This thesis demonstrates that any individual can provide relevant observational data to further research efforts within the Aerospace community, through the use of amateur telescopes. A Meade LX200 12 in. telescope and Lumenera Skynyx 2.0 camera were utilized to observe small LEO satellites, using a well-documented point-and-wait staring method. Over a period of three months, a total of 186 observation attempts were made resulting in 97 successful captures. From the gathered data, three possible aerospace applications were analyzed: validation of a satellite brightness prediction model, angles-only orbit determination including extended Kalman filtering, and temporal error growth in TLE-based orbit propagation. Further investigations include a preliminary optimization using MATLAB's fmincon function (informed by the previous analyses) to determine an optimal telescope size for performing LEO observations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CALPOLY/oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:theses-2148 |
| Date | 01 August 2013 |
| Creators | Schmalzel, Brock |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@CalPoly |
| Source Sets | California Polytechnic State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Master's Theses and Project Reports |
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