A real-time computational model and algorithm for vision based detection and tracking of orbital debris: NASA Technology Area 5.7 “Orbital Debris Tracking & Characterization”

Tracking  and  characterizing  orbital  debris–  the  “remains”  of  manmade  objects orbiting  the  Earth–  is  critical  to  the  safe and  reliable  operation  of  spacecraft  in  Earth  orbit. The   2015   NASA   Technology   Roadmaps,   which   considers   needed   technologies   and development  pathways  for  the  next  20  years,  identifies  needed  technologies  to  measure  and model orbital debris to maintain detailed knowledge of their characteristics in order to predict future collisions and potentially avoid them. As highlighted in the Technology Roadmaps, a critical gap is to track and characterize debris 10 to 100 times smaller than what is currently being  tracked;  and  reduce  tracking  time  to  accommodate  the  larger  number  of  targets  being tracked. This research project develops a robust, real-time computational model and algorithm to  detect,  segment  and  track  moving  objects  in  the  presence  of  observer  motion  under difficult tasks in space motion tracking. This 1-year seed project will result in optimizing and validating the tracking algorithm recently developed in the PI’s lab for the performance goal of 2015 NASA Technology Area (TA) 5.7.1. This preliminary data will be used as a proof of concept to guide the system level design of a novel Orbital Debris Tracking Technology. This understanding will lay the foundation for subsequent research into vision based autonomous navigation,   target   recognition   and   tracking that   are   targeted   at   the   needs   of   NASA applications,  and  will  result  in  a  research  infrastructure  enabling  future  research  into  space hardware implementation of the developed algorithms in collaboration with Space Science & Engineering Laboratory at Montana State University.

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