Preliminaries of a Space Situational Awareness Ontology

Space situational awareness (SSA) is vital for international safety and security, and the future of space travel. By improving SSA data-sharing we improve global SSA. Computational ontology should provide one means toward that goal. This paper develops the ontology of the SSA domain and takes steps in the creation of a Space Situational Awareness Ontology. It outlines objectives, requirements and desiderata; and describes the SSA domain and discipline of ontology. The purposes of the SSA ontology are to explore the potential for ontology development and engineering to (i) represent SSA data, general knowledge, and domain objects, (ii) clearly annotate and express the meaning of that orbital, near-earth and deep-space data, and (iii) foster SSA data sharing among SSA actors and space object catalogs. By improving global SSA via actionable dataand knowledgeexchange, we can achieve the broader goals (and motivations) of (iv) advancing our capacity for planetary defense from nearor deep-space objects, and (v) improving spaceflight safety for future generations.