ASSAI: Autonomous Space-Based Situational Awarness & AI

8 August 2024

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Roger Förstner und Benjamin Haser, Professur für Raumfahrttechnik, Fakultät für Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik, haben gemeinsam mit dem Forschungszentrum SPACE das Projekt „Autonomous Space-Based Situational Awarness & Artificial Intelligence (ASSAI) bei der European Defence Agency (EDA) eingeworben.

Laufzeit: 01.02.2024 bis 31.01.2027
Förderung: EDA-Ad Hoc Cat. B Projekt, European Defence Agency (EDA)

The development of an independent SSA capability has strategic relevance for the defense of space assets and for identifying the behavior of unknown space objects or those whose capabilities have not been yet ascertained or verified. The recent incident creating huge numbers of debris further showcase the need for developing such a SSA capability to foster EU autonomy in the space domain.

The enhancement of the space assets self-protection capabilities and SSA network may be realized through the integration of ground-based laser tracking sensors and through a variety of space-based sensors to be installed directly on-board of new on-orbit sensors include 3D vision sensors, optical cameras, radar, ranging instruments or spectrometers. These instruments can provide information on space objects for characterization and improve the accuracy of estimated orbits or changes thereof. The latter allows timely alerts in case one impending near passes or collisions with to operational space assets. Furthermore, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be used both on ground and in orbit to process and analyze data coming from different sensors or perform autonomous collision avoidance maneuvers. Moreover, combining the data from multiple sensors enables sensor improvements like calibration or detection of outliers in addition to better compensation for atmospheric conditions such as (clouds and aberrations). The whole results in an improved space assets self-protection and resilient European SSA capabilities.

^{Bild: © gettyimages/buradaki}