Cislunar Key Region Surveillance Optimization

Abstract Cislunar space’s growing importance necessitates robust space domain awareness for its safe and sustainable utilization. Current ground-based surveillance is insufficient to cover the entire Cislunar region of interest, leaving large blind spots. Space-based optical sensors can address this, but due to the vastness of the Cislunar space, sensor placement is challenging. With limited resources, identifying and prioritizing regions of interest for space object custody is crucial. This paper proposes an optimized sensor distribution strategy for Cislunar Space Domain Awareness (CSDA), to maintain custody of objects of interest in the $$L_2$$ L 2 Lyapunov and Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits (NRHO), able to perform maneuvers at unknown times. As examples, this work focuses on identifying the key regions spanned by these maneuvering objects in $$L_2$$ L 2 Lyapunov and Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits, with maneuver sizes of 0.05 km/s $$\Delta v$$ Δ v to 0.5 km/s $$\Delta v$$ Δ v . Using dynamical deviation flow in the Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem (CR3BP), critical surveillance regions are identified. The optimal sensor locations are determined by optimizing surveillance coverage for maintained custody using visibility maps.