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HomeOperational DomainEarthReport: Cross Government Space Domain Awareness (SDA) Requirements Publication (UK GOV 2023)

Report: Cross Government Space Domain Awareness (SDA) Requirements Publication (UK GOV 2023)

Here are the key points from the Space Domain Awareness requirements document:

  • The document outlines requirements for a UK space surveillance and tracking (SST) system to support space domain awareness (SDA). This will aid civil and defence needs.
  • Requirements cover areas like detecting/tracking objects in space, characterizing them, monitoring satellite license adherence, providing warnings for events like collisions and re-entries, and supporting conjunction assessment.
  • Different requirements specified for low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), geosynchronous (GEO), highly elliptical (HEO), and beyond Earth orbit (BEO).
  • Capabilities required across tracking, surveillance, object detection, revisit rates, resolvable separation distance, data formats, characterization, catalogue maintenance, etc.
  • Emphasis on resilience, redundancy, calibration, automation, and flexibility in the system architecture.
  • Dual-use system to serve both civilian and defence users. Centralized data repository model mentioned.
  • Seeks to reduce dependency on other nations for SDA capabilities through developing UK-owned sensors and capabilities.

In summary, it defines a set of cross-government requirements for a UK national space surveillance system to deliver resilient space domain awareness capabilities serving both civil and defence needs across various orbital regimes.

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