LAUSR

Abstract This paper proposes three Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) Space-Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) optical constellations with the intention of building up and maintaining a catalog of 200,000 LEO space debris. The three constellations, namely CON.1, CON.2 and CON.3, are Walker analogs whose notations are “98.7°:12/4/1”, “98.7°:12/6/1”, and “98.7°:24/4/1”, respectively. The configurations can ensure a globally even distribution that is suitable for catalog maintenance of LEO debris. In addition, the visible-band sensors of the three constellations are assumed to have different sensitivity to cm-size debris and Field Of Views (FOVs). Simulation experiments are made to evaluate the detectability and maintainability performances of the three constellations and their variants. By analyzing the detectable orbital arcs, CON.1 and CON.2 show the potential capability to maintain a dynamic catalog of more than 200,000 debris when the number of satellites is 8 or 12. The CON.1 constellation with 12 satellites performs best in terms of the capacities of the dynamic catalog and continuously maintainable catalog, with 225,000 and 157,500 objects, respectively.