Space Debris Quantum Imaging Service

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Satellites provide essential and extremely reliable services related to communication, broadcasting, and earth observation. The increasing presence of debris orbiting the earth, the result of the ever expanding space activities and explorations, is threatening the security of satellites and the reliability of the services they provide. A tiny debris colliding with a satellite is enough to damage it and put it out of service. As a result, there is a growing need for improved detection of the debris moving close to satellite orbits and their exact trajectories, so that collision-avoiding maneuvers can be performed in time.This project is a feasibility study in to the use of quantum imaging to improve the identification of space debris with the objective of evaluating whether a service offering improved accuracy can be provided on a commercially viable basis to satellite operators. It will be performed by a consortium composed of the satellite operator Avanti and the quantum imaging group at the University of Birmingham.Starting from a precise technical definition of the problem provided by Avanti, the University of Birmingham will critically assess recent proposals to improve the detection of remote objects with light in quantum LIDAR systems, and build solutions based on these. These proposals will rely on the quantum nature of light, e.g. to provide capabilities such as the detecting small optical signals buried in the ambient light, the amplification of small signal without adding noise for easier detection, and the conversion between light and microwaves to combine the advantages of LIDAR and RADAR. The practicality and commercial viability of the final solutions in the context of the satellite industry will be evaluated by Avanti.The project focuses on the specific problem of space debris detection but the methods that we will consider are generic and will have broad applicability. It is expected that the conclusions that we will reach here will be of value for a large class of problems spanning many industries.