Develop a Mapping Tool (GIS) for Orbital Space Visualization

The Earth’s orbital space is inhabited by more than 48’000 spacecraft and identified pieces of space debris. They all travel at several kilometers per second on their ellipses in a controlled (or not!) manner. The understanding of this situation is better apprehended with stable 2D or 3D visualizations which are currently not available. Therefore, there is a need to develop Geographic Information System (GIS) tools to help space operators with a valuable representation of the space environment.

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Objectives

The student will have to propose, design, and develop new visualization tools for Space situation awareness (SSA). The space data are located in an internally maintained database of all tracked objects in space and an interface has to be designed with optimization features for fast access and display. The possibility of further additional interactive filters should be thought. The tool of the Space Domain of the Swiss Armed Forces (SCORE: Space Cartographic Overview of Resident Entities) will be available.

Required skills

For the good realization of the project, it is recommended that the student have:
• General understanding of the orbital dynamics
• Programming skills in Java or python
• Ability to appraise and adapt the project to fulfill the needs for the Space Domain operation team
• A sense of responsibility for the quality of the work to be used for everyday applications

Place of work

The student will have the opportunity to work in a stimulating environment with other students in different locations (Lausanne, Bern, Zurich) in Switzerland depending on the needs of the projects.