RU2442998C2 - Method for identifying of spacecrafts and their debris in space (variants) - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: aeronautics.

SUBSTANCE: marking coating is put on the surface of spacecraft and solar batteries. The coating is made of composition of substances reflection spectrum of which codes technical and legal information on spacecraft. Light reflecting elements are included on the sublayer or as part of composition. The identification of spacecraft or its debris is performed by illuminating the coating with laser light from ground observing station and the information is read using spectrometric means.

EFFECT: increased reliability of identification of spacecrafts and their debris in space.

2 cl, 6 dwg

Description

This invention relates to rocket and space technology and can be used to identify spacecraft and their debris in outer space by ground surveillance services.

Space activities carried out by the world community lead to an increase in technogenic pollution of near-Earth space and, as a result, to a decrease in the safety of space flights.

The process of technogenic contamination of near-Earth space is a danger to the International Space Station and flights of manned spacecraft and to the functioning of the entire space segment.

Within the framework of the Federal Space Program, the Russian Mission Control Center, in cooperation with other organizations, monitors the movement of objects within the dense atmosphere. Particular attention is paid to the so-called space objects of risk (massive large-sized space objects or objects containing dangerous substances on board). The termination of the flight and the descent from the orbit of space risk objects are of particular danger. Destruction of such objects upon entry into the atmosphere, as well as the fall of their unburned fragments into densely populated areas of the Earth or into areas with hazardous industrial production can have negative consequences, up to an emergency. To this end, the MV Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences organized an international cooperation of observers - the Scientific Network of Optical Instruments for Astrometric and Photometric Observations (NSOI AFN), the use of which made it possible to ensure registration of objects throughout the geostationary orbit.

The NSOI AFS includes the cooperation of optical observatories from 3 subsystems (search and survey, to detect and track weak fragments of space debris and to observe highly elliptical and low satellites), 3 support groups (technical and software support, development of new observation technologies, production telescopes) and observation planning centers and processing space debris measurements.

In the process of tracking fragments of CM in some cases, the degree of security breach exceeded the “red” threshold.

Despite the fact that currently monitoring systems for outer space are actively developing using radar and optical means in a wide range of frequencies, there are difficulties in observing space objects in near-Earth outer space. For example, the orbits of spacecraft of the Lightning type are highly elliptical (400 × 40,000 km) and, as practice shows, difficult to measure orbital parameters. Space objects located in such orbits often break down from escort. To date, more than 160 domestic spacecraft of the Lightning type have been launched; more than 50 spacecraft of this class continue to fly. However, it should be noted that other satellites belonging to different countries began to launch into orbits of the Lightning type.

Currently, the difficulty of observing space objects in near-Earth space due to the increase in their number and size, the appearance of private satellites despite the high level of development of technology for observing the space situation in the radio frequency, optical range, when combining various methods of observation and research of space objects.

The requirements are increasing not only for their detection and maintaining their coordinates, but also for determining their nationality, condition, and predicting behavior. This necessitates the adoption of measures to increase the visibility of space objects.

There are a number of technical solutions to increase the visibility and observability in ground technology. Widely known retroreflective materials, used mainly for safety. For example, one of the areas of their application is road safety, production of road signs

The leaders in the production of such materials are companies: Nikkalite (Japan), LG, Avery Dennison (USA), 3 M. There are also other manufacturers whose products meet all the standards and requirements for such materials. Retroreflective materials (films of the Nikkalite MPG F4300 / EG 58100 / ULS 500 / Crystal 92000 and Avery Dennison series), for the production of road signs, have passed mandatory certification according to GOST 52290-2004.

Inventions and technical solutions for creating reflective, retroreflective coatings can be considered as analogues of the invention.

The method of retroreflectivity using corner reflectors is widely known, often used to perform linear measurements in space, including in the space region.

For example, the decision RU 2005126848 “Plate containing cubic corner elements and a retroreflective coating” is known 2006-07-27, Inventor: SMITH Kenneth L. (US), Applicant: ZM Innovative Properties Compapi (US). Application number: RU 20050126848 20040226. Priority document numbers: US 20030452464P 20030306; US20030404265 20030401.

Using this solution on spacecraft, one can increase their observability in near-Earth space.

However, such a design is not compact enough, which is especially unacceptable when creating small-sized spacecraft, as well as complicated and expensive. The decision on the application RU 2005126848 made as a prototype.

The essence of the invention lies in the application of marking coatings on the spacecraft during their manufacture, containing information about the spacecraft, so that this information is easily read by ground-based observation means. To implement this method, it is proposed to use a substance based on a reflective coating, including a composition of substances that are most easily determined by spectroscopy methods. According to the composition, the observer from the Earth determines information about the given spacecraft, for example, about the name, type of spacecraft, launching state, owner, etc.

The coding of information is carried out on the basis of the developed directory, which contains a coding table of the correspondence of the spectrometric characteristics of the substances used with technical and legal information about spacecraft.

It seems appropriate to standardize such coding, not only at the state level, but also at the international level, both for launched public facilities and for private ones.

A variant of a method for identifying spacecraft and their debris in outer space using a laser location is proposed, in which a marking coating is applied to the outer surface of the spacecraft’s body and solar panels with the inclusion of reflective elements, which are composed of substances whose reflection spectrum encodes technical and legal information about the spacecraft, and the identification of the spacecraft and its debris is carried out by irradiation of the coating with a laser the light of the ground observation station and read the information by spectrometric means, using the coding table of the correspondence of the spectrometric characteristics of the substances used with the technical and legal information about the spacecraft.

The second version of the method for identifying debris of spacecraft using laser ranging is that the inner surface of the closed volumes of the spacecraft and its inaccessible places are coated with the inclusion of reflective elements, which are composed of a composition of substances, the reflection spectrum of which encodes technical and legal information about spacecraft, and the identification of the spacecraft and its debris is carried out by irradiating the laser light of the Naze station Foot surveillance and read information spectrometric means using a coding table of correspondence spectrometric characteristics of the used materials from the technical and legal information on the spacecraft.

The invention is illustrated by the drawings:

figure 1 - a spacecraft with a marking coating on the outer surfaces;

figure 2 - a spacecraft with a marking coating on the inner surfaces of its elements;

figure 3 is a diagram of an implementation of a method for identifying a spacecraft and its debris in near-Earth space;

4 is a marking coating;

figure 5 - identification of the fragments of the spacecraft and the analysis of its destruction;

6 is an assessment of the reflectivity of the marking coating according to the scheme of the International Lighting Committee.

A method for identifying spacecraft and their debris in outer space using the laser location of a ground-based observation station is that on the outer surface 1 (Fig. 1) of the body 2 of the spacecraft 3, the protruding parts 4, solar panels 5 (on the back) the most convenient places for observation are marked with a coating 6, which is composed of a composition of substances, the reflection spectrum of which encodes technical and legal information about the spacecraft, with the inclusion of reflective elements s on the underlayer or in a composition, wherein the spacecraft identification or its fragments is carried out by irradiating the coating with laser light observation ground station 7 and the information is read by spectroscopic means.

To determine the technical and legal information about the spacecraft, a reference is used in which the spectrometric characteristics of the substances used in the composition for marking coatings in the coding table unambiguously correspond to the specific positions of the technical and legal information about this particular spacecraft.

Thus, the composition of substances for a particular spacecraft contains data on it in a spectrometric form - “spectrometric passport”.

In addition to composing a composition of substances, it is possible to use in the marking coating areas with various substances by spectra, for example, bands, geometric shapes and other elements most suitable for observation.

The proposed version of the method for identifying a spacecraft and its fragments of spacecraft using a laser location during its destruction consists in the fact that on the inner surface 8 (figure 2) of the closed volumes of the elements of the spacecraft 3 and its inaccessible places 9 are applied a marking coating, which make up their composition of substances, the reflection spectrum of which encodes technical and legal information about the spacecraft, with the inclusion of reflective elements on the sublayer or as part of a computer ozition. By the appearance of signals from the marking coating of the inner surfaces of the closed volumes of the spacecraft elements when the spacecraft is irradiated with laser light 7 of the ground observation station, information is read by spectrometric or optical means, the technical and legal information about the spacecraft is determined using the coding table, and information about the nature and process of destruction is obtained spacecraft with the identification of its debris.

By the appearance of signals from the marking coating, which was in an inaccessible place, it is possible to identify the element or node that is destroyed when identifying fragments of a destroyed spacecraft and obtain information about the spacecraft destruction process and its condition.

The application of the proposed method makes it possible to draw conclusions for an expert opinion on the causes and processes of spacecraft destruction in addition to the information necessary for observing and tracking fragments in near-Earth outer space.

Figure 3 shows a diagram of the implementation of a method for identifying a spacecraft and its debris in near-Earth space.

The laser beam 7 of the ground observation station 10 illuminates the spacecraft 3. A marking coating 6 on the body of the device 2, on the protruding parts 4, on solar panels 5 enters the irradiation field.

Reflected light 11 is recorded by ground-based spectrometric means 12. Reading the obtained spectrum, using the coding table of the correspondence of the spectrometric characteristics of the substances used with the technical and legal information about the spacecraft, determine the technical and legal characteristics of the spacecraft. The information received is transmitted to the control system of 16 outer space and to interested organizations and expert commissions.

To implement the proposed method, it is necessary to use a marking coating with reflective, retroreflective properties.

Figure 4 shows a slice of a substance for the marking coating of a spacecraft.

A marking coating for the identification of spacecraft or its debris in outer space is applied to the outer or inner surface of the spacecraft, and it should consist of:

- the basis of the coating 17, for example polycarbonates, epoxy. Requirements for the base - transparency, good adhesion properties, resistance to a wide range of operating temperatures, resistance to cracking;

- compositions of substances 18 with predetermined spectrometric properties of components, the reflection spectrum of which encodes technical and legal information about the spacecraft, for example, heteroelectrics obtained using nanotechnologies protected by the “umbrella” patent of the Russian Federation No. 22929277. Lead developer - Scientific Center for Applied Research, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. In the proposed method, the properties of heteroelectrics are used to provide the specified spectral absorption characteristics to create the necessary "spectrometric passport" of the spacecraft;

- reflective, retroreflective elements 19. Microspheres, reflective substrate under the coating, glass microspheres on the sublayer, reflective film.

The reflection spectrum of reflective elements can be different and be part of the encoded information to create a “spectrometric passport” of the spacecraft.

Figure 5 - identification of the debris of the spacecraft and analysis of its destruction.

When the confined space is destroyed, for example, the explosion of the balloon 21, a signal 11 from the marking coating 6 deposited inside this balloon appears in the reflection spectrum of the spacecraft. This provides reliable information about the processes taking place on the spacecraft, which allows us to draw conclusions about the causes of destruction, about the future performance of the spacecraft, the extent of destruction, etc.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the marking coating, to obtain the necessary characteristics of a “spectrometric passport” of the spacecraft and to practice reading information from the spacecraft, ground-based measurements are made on the bench in accordance with the method of assessing the reflectivity of the marking coating according to the scheme of the International Lighting Committee.

Figure 6 shows a diagram of the use of the method for assessing the reflectivity of a marking coating when irradiated with a laser beam according to the scheme of the International Lighting Committee,

1 - the first axis; 2 - the second axis; I - axis of illumination; O - axis of observation; R is the original axis; α is the angle of observation; β ₁ , β ₂ - angles of incidence; ε is the angle of rotation.

The technical and economic effect when using the present invention is that this method of marking spacecraft will increase the level of reliability of their identification by increasing the visibility and information content of such objects for ground surveillance services.

The implementation of the proposed solution will allow, in addition to the information about the spacecraft obtained during the registration of spacecraft launches in accordance with the Convention on the Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space 1975 (Registration Convention), to reliably maintain identified spacecraft in flight mode to track the operational situation in near-Earth space by surveillance services. The need for this increases with an increase in the number of space objects in near-Earth space and an increase in their diversity both in international affiliation and in manufacturers, owners, functions and other indicators.

Identification of the spacecraft and their debris - information necessary to investigate possible conflict situations in outer space associated with collisions, damage to space satellites. Observation of the spacecraft and their debris, identification, determination of their owners is especially necessary in cases that fall under the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects (Liability Convention) 1972

A method for marking spacecraft can be included in a national standardization system that addresses the safety of space activities.

The present invention can serve as the basis for the development of a draft international agreement on the identification of space assets by manufacturers of space technology and launching states in order to increase confidence and transparency in space activities.

Claims (2)

1. A method for identifying spacecraft and their debris in outer space using a laser location, characterized in that a marking coating is applied to the outer surface of the spacecraft body and solar panels, which are composed of a composition of substances, the reflection spectrum of which encodes technical and legal information about space apparatus, with the inclusion of reflective elements on the sublayer or as part of the composition, and the identification of the spacecraft or its fragments is carried out at laser light radiation covering ground surveillance station and read information spectrometric means. 2. A method for identifying spacecraft and their debris in outer space using a laser location, characterized in that on the inner surface of the closed volumes of the spacecraft and its inaccessible places, a coating is made that consists of a composition of substances, the reflection spectrum of which encodes technical and legal information about spacecraft, with the inclusion of retroreflective elements on the sublayer or as part of the composition, moreover, the identification of the spacecraft or its fragments is carried out when irradiated with a laser light, ground observation stations are read and information is read by spectrometric means.

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