Impact analysis of observation configurations for space target short-arc orbit determination based on cooperative observation

Orbit determination (OD) of non-cooperative targets is a key aspect of space situational awareness, and space-based optical observation is widely used because of its simplicity, reliability and applicability. Multi-satellite cooperative observation can improve the OD performance by increasing the observability, but the OD system is more sensitive to the relative orbital configuration. This paper investigates the impact analysis of observation configuration for short-arc orbit determination of space targets under space-based cooperative optical observations. A short-arc precision OD method employing nonlinear filtering is presented, and the OD system observability is analysed via the observability matrix. Further, taking the scenario of dual satellites accompanying the target as an example, the OD results under various observation configurations of coplanar, non-coplanar and different scales are numerically simulated, and the contribution of the observation line-of-sight (LOS) to the observability and OD performance is qualitatively analysed from the perspective of observation information. The results emphasize the critical impact of relative LOS orientation on positioning accuracy, and can provide support for the observation configuration design for future missions. This work underscores the importance of rational observation geometries to improve the orbiting accuracy of space targets.