Who is following the rules in space? Assessing GEO satellite operators’ compliance with ITU orbital assignments
Thomas González Roberts is a Ph.D. candidate in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. His research interests include astrodynamics, space sustainability, and international space policy. Through his work in computational space domain analysis, Roberts strives to inform the policy discussion surrounding the development of international norms of behavior for satellite operations. For his doctoral thesis "Measuring Compliance to the International Telecommunication Union’s Geosynchronous Orbital Assignments,” Thomas has earned the MIT Prize for Open Data, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy’s Prize for Innovation in Global Security, and recognition on Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 in Science list. More broadly, his graduate studies have been supported by: the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation; the National Science Foundation; Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation; and Schmidt Futures. He holds an SM in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT, an SM in technology and policy from MIT, and a B.A. in astrophysical sciences with honors from Princeton University.
Abstract
Satellite operators must undertake a years-long exercise of international coordination in order to protect their space-based assets from harmful interference in the radio-frequency spectrum. The process is managed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a specialized agency of the United Nations that communicates with its member states' governments, which coordinate their activities with individual satellite operators. For satellites in the geosynchronous orbital regime (GEO), the process ends with the establishment of protected assignments that describe both portions of the radio-frequency spectrum and positions along the geostationary belt at which satellites must operate in order to avoid interference with other operations that may be happening nearby. But once assignments are determined, how well do satellite operators comply with them?
This presentation describes a method for assessing GEO satellite operators' compliance with the physical component of ITU assignments in the geostationary belt using publicly available data. The positions of real, cataloged GEO satellites, measured in longitudinal degrees, are compared with data describing ITU satellite networks published by the Union's Space Services Department to determine whether satellites are operating near an active network assigned to their ITU administration. Compliance for three satellites that perform relatively frequent longitudinal-shift maneuvers in GEO—Telesat's Nimiq 2, Russia's Luch (Olymp), and China's SJ-17—is assessed over a multi-year study period and discussed.
Co-sponsored by the Nunn School Program on International Affairs, Science, and Technology.
