The CSDA draws from the experience and expertise of a wide range of research groupsLink opens in a new window at the University of Warwick to tackle issues relating to the safety and sustainability of satellite operations in the space domain. Research activities within the CSDA aim to address a variety of SDA problems, including:

• the timely acquisition of precise datasets to detect, track and/or characterise objects in orbit;
• the fusion of physical and human-based information for improved object tracking;
• the modelling and prediction of space weather, and the quantification of associated risk.

A growing problem...

Over the past six decades, a population of orbital debris has accumulated in near-Earth space. Abandoned spacecraft, rocket bodies and fragments from explosions and collisions coexist in orbit with the active satellites we rely on. With large constellations of satellites licensed for launch, and vast quantities of debris still invisible to the current generation of surveillance networks, the challenges facing SDA are numerous.

Two regions are of particular concern. Low Earth orbit (LEO) plays host to the most densely populated orbital bands, as well as the International Space Station. Certain parts of the LEO region are thought to be on the cusp of triggering the so-called "Kessler Syndrome", a runaway process whereby a collision generates fragments that seed further collisions, and so on. The geosynchronous (GSO) region, situated at a much higher altitude above the Equator, has a limited number of orbital slots, and is known to contain a population of faint, poorly characterised debris.

Latest News

Updates on CSDA research, outreach and opportunities.