Abstract

Acquisition and analysis of the characteristic of the spectrum from high area-to-mass ratio LEO space debris

Author(s): Jin Xiaolong, Tang Yijun, Sui Chenghua

An increasing harm to active satellites in orbit and manned space activities has been caused by high area-to-mass ratio space debris. Due to the difficulties in recognition and cataloging of high area-to-mass space debris, it is proposed a method based on spectral observations. This method corrects atmospheric extinction and the impact of telescope optical system on the basis of image preprocessing, extracts space debris reflectance spectroscopy, then compares with the spectral curves of sample materials and recognizes surface materials of high area-to-mass ratio space debris. Results of spectroscopic observations under good conditions demonstrate that it will be fairly accurate if high area-to-mass ratio space debris is composed of a single material, such as aluminum and white paint, the correlation coefficients of aluminum and white paint are approximately 0.9.