{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/135031"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/135031","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"From the Earth to the Moon: A Multi-Domain Approach to Cislunar Space Domain Awareness","abstract":"Growing interest in the Cislunar domain has resulted in numerous successful Lunar missions in recent years. Many burgeoning space programs, including those by governments and private industry, have seized the opportunity of this renewed interest and utilized the region as a proving ground to bring relevance and credibility to their organizations. With this increase in interest and activity, the need to expand Space Domain Awareness (SDA) into the Cislunar regime has become paramount. This dissertation presents two related studies operating in different domains that address the current challenges faced by accomplishing this task. The first study optimizes future satellite constellation configurations of optical sensors placed on periodic orbits within the Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem (CR3BP) through the development of a novel multivariate normal crossover technique for Genetic Algorithms that enables statistical local and global search of discrete populations. With this strategy, the entire JPL Cislunar Three-Body Periodic Orbit Catalog's 272,008 unique periodic orbits are explored to produce sets of Pareto optimal solutions that demonstrate the most effective combinations of periodic orbit families for maintaining SDA of Cislunar space. The second study employs a currently operational ground-based electro-optical sensor network to search a pared-down area representing the intersection of low-thrust maneuvers from periodic orbits in the CR3BP and a spherical Poincaré map at four times the distance of Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). The results from this study demonstrate the feasibility of employing currently operational sensors to perform Cislunar SDA through an 85.3% decrease in the required search area in addition to the ability to conduct partial Cislunar SDA through search of the current GEO catalog with no operational changes.","abstract_html":"Growing interest in the Cislunar domain has resulted in numerous successful Lunar missions in recent years. Many burgeoning space programs, including those by governments and private industry, have seized the opportunity of this renewed interest and utilized the region as a proving ground to bring relevance and credibility to their organizations. With this increase in interest and activity, the need to expand Space Domain Awareness (SDA) into the Cislunar regime has become paramount. This dissertation presents two related studies operating in different domains that address the current challenges faced by accomplishing this task. The first study optimizes future satellite constellation configurations of optical sensors placed on periodic orbits within the Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem (CR3BP) through the development of a novel multivariate normal crossover technique for Genetic Algorithms that enables statistical local and global search of discrete populations. With this strategy, the entire JPL Cislunar Three-Body Periodic Orbit Catalog's 272,008 unique periodic orbits are explored to produce sets of Pareto optimal solutions that demonstrate the most effective combinations of periodic orbit families for maintaining SDA of Cislunar space. The second study employs a currently operational ground-based electro-optical sensor network to search a pared-down area representing the intersection of low-thrust maneuvers from periodic orbits in the CR3BP and a spherical Poincaré map at four times the distance of Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). The results from this study demonstrate the feasibility of employing currently operational sensors to perform Cislunar SDA through an 85.3% decrease in the required search area in addition to the ability to conduct partial Cislunar SDA through search of the current GEO catalog with no operational changes.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Segal, Connor Benjamin"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":"Aerospace Engineering","degree_department":"Aerospace and Ocean Engineering","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Schroeder, Kevin Kent"],"committee_members":["Fitzgerald, Riley McCrea","Ross, Shane David","Black, Jonathan T."],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-06-03","date_published":"2025-06-03","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:49Z","subjects":["Genetic Algorithm","Crossover","Optimal Constellation Design","Ground-Based Electro-Optical Search","GEO"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International"],"rights_urls":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:43972"],"render_values":[{"text":"vt_gsexam:43972","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/10919/135031","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Schroeder, Kevin Kent"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Fitzgerald, Riley McCrea","Ross, Shane David","Black, Jonathan T."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Aerospace and Ocean Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Segal, Connor Benjamin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2025-06-04T08:03:48Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-06-04T08:03:48Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025-06-03"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Aerospace Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Genetic Algorithm","Crossover","Optimal Constellation Design","Ground-Based Electro-Optical Search","GEO"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:43972"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/10919/135031"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Growing interest in the Cislunar domain has resulted in numerous successful Lunar missions in recent years. Many burgeoning space programs, including those by governments and private industry, have seized the opportunity of this renewed interest and utilized the region as a proving ground to bring relevance and credibility to their organizations. With this increase in interest and activity, the need to expand Space Domain Awareness (SDA) into the Cislunar regime has become paramount. This dissertation presents two related studies operating in different domains that address the current challenges faced by accomplishing this task. The first study optimizes future satellite constellation configurations of optical sensors placed on periodic orbits within the Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem (CR3BP) through the development of a novel multivariate normal crossover technique for Genetic Algorithms that enables statistical local and global search of discrete populations. With this strategy, the entire JPL Cislunar Three-Body Periodic Orbit Catalog's 272,008 unique periodic orbits are explored to produce sets of Pareto optimal solutions that demonstrate the most effective combinations of periodic orbit families for maintaining SDA of Cislunar space. The second study employs a currently operational ground-based electro-optical sensor network to search a pared-down area representing the intersection of low-thrust maneuvers from periodic orbits in the CR3BP and a spherical Poincaré map at four times the distance of Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). The results from this study demonstrate the feasibility of employing currently operational sensors to perform Cislunar SDA through an 85.3% decrease in the required search area in addition to the ability to conduct partial Cislunar SDA through search of the current GEO catalog with no operational changes."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstractgeneral","label":"General Abstract","values":["Growing interest in the Moon by world governments and private industry has increased the need to be able to monitor the spacecraft operating in the regions between both the Earth and the Moon, and around the Moon; what is referred to as Cislunar space. Due to the much larger volume of space this area occupies, current methods of tracking satellites are unable to reliably monitor those areas as they were only designed to operate at up to 11% of the distance between the Earth and the Moon. As a result, different approaches are needed going forward. This dissertation presents two related studies: one operating from space and the other operating from the ground, which address the current challenges faced by accomplishing the task of Cislunar Space Domain Awareness (SDA). The first study develops a new method within Genetic Algorithm optimization that is used to find the best combinations of spacecraft orbits to monitor the Cislunar region, whereas the second study looks from the ground utilizing current ground-based telescopes to search similar areas. The two studies together demonstrate the feasibility of potential future capabilities at accomplishing this task in addition to a short-term solution that can be implemented with current technology."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["From the Earth to the Moon: A Multi-Domain Approach to Cislunar Space Domain Awareness"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Schroeder, Kevin Kent"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Fitzgerald, Riley McCrea","Ross, Shane David","Black, Jonathan T."],"dc:contributor.department":["Aerospace and Ocean Engineering"],"dc:creator":["Segal, Connor Benjamin"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2025-06-04T08:03:48Z"],"dc:date.available":["2025-06-04T08:03:48Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2025-06-03"],"dc:description.abstract":["Growing interest in the Cislunar domain has resulted in numerous successful Lunar missions in recent years. Many burgeoning space programs, including those by governments and private industry, have seized the opportunity of this renewed interest and utilized the region as a proving ground to bring relevance and credibility to their organizations. With this increase in interest and activity, the need to expand Space Domain Awareness (SDA) into the Cislunar regime has become paramount. This dissertation presents two related studies operating in different domains that address the current challenges faced by accomplishing this task. The first study optimizes future satellite constellation configurations of optical sensors placed on periodic orbits within the Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem (CR3BP) through the development of a novel multivariate normal crossover technique for Genetic Algorithms that enables statistical local and global search of discrete populations. With this strategy, the entire JPL Cislunar Three-Body Periodic Orbit Catalog's 272,008 unique periodic orbits are explored to produce sets of Pareto optimal solutions that demonstrate the most effective combinations of periodic orbit families for maintaining SDA of Cislunar space. The second study employs a currently operational ground-based electro-optical sensor network to search a pared-down area representing the intersection of low-thrust maneuvers from periodic orbits in the CR3BP and a spherical Poincaré map at four times the distance of Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). The results from this study demonstrate the feasibility of employing currently operational sensors to perform Cislunar SDA through an 85.3% decrease in the required search area in addition to the ability to conduct partial Cislunar SDA through search of the current GEO catalog with no operational changes."],"dc:description.abstractgeneral":["Growing interest in the Moon by world governments and private industry has increased the need to be able to monitor the spacecraft operating in the regions between both the Earth and the Moon, and around the Moon; what is referred to as Cislunar space. Due to the much larger volume of space this area occupies, current methods of tracking satellites are unable to reliably monitor those areas as they were only designed to operate at up to 11% of the distance between the Earth and the Moon. As a result, different approaches are needed going forward. This dissertation presents two related studies: one operating from space and the other operating from the ground, which address the current challenges faced by accomplishing the task of Cislunar Space Domain Awareness (SDA). The first study develops a new method within Genetic Algorithm optimization that is used to find the best combinations of spacecraft orbits to monitor the Cislunar region, whereas the second study looks from the ground utilizing current ground-based telescopes to search similar areas. The two studies together demonstrate the feasibility of potential future capabilities at accomplishing this task in addition to a short-term solution that can be implemented with current technology."],"dc:description.degree":["Doctor of Philosophy"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:identifier.other":["vt_gsexam:43972"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/10919/135031"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"],"dc:subject":["Genetic Algorithm","Crossover","Optimal Constellation Design","Ground-Based Electro-Optical Search","GEO"],"dc:title":["From the Earth to the Moon: A Multi-Domain Approach to Cislunar Space Domain Awareness"],"dc:type":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Aerospace Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:49Z"}