Understanding the CubeSat faint object population with 2-meter class telescope observations

GMV offers the possibility to participate on a remunerated project for the final master work (TFM). The number of satellites being launched into orbit has grown exponentially in the last years [1]. Even though they provide valuable information, they also create important challenges and concerns regarding their possible impact on the sky quality, their effect on astronomical observations or the space traffic management (see, e.g., [2] and [3]). For this reason, having a good understanding of the CubeSat and other very faint object (VFO) population is mandatory to address any possible threats. The main difficulty to understand the possible threats of VFOs is its relatively small size (down to 10 cm). Following the exact position of these space objects becomes a very challenging task, even for the largest telescopes dedicated to space traffic management (see, e.g., [2]). For this reason, studying the possibility to follow VFOs with larger telescopes becomes a natural development in space traffic management. The current TFM will focus on the use of 2-m class telescopes to study its possible use to characterize the VFO population. During this TFM, the student will learn how to prepare an observation plan to follow artificial satellites with Senplanner, how to prepare and execute the observations in a 2-meter class telescope, to perform the astrometric reduction of the images obtained with Gendared and to use orbit determination tools to accurately determine the orbit of VFOs with Sstod.