SKYLARK SATELLITE TO ANALYSE SPACE TRAFFIC
WHY IN NEWS?
- Canadian based space company Northstar Earth and Space has developed satellite Skylark to collect space situational awareness data. It would be the first dedicated satellite constellation looking at managing the situation in space such as congestion, threats of collisions , and addressing space traffic management
SAPCE DEBRIS
- Space Situational Awareness tracks natural and artificial objects in the orbit around the earth and predicts where the objects are going to be at any given time.
- According to European Space Agency, the number of space debris objects in Earth’s orbit is 6.7 lakh (larger than 1 cm) and over 17 crores (larger than 1 mm)
- Sputnik 1 was the first human made object to orbit the earth. Its launch created new opportunities in space. However, 63 years later, it has also added 29000 objects in debris (larger than 10 cm) in addition to 2500 plus active satellites in space.
- Most space junk can reach a speed of nearly 29000 kmph. Because of the amount of debris in LEO and the speed at which they are moving, current and future space based services, explorations and operations pose a safety risk to people and property in space and on Earth.
SKYLARK CONSTELLATION
- The constellation of 12 satellites would be equipped with optical sensors to monitor space objects including active and inactive satellites and debris that could pose a threat.
- The set of three satellites form a spiral, so the constellation wll have four spirals with different orbits, all of which will be circular and polar at about 575 km from the earth’s surfce in Low Earth orbit (LEO).
- Aim of constellation is to combat the imminent threat of space collisions.
ADVANTAGES OF SPACE BASED SATELLITE SYSTEM OVER GROUND BASED SYSTEM
- Space based satellite has multiple points of view for an object.
- They are not reliant on weather changes and atmospheric interferences
- It has the ability to make frequent revisits
- SSA can be helpful in managing as well as protecting various future manned as well unmanned space missions.