An illustration of how SpaceX uses star tracker data from its Starlink satellite to identify other objects in orbit and calculate their orbits. Credit: SpaceX
SALT LAKE CITY — SpaceX is encouraging satellite operators to use a new space safety platform the company has developed to reduce the risk of collisions in congested low Earth orbits.
The company used a side meeting at the Small Satellite Conference here Aug. 24 to discuss its new space-safety.com platform. The system is available free of charge to satellite operators.
The system leverages Stargaze, a space situational awareness, or SSA, system the company announced in January. Stargaze uses images from star trackers on Starlink spacecraft to detect and track objects in orbit, calculate orbits and use that information to detect potential conjunctions, or close approaches, with other spacecraft.
Stargaze currently tracks about 16,500 objects in low Earth orbit, said Mike Hoot, a software engineer at SpaceX, during the presentation. That is about 48% of the public catalog maintained by the U.S. Space Force on its Space-Track.org system. Stargaze, he said, can detect objects as small as a meter across, meaning it cannot track many cubesat-class satellites or small debris.
