Feasibility and detection of a bio-inspired approach for space situational awareness

In nature, many biological species have devised motion strategies that help them with a variety of tasks, such as mating and foraging. One such phenomenon that has been recently studied in hoverflies involves a moving male hoverfly that conceals its motion from the viewpoint of a moving female hoverfly. The use of this bio-inspired strategy has also recently been considered in the context of Space Situational Awareness. In this paper, the feasibilities of applying the bio-inspired technique to free flying space vehicles are investigated. Furthermore, the detectability of the motion strategy is studied. Both the feasibilities and the detectability are investigated in the local vertical and local horizontal frame.