satellite operators

Abstract: The rise of large satellite constellations and Distributed Space Systems (DSS) demands generalized frameworks that enable fault-tolerant, autonomous distributed space applications. Conventional ground-centric command and control does not scale to systems of tens or hundreds of satellites, motivating the adoption of distributed computing. This paper introduces a conceptual distributed computing framework for satellite swarms, covering distributed state, command and control, and scientific mission. As a first validation step, a strongly eventually consistent distributed state service is designed and implemented using Conflict-free Replicated Data Types (CRDT), specifically a Last-Write-Wins Register-based key-value store. The service is evaluated in the context of Space Situational Awareness catalog dissemination across a simulated 66-satellite constellation emulated with GoNetEm. Results show that the CRDT-based approach reduces ground-to-satellite communication from 66 messages to a single uplink per update, with tree traversal matching the total message count of direct uplink. Under concurrent updates, sub-linear inter-satellite message growth is observed as nodes discard outdated versions, further reducing network overhead. These results demonstrate the viability of a CRDT-based distributed state as a scalable and fault-tolerant foundation for satellite swarm applications.

Abstract: Increasing conjunction frequency in low Earth orbit places growing pressure on spacecraft operators to determine not only whether an encounter requires mitigation, but whether sufficient information is available to commit to a maneuver. This work formulates this information-action tradeoff as a belief-space planning problem for conjunctions between a maneuverable spacecraft and an unmaneuverable secondary object. The planner represents the uncertain orbital states as Gaussian beliefs and uses a chance-constrained belief-space Monte Carlo tree search framework to reason over possible future tracking updates before time of closest approach (TCA). A terminal chance constraint limits the probability of reaching TCA above a prescribed collision-risk threshold, allowing the planner to wait for informative tracking while intervening when deferral becomes too risky. We evaluate the approach on eight historical conjunctions from NASA's Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis dataset. By varying the secondary-object measurement quality and tracking cadence, we generate a total of 96 distinct evaluation scenarios. Across the evaluated conditions, the planner reaches TCA without maneuvering in approximately 40% of episodes while maintaining no terminal collision-risk violations. In contrast, fixed-time rule-based maneuver policies resolve more encounters without maneuvering when intervention is deferred closer to TCA, but at the expense of increasing terminal risk violations. The fraction of episodes reaching TCA without maneuvering depends strongly on tracking quality and measurement cadence, ranging from 76% under accurate, frequent measurements to approximately 18%-20% under the poorest tracking conditions. These results show that tracking quality and frequency are not only inputs to collision-risk estimation: they can determine when intervention becomes necessary.

Abstract: We present a deep-learning pipeline for enhancing the detection of faint moving objects in optical space situational awareness (SSA) imagery through automated star removal and background reconstruction. Detecting low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) objects remains extremely challenging in optical observations, particularly in the cislunar (X-GEO) environment, where structured sky backgrounds, dense stellar fields, and scattered moonlight significantly degrade the performance of classical detection algorithms. To address this problem, the proposed pipeline combines a lightweight segmentation network (Tiny-U-Net) to generate stellar masks with a partial-convolution variational autoencoder (astro-VAE), designed to learn the statistical distribution of astronomical backgrounds and perform context-aware inpainting of masked regions. The reconstructed background maps can then be used as a preprocessing step to suppress fixed sources and background inhomogeneities prior to detection. As a proof of concept, the approach is integrated with a shift-and-stack scheme and evaluated on real ground-based telescope observations targeting the X-GEO region. Results demonstrate that the method reconstructs star-free backgrounds with high fidelity, while preserving moving targets and significantly enhancing detectability, thereby providing an effective data-driven preprocessing strategy for faint moving-object detection in optical SSA scenarios.

Abstract: With the rapid development of aerospace technology and the large-scale deployment of low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations, the risk of orbital collisions has increased, creating a growing demand for reliable observations of satellite maneuvers. However, public datasets containing real maneuver records remain scarce. We present MAD-LEO, a Maneuver-Annotated orbital Dataset for LEO satellites. The mission-reported subset contains 1,134 maneuver events from eleven geodetic and altimetry satellites spanning 1992 to 2026, with labels taken directly from mission-published maneuver histories. Each event is checked against two-line element (TLE) data, precise orbit products, and satellite laser ranging (SLR) observations, with evidence tiers assigned according to data availability. The operational subset pairs operator-published ephemerides for 6,785 Starlink satellites with cataloged TLE records over a continuous 107-hour period. Technical validation across seven machine-readable experiment suites confirms the cross-source consistency of the labels and the evidence products.