Ontologies to Support Space Traffic Management Awareness

The increasingly fast changes in space operations challenge Space Traffic Management (STM) which includes proliferation of the launches of small Unmanned Space Vehicles (USVs), large satellite constellations, and the progressive increment of the orbital debris. Space Traffic Controllers (STCs) will be required in a not-too-distant future to manage the space environment. This paper discusses challenges and opportunities to provide analytics support to STCs and spacecraft pilots to make decisions on complex space situations based on Space Domain Awareness (SDA). One of the most attractive Artificial Intelligence (AI) approaches is that based on ontologies for knowledge representation and semantic reasoning. Thus, the focus of this paper is on the use of ontologies for SDA to ultimately help STCs and spacecraft pilots deal with diverse space situations. Scenarios are presented where ontologies can be used to provide support for SDA. The information (on localization and behaviours of space objects) is provided by ground and space surveillance assets. A critical analysis including recommendations, concluding remarks, and future research is also presented.