Stereo Horus: 100x Improvement in Agile Satellite Tracking at Scale

With the rise of mega-constellations and destructive anti-satellite weapons testing, commercial solutions to space domain awareness (SDA) are imperative to maintain custody of the burgeoning LEO satellite population. áExisting commercial capabilities (e.g., radar installations) are geographically limited, costly to proliferate, and limited in their ability to search and reacquire threats following unexpected maneuvers. Slingshot is currently developing a low-cost, scalable, ground-based-optical sensor system, codenamed Horus, providing 360-degree persistent coverage of the night sky. This system can track LEO payloads passively without needing any prior cues, providing a comprehensive search capability. The proposed effort expands on the Horus concept by leap-frogging to a fully-featured satellite passive optical ranging (SPOR) capability. SPOR would be enabled through strategically situating multiple Horus systems with overlapping fields-of-view, and development of the algorithms and software necessary to produce radar-like observations. Furthermore, with the SPOR capability, initial orbit determination (IOD) can be performed from a single overhead pass, significantly reducing the response time to unexpected events in LEO. Slingshot envisions proliferating SPOR-enabled systems worldwide as a cornerstone to its LEO SDA commercial offering, positioning themselves in front of the rising need in defense, civil, and private sectors. áá