Operational challenges in congested low earth orbit

Earth observation satellites are mission-critical assets that must maintain precise orbits and tight pointing/ground-track performance to deliver consistent imagery and measurements.

In today’s congested LEO environment, their operations are directly exposed to conjunction risk with debris and other satellites, including small objects that can still be catastrophic.

Operators therefore need timely, reliable tracking and screening, fast assessment of close approaches, and coordination of avoidance maneuvers that protect the spacecraft while minimizing impacts on imaging schedules, station-keeping budgets, and data continuity, especially during crisis response and time-sensitive collection campaigns.

Look Up’s tracking, alerts, and collision avoidance support

Look Up supports Earth observation operators by detecting and tracking LEO objects down to a few cm with centimetric accuracy using SORASYS, its ground-based radar network, then fusing these measurements with external data in SYNAPSE, its digital platform to maintain an up-to-date, operational space picture.

Through API or interface delivery (with an on-premises option for secure operations), Look Up helps teams catalogue objects, issue real-time alerts within seconds/minutes of high-interest events, and run collision avoidance predictions with a 99.9% accuracy rate.

This enables operators to screen conjunctions faster, reduce uncertainty in maneuver decisions, and coordinate risk-managed avoidance recommendations aligned with mission constraints, protecting EO satellites while preserving collection performance.