Description
Launch traffic has soared in recent years, as large satellite constellations have started to take shape. The astronomy community are rightly concerned about the current and future impact of ever-crowding orbits on the night sky. Satellites and debris can traverse through an astronomical field of interest during exposure, manifesting as streaks in the resulting image, often rendering the data useless in severe (bright) cases. Timely and accurate orbital state information is key to reliably predicting where and when a satellite will encroach upon an observation, an aspiration that astronomers share with the space situational awareness (SSA) community. A focus of current SSA research is the exploration of cost-effective and scalable techniques for space surveillance and tracking (SST). Here, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of event-based sensing, a technique that attempts to mimic the functionality of the biological retina by efficiently registering only the useful information in a scene. Event cameras are capable of providing a near-continuous stream of information with much lower data rates than their frame-based (e.g., CMOS) counterparts, both favourable characteristics for night sky surveillance. We examine the potential of event-based sensing for cost-effective SST, and highlight challenges to be overcome.
