian's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
173 views

What kind of propulsion did/does the Raytheon EKV vehicle use?

Raytheon has developed an Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, designed to intercept an ICBM and destroy it through a collision. Here are some related links: Wikipedia page YouTube video about the project, ...
Steve's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
4k views

Does SpaceX expect 1 collision involving one of their Starlink satellites every 2 years?

I read on https://gizmodo.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-dodge-137-objects-daily-1850616506 by Passant Rabie: A new report revealed that Starlink satellites had to make 25,000 collision avoidance ...
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
256 views

Does a space elevator ruin most satellite orbits?

A space elevator would offer a direct connection between the surface of the Earth and geosynchronous orbits. While the concept has several severe problems, according to my understanding of orbital ...
TheDyingOfLight's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
243 views

How do satellite operators negotiate when a collision avoidance measure is necessary?

In another question I asked How often do active satellites have to change course to avoid other active satellites?. The idea behind the question was to understand which party is actively avoiding ...
Adrian's user avatar
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8 votes
3 answers
308 views

How often do active satellites have to change course to avoid other active satellites?

I'm only aware of the ESA and SpaceX incident in 2019. Does this happen more regularly especially now with more active Starlink satellites and other constellations? More importantly, are there efforts ...
Adrian's user avatar
  • 371
3 votes
0 answers
68 views

Which is the primary spacecraft in a conjunction?

I ask the question in the title because I cannot find a clear answer. It seems that in collision avoidance, the primary spacecraft is always more accurately known then the secondary. But I think this ...
Giacomo Curzi's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
269 views

Does Privateer's tracking software Crow's Nest actually offer users something better than the previous state of the art?

CNN's Steve Wozniak's new venture takes aim at space junk discusses a project with Wozniak, Alex Fielding and Moriba Jah: But the money, according to Wozniak's co-founder in this new venture, couldn'...
uhoh's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
152 views

Has a cubesat ever caused a problem for another spacecraft? Examples? Close calls?

Cubesats can pose some unique challenges; they are small and so potentially a little harder to track, have larger area/mass so more subject to forces that can change their trajectories, are often less ...
uhoh's user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
634 views

How close were Starlink-1095 and Starlink-2305 to the Tiangong Chinese Space Station?

Various news outlets reported on the Chinese government complaining about SpaceX Starlink satellites (#1095 and #2305) getting so close to their Tiangong Space Station that they had to initiate ...
Ludo's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
69 views

How can we get rid of space debris? [closed]

It's known that space debris can do harm to satellites. I have 2 questions: How do satellites avoid them? Are there any ways to get rid of it?
Kevin_ Hall's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

Is it possible to detect if orbits intersect or not and positions where they intersect if you know Keplerian elements (2D)?

I have two orbits and I know their Keplerian elements. Is it possible to find positions where two orbits are crossing if those positions exist? Is it possible to do it if spacecrafts are on orbits of ...
Robotex's user avatar
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6 votes
0 answers
101 views

Has there ever been a non-negligible probability of conjunction between spacecrafts in Lunar orbit?

Apparently ISRO's Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and NASA's LRO narrowly avoided a possible conjunction event in Lunar orbit due to timely assessment and action of both agencies. https://www.isro.gov.in/update/...
Ohsin's user avatar
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3 votes
4 answers
1k views

How can we avoid collisions when moving from one orbit to another?

Imagine that my ship is parked in LEO and needs to transfer to a higher orbit. It makes a Hohmann transfer and flies to the needed orbit by an elliptical trajectory. But this trajectory is crossing a ...
Robotex's user avatar
  • 604
2 votes
0 answers
218 views

Apparent close encounter of Inspiration4: Is the airspace cleared for returning spacecraft?

In the recording of the SpaceX live-stream covering the return of the Inspiration4 crew one can see an aircraft cross path with the capsule at 22:59:58. This image is a frame grab of the scene seen ...
Peter - Reinstate Monica's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
89 views

International SSA/STM 3-Layer Model

I'm working on a paper outlining an International SSA/STM1 approach for Civil SSA/STM and have read and referenced many publications. I believe it was an IDA documents such as https://www.ida.org/-/...
user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
472 views

How much could a full-blown Starlink constellation contribute to a future Kessler scenario? What would be the worst-case scenario?

Discussions in comments below this answer to What is the biggest satellite constellation in space right now? have touched on risk vs reward and the Kessler Syndrome in the context of full-blown ...
uhoh's user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why are we not seeing probability curves for space junk collision prediction?

Since many specific space junk collision risks have been assessed, why haven't we combined the data and graphed it? The trendlines could be very instructive. Like mapping climate change, the curve ...
Chris C's user avatar
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31 votes
2 answers
7k views

What are the chances that a spacecraft is hit by space junk?

If a rocket flies into space there is a possibility that it will encounter a piece of space garbage; even a small screw can be fatal. What are the chances that such a collision really takes place? ...
Deschele Schilder's user avatar
25 votes
2 answers
5k views

Is it normal for the US Space Force to warn companies about a possible collision (conjunction)?

I've read a German news article today (Golem.de) stating that there was a conjunction between a Oneweb satellite on its ascension course and a SpaceX satellite. The US Space Force warned Oneweb that ...
Arsenal's user avatar
  • 432
4 votes
1 answer
950 views

What are the Basics of CubeSat Power Supplies and Systems?

I am going to go ahead and apologize for my ignorance surrounding this topic, as my background is Aerodynamics, and not Electrical Engineering. From what I understand, CubeSats typically generate ...
Spaceman87's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
936 views

Any official size for the ISS pizza box?

I still haven't found the official size of the ISS pizza box[1] and a search on the WEB doesn't help: "30 miles deep and 30 miles long around the space station": https://www.vice.com/en_us/...
Cristiano's user avatar
  • 1,760
15 votes
1 answer
2k views

Starlink's autonomous collision avoidance

On their website, SpaceX claims that Starlink satellites are able to conduct autonomous collision avoidance manoeuvres using alerts from the US Department of Defence. This seems very reasonable, given ...
CaptainOmikron's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
139 views

Determine if two orbits cross paths

I'm trying to determine which orbital object will have the most close calls with another object. I've gotten the full TLE catalog from Space-Track.org, and using poliastro python package have ...
Adam Kall's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
770 views

How quickly can the Starlink spacecraft respond to an impending collision?

update: The word "refused" might be inaccurate: CNET: ESA's near collision with SpaceX Starlink satellite blamed on a 'bug' Ars Technica: SpaceX satellite was on “collision course” until ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 151k
2 votes
1 answer
654 views

Calculation of collision probability based on TLE

I have to calculate the probability of collision at moment $t$ with space debris. I am using JSPOC algorythm described in https://www.space-track.org/documents/...
Alex Johnson's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
4k views

Covariance matrix of a satellite position

In order to estimate the probability of collision with space debris, the covariance matrix of the primary and secondary objects should be calculated (JSPoC paper). I'm going to calculate the matrix ...
Leeloo's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
324 views

Use of thrusters for Collision Avoidance Maneuver

I'm building an orbit propagator that gives the position of two satellites at time T. The position are expressed in ECI and after that are being transformed in LVLH frame (as mentioned ECI to LVLH ...
Alexandru Lapusneanu's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
334 views

SGP4: the accumulation of error in radial, in-track and cross-track

I'm propagating the trajectories of 2 LEO satellites (altitude 700 km) in 7 days and calculating the radial, in-track and cross-track distances to determine the risk of collision. JSPoC states that ...
Leeloo's user avatar
  • 743
4 votes
1 answer
235 views

What prevents all these man-made objects flying in space from colliding with each other?

Does NASA know the location of every object in orbit and they calculate satellite and shuttle launches around not hitting these objects or are they just rolling the dice that the probability of ...
slaphshot33324's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
179 views

Feasible way to detect masses without natural light in deep space?

While I was perusing the entries here on energy sources for interstellar travel, it occurred to me that a problem accompanying a low energy density in space distant from stars is darkness. Is there a ...
BatWannaBe's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
805 views

How to determine an orbit of a satellite for a collision detection?

I'm trying to validate an collision detector, and for that I'm starting from a pair of initial conditions for a satellite. After that I will use an RK method to integrate. How can I determine a pair ...
Alexandru Lapusneanu's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
976 views

Whats the protocol if two satellites collide?

If two satellites from two different nations were to collide together due to poor planning on the behalf of one of the nations what would be the protocol? For instance, Russia launches a probe into ...
Magic Octopus Urn's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
526 views

Will the Tesla Roadster/Falcon 9H 2nd stage ever be a navigation hazard to cis-lunar space?

The saying "What goes around, comes around" can apply to spacecraft on ballistic trajectories that are launched from Earth into bound heliocentric orbits. Since the Tesla Roadster/Falcon 9H 2nd stage'...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 151k
3 votes
1 answer
278 views

How predictable is one asteroid's trajectory?

If one fictitious probe mission was to impact an asteroid fast enough to destroy it using its kinetic energy, could the asteroid's trajectory be predicted accurately enough (plumes or emanations or ...
user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
1k views

How might one approach using AI (convolutional neural network) to predict collisions in orbit?

CNN's Tomorrow's Hero profile Meet Amber Yang. She's trying to prevent a space debris catastrophe describes an investigation into the use of a convolutional neural network (CNN) to predict possible ...
uhoh's user avatar
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8 votes
0 answers
769 views

ISS - Tiangong 2 minimum safe distance

Using the SGP4 propagator, I calculated the minimum distance between ISS and Tiangong-2 for this year. I obtained 12.32 km for 2017-09-27 17:29:36.376 UTC (which ...
Cristiano's user avatar
  • 1,760
6 votes
3 answers
474 views

Could we prevent a disaster if someone tried to send a rocket in retrograde GEO?

Let's say an evil dictator decide to deliver a payload to a retrograde "GEO" orbit. I suspect the first inevitable collision would quickly produce a Kessler syndrome. Is there anything that would ...
Antzi's user avatar
  • 13k
2 votes
2 answers
329 views

How much can static cling be used to move things in space? Tractor Beam

Can static cling occurs in space? Can a static charge be amplified laterally to move objects in space similar to Star Trek's tractor beam? Can a static charge could be carried by a sustained particle ...
Muze's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
578 views

Which two satellites had a 44% probability of collision at 2017-01-07 21:53 UTC?

I saw this message on space-track.org: The JSpOC has identified a close approach between two non-maneuverable satellites in a sun-synchronous orbit (approximately 800km altitude) with a time of ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 151k
55 votes
3 answers
11k views

Is 75 meters an exceptionally close distance for two satellites to pass at >6,000 m/s?

While researching for this question I ran across something called Celestrak Socrates. I requested the ten closest predicted approaches, and saw distances of closest approach of the order of 100 ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 151k
4 votes
1 answer
882 views

Is 45 km unusually close to pass the ISS and deploy a microsatellite without warning?

Eight years ago, on September 27, 2008, the Shenzhou-7 carying three taikonauts deployed the microsatellite Banxing-1 for testing maneuvers and external imaging. A few hours later at 15:07 UTC the ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 151k
9 votes
2 answers
3k views

Are most Earth polar satellites launched to the South or to the North? And why?

Almost all satellites in LEO have been launched to the east, to take advantage of the Earth's surface rotational speed of about 5% of required orbital speed (Israel being a small exception for ...
LocalFluff's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
4k views

Why are space probes and satellites not destroyed by meteor showers such as the Perseid?

What are the mechanisms used to avoid destruction of space probes and satellites during meteor showers? Are they affected by them?
DRz's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
181 views

What actions are performed to prevent i.e. ISS from getting hit by space junk? [duplicate]

When thinking about velocity I could imagine that the ISS getting hit by some space junk (let it be just a plate of 1 meter in span) with a velocity of some 100 meters per second could be quite fatal. ...
Zaibis's user avatar
  • 993
1 vote
3 answers
535 views

How would an interstellar probe navigate the pull of gravity from stars and other large objects on the way?

Refer to the ambitious probe sent by Yuri Milner, Stephen Hawking and Mark Zuckerberg to Alpha Centauri: Yuri Milner is spending $100 million on a probe that could travel to Alpha Centauri within ...
Graviton's user avatar
  • 121
16 votes
2 answers
3k views

How does a spacecraft such as Soyuz detect when it's on collision course with an object?

Today Roscosmos reported (in Russian, here's a machine translation into English) that the Soyuz vehicle on its way to the ISS avoided collision with a piece of Japanese rocket body, allegedly launched ...
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