A conjunction is a predicted close approach between two catalogued objects. Thousands happen every day — most are harmless. The challenge is identifying the tiny fraction that might actually be dangerous, and deciding whether to maneuver.
A conjunction is a predicted close approach between two catalogued objects. Thousands happen every day — most are harmless. The challenge is identifying the tiny fraction that might actually be dangerous, and deciding whether to maneuver.
A conjunction occurs when the predicted trajectories of two objects pass within a defined screening distance — typically a few kilometres — within a specified time window.
Most CDMs are informational — the predicted miss distance is well beyond the combined uncertainty. Only a small fraction require analysis, and fewer still trigger a maneuver decision.
A 500-metre miss distance sounds alarming — but it might be perfectly safe. A 5 km miss distance might actually be more dangerous. The difference is uncertainty.
Operators receive thousands of alerts weekly. The skill is filtering signal from noise using probability metrics, not reacting to raw distance numbers.