Abstract
The domain of astronautics and space operations is currently defined by an unprecedented confluence of challenges and technological advancements, driven by the proliferation of mega-constellations, the exploration of cislunar space, and the transition of space into a contested and increasingly congested strategic domain. The papers presented here collectively address these critical vectors, providing a cross-section of advanced methodologies in modeling, simulation, sensing, and system design essential for ensuring the safety, sustainability, and resilience of both terrestrial and orbital assets. These works articulate a unified, multifaceted approach to managing the increasingly complex space environment.
A significant portion of current research is dedicated to Space Domain Awareness (SDA)—the foundational capability required to detect, track, identify, and catalog objects in space. This imperative is expanding beyond traditional Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) into the dynamically complex cislunar region. In Variable-fidelity sensors and observer uncertainty using touring multi-body periodic orbits to conduct cislunar SSA: preliminary study, Block et al. explore a novel approach to cislunar SSA, demonstrating that a constellation of low-fidelity sensors, when aggregated in specialized Earth-Moon “touring” periodic orbits, can achieve comparable target estimation accuracy to more costly high-fidelity systems. Complementing this, Vasso et al., in Multi-day evaluation of space domain awareness architectures via decision analysis and multi-objective optimization, examine how to augment existing US Government cataloging capabilities, identifying high-performing augmented networks (ANs) of telescopes that deliver a significant increase in capacity and coverage. Beyond simple cataloging, SDA is linked to strategic objectives, as outlined by Hayhurst and coauthors in Aggregated space combat modeling, which adapts terrestrial combat models to the three-dimensional space domain, highlighting the pre-eminence of SDA in certain strategic contexts. This focus on survivability is formalized by Sommer et al. in Toward space architecture resilience: a system-theoretic framework for analysis and design, which recommends a System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) framework to qualitatively assess space architectures for loss scenarios involving adversarial threats and determine necessary system behavioral constraints and mitigations.
The successful implementation of robust space operations, SDA, and resilience is underpinned by the accuracy and fidelity of underlying modeling and simulation (M&S) techniques. This second cluster of research focuses on refining the mathematical and computational tools essential for predicting system behavior, managing risk, and informing design. Canoy and Bettinger, in their Preliminary debris risk assessment for mega-constellations in low and medium Earth orbit due to satellite breakup, use a Monte Carlo simulation framework to quantify the potential risk of catastrophic conjunctions following a single satellite breakup, underscoring the non-negligible danger massive constellations introduce. Addressing the computational demands of tracking this debris, Rakushev et al., in Modeling of predicting the stochastic motion of near-Earth objects of space debris based on differential-Taylor transformations, propose a novel numerical integration method that reduces the methodical complexity of solving the ordinary stochastic differential equations that model the probabilistic motion of space debris. High-fidelity input data is required to accurately simulate current and future space traffic. Rockwood et al. tackle this in Generating realistic two-line element sets for notional space vehicles and constellations by presenting a method to create realistic two-line element (TLE) sets—the standard format for orbital data—for hypothetical spacecraft.
In summary, the works presented here represent the advances in astronautical and space security research. They collectively emphasize that the path forward depends on the coupled application of advanced sensing (SSA architectures), robust defensive frameworks (architecture resilience and space combat modeling), and highly accurate, computationally efficient M&S techniques (debris prediction, risk assessment, TLE generation, and CFD validation). The central thread tying these papers together is the move toward holistic, data-driven methodologies that treat the space domain as a complex, interconnected system where precision in one area, such as modeling, directly informs and secures operations in another, such as domain awareness and strategic resilience.
