Super-synchronous Small Satellite Space Surveillance System (S6) Support

The current U.S. Space Surveillance Network primarily tracks high altitude resident space objects (RSOs) through a small set of large-aperture optical telescopes. While these systems are very capable, they are costly to maintain, and they do not provide persistent coverage of RSOs in or near geostationary Earth orbit (GEO). The Super-synchronous Small Satellite Space Surveillance System (S6) being championed by AFRL provides an excellent platform to test and analyze the effectiveness of a joint ground/space GEO monitoring architecture to include automated change detection. The pilot program will launch one satellite into super-synchronous orbit where it will persistently monitor RSOs in neighboring sections of the GEO belt. Numerica would support this program by (i) refining the concept of operations; (ii) providing a tasking capability; (iii) providing a payload data processing capability; and (iv) supporting integration and verification and validation activities.