Optical image simulation system for space surveillance

Acquiring optical images is a basic task of space based surveillance system. However, these images are hard to obtain in real space condition or are classified for security reason. To solve this problem, a simulation system, based on STK and OpenGL, is established. Using data generated by STK, 3D models of satellites and a star catalogue, we can render the celestial background and space object in OpenGL. Then some post-processing is done to the acquired images to make the final results look real. The simulation results, with high reality and fidelity, can provide data support for space information processing technology, such as object detection, tracking, recognition or for the space surveillance system design.