Local orbital debris flux study in the geostationary ring Original Research Article

A local orbital debris flux analysis is performed in the geostationary (GEO) ring to investigate how frequently near-miss events occur for each longitude slot in the GEO ring. The current resident space object (RSO) environment at GEO is evaluated, and publicly-available two-line element (TLE) data are utilized in tandem with a geostationary torus configuration to simulate near-miss events incurred by the trackable RSO population at GEO. Methodology for determining near-miss events with this formulation is introduced, and the results of the analysis for a one-year time frame are provided to illustrate the need for active GEO remediation.