TOMSK, Sep 7 –
RIA Tomsk. Scientists of the Faculty of
Physics of Tomsk State University are forecasting the trajectories of
near-Earth objects, in particular space debris and asteroids; the project is
designed for three years and has received support from the Russian Science
Foundation (RSF) of about 4.5 million rubles annually, the university's press
service reports.
As explained by
TSU astronomers, there are currently several hundred thousand objects in space
around the Earth, among them more than 3,000 are spacecraft, only part of which
is functional. The results of the project will help understand the distribution
of space debris in near-Earth space and choose the optimum area for the
dislocation of new satellites.
"Within the
framework of a project supported by the Russian Science Foundation,
(scientists) are studying the complex trajectories of near-Earth objects of
artificial and natural origin <...> approaching the Earth. The
availability of data on the peculiarities of their trajectories will enable to
optimize the choice of areas for the deployment of new satellite systems, as
well as to find the most suitable areas for the parking of expired
objects," the release said.
As an employee
of the university's press service clarified to RIA Tomsk, the project is
designed for three years with financing of 4.5 million rubles per year to be
provided within the framework of the Russian Science Foundation's support.
It is added that
in addition to studying the movement of debris in space, the researchers solve
another global problem - improve the accuracy of predicting the movement of
asteroids approaching the Earth. The creation of a more accurate model of the
movement of space bodies by TSU physicists will enable a better understanding
of how dangerous they are. An algorithmic model implemented using artificial
neural networks is used to analyze the data.
"The
research we conduct is accompanied by a large amount of calculations, so the
solution to the problem uses machine analysis... This tool will allow us to
predict the motion of tens of thousands of objects and analyze more than a
million time series of various dynamic and resonance characteristics,"
manager of the project, associate professor of the Department of Astronomy and
Space Geodesy of the TSU Faculty of Physics Anna Alexandrova is quoted.
Earlier it was
reported that since 2020 TSU has been training students of astronomy to work
with big data, which allows to connect them to the university's research in the
field of space security and studying the motion of satellites in near-Earth
space. It was also reported that in 2020, a TSU postgraduate student received a
grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) to study the
evolution of space debris orbits.