Authors:
David Shorten
1
;
Wathsala Karunarathne
1
;
2
and
Matthew Roughan
1
;
2
Affiliations:
1
Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Australia
;
2
Teletraffic Research Centre, The University of Adelaide, Australia
Keyword(s):
Starlink, Two-Line-Element, Satellite, Manoeuvre, Space Debris, Space Situational Awareness, Particle Filter.
Abstract:
The rapid increase in the number of active satellites orbiting earth along with the simultaneous increase in the amount of space debris is causing earth’s exosphere to become ever more crowded. This crowding forces satellites to perform a rising number of collision-avoidance manoeuvres. At the time of publication, of the roughly 7700 active satellites orbiting earth, over 5000 belonged to the Starlink constellation. These satellites not only substantially contribute to the crowding of space, but are required to perform tens of thousands of collision-avoidance manoeuvres per year. As Starlink does not publish information on the timing of these manoeuvres, little is known about them beyond their total number. This work uses a recently-proposed algorithm for detecting satellite manoeuvres from the publicly-available 18th Space Defence Squadron TLE data to study the patterns in the manoeuvres of this constellation. Rich structure was found in the patterns of these manoeuvres, including r
egular synchronous bursts of station-keeping manouevres within launch groups (the groups of satellites launched on a single day) and a cyclical pattern of station keeping amoung the launch groups.
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