Satellite apparatus and method for imaging space objects

Abstract

The invention relates to a satellite apparatus (100, 200) for imaging space objects (116, 116′), wherein the satellite apparatus (100, 200) is movable along an orbit (102) with a position-dependent orbital coordinate system (104), the satellite apparatus (100, 200) being movable along an orbit (102) with a position-dependent orbit coordinate system (104) (110, 110′, 218) and an imaging telescope sensor (210) that is arranged and configured to generate images (132) of space objects (116, 116′) in front of the starry background, and a control device (204) that is adapted to control the satellite apparatus (100, 200) in such a way that, in the intended operation, a predetermined pitch angle (114) is set between the telescope axis (110, 110′, 218) and the orbit axis (106), and to control the telescope sensor (210) such that streak images (132, 134) of space objects (116, 116′) and stars are continuously generated in order to obtain a plurality of streak images (132, 134) for generating a space object position map.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.