'Revolutionary' camera could prevent satellite collisions

Look on the sky

A team from Western Sydney University has unveiled Astrosite, a unique spatial imagery system inspired by the human eye. He says it could help avoid collisions between satellites sharing space in an increasingly crowded gravity well.

"By using nature and biology-inspired technology, we have developed a dynamic imaging system that works faster, calculates more efficiently, consumes significantly less energy, and produces less data than anything else." what is currently on the market, "said researcher André van Schaik in a press release. .

Space Colliders

The number of objects in Earth orbit continues to grow, the collision potential of these objects between them also increases.

"[T]The risk of collision between debris, satellites and spacecraft is real, "said van Schaik. "This has become a serious concern not only for organizations with a commercial interest in space, but also for national and international defense agencies."

A more accurate picture of what is happening on Earth's orbit at a given moment could help us avoid satellite collisions, and according to the researchers, Astrosite can not only produce images with "unprecedented temporal resolution" , but can also capture them in real time. during the day.

According to researcher Greg Cohen, this design makes it possible to overcome the limitations of existing imaging systems through the unique design of Astrosite: "It is modeled from the human eye, photo receptors of the retina and the way they send do not take frames, they do not take pictures, they only send the changes. "

In astrosite

The team plans to make a public demonstration of Astrosite for the first time at the Avalon Airshow, which will begin Tuesday. According to the researchers, if he does not keep his promises, the system does not lack applications.

"The potential uses of this technology are endless," Cohen said in the press release. "For example, the Astrosite can observe high-speed phenomena such as satellites and quickly warn of potential collisions. allow daytime logging of objects in low Earth orbit; facilitate imaging in poorly visible environments; monitor space debris and enable high-speed tracking of objects. "