Optical features and space debris observation capabilities of the first de-dicated italian observatory

In October 2006, the Italian Space Agency, in the framework of a contract which involves many italians groups working on space debris, gave to GAUSS the task to manufacture a small, easy to transport, observatory completely dedicated to space debris monitoring. The observatory will host three telescopes, with different diameters, focal lengths and optical configuration, all of them can be equipped with two CCDs and moved by robotic mounts. A deep analysis of optical properties of the complete system has been carried out in order to evaluate instruments features, constraints and capabilities. Particularly difficult is the a priori assessment and evaluation of the performances of optical system for LEO or GEO objects tracking and orbit determination The paper presents the expected orbit determination results keeping into account different orbital regimes, different orbital determination strategies and instruments configurations, sketching numerical simulation results.