A Preliminary Orbit Design Strategy for the
Study of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
Abstract - On June 25th, 2021 the US government publicly acknowledged the existence of Unidentified
Aerial Phenomena (UAP) in a report released by the Office of the Director of Intelligence. The
government document states that the lack of specialized sensor platforms and limited scientific datasets
on the phenomena have given rise to flight safety and national security concerns. As a result, the DoD,
NASA and AIAA have established independent groups to study the phenomena. In the near future land
based observation initiatives are likely to commence, followed by the design of “hitchhiker” satellite
instruments. If continued detection of UAP persists, specialized satellite systems will eventually be
utilized in order to increase the scope of data collection. This paper describes a methodology of designing
satellite orbits for the purpose of UAP observation using sighting data taken from the National UFO
Reporting Center. First, a semi-major axis and eccentricity is calculated and later refined utilizing
repeating ground track principles. A final set of orbital parameters is propagated using a System Tool Kit
Optimization Design Algorithm which is tasked to maximize observation site duration. Preliminary orbit
case studies show that this methodology can be used as a starting point for orbit designs that require
unique UAP observation applications.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WE4csVoT5S_cK-J-jNkfWkcdYY_P6AXv/view
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