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Robert J. Rovetto edited this page Jun 27, 2020 · 4 revisions

Welcome to the wiki of the Orbital Space Environment Domain Reference Ontology Project

This project consists of developing a domain reference ontology or ontology suite, whose domain scope is the orbital space environemnt, including space situational awareness (SSA), here collectively called the 'Orbital Space Domain'. The ontologies will provide formal representaitons of orbits, orbital phenomena & knowledge, space objects (spacecraft, orbital debris), spacecraft maneuvers, orbital events, and other related entities, as well as space traffic management concepts. These entities will be delineated into modular ontologies the whole of which may be merged into a single space domain ontology file. It is intended to be applicable to any central body or orbital reference frame, i.e., to any planet, and internationally applicable. Project landing page: http://purl.org/space-ontology. Contact the author for the ontology files.

The following ontologies are conceived as part of a modular architecture. All presently need sponsorship, funding, or a work opportunity to continue development. Some or all may compse a single ontology I call the Orbital Space Onology (OSO) or The Space Domain Ontology. Alternative names are 'orbital space domain ontology' (OSDO), and 'orbital space environment domain ontology' (OSEDO). In isolation, modular ontologies can be used for specific applications or offices, e.g. NASA's Orbital Debris Office may use ODO: The Orbital Debris Ontology.

Ontologies to develop

(subject to revision, merger, etc.)

  • ODO - The Orbital Debris Ontology An ontology for orbital debris objects. https://purl.org/space-ontology/odo
  • SSAO - The Space Situational Awareness Ontology An ontology for SSA processes yielding knowledge of orbital space environment https://purl.org/space-ontology/ssao
  • OO - The Orbital Ontology Core (the "Orbitology Ontology") An general purpose ontology for (i) fundamental orbital concepts, (ii) representing the orbits of any satellite, (iii) providing a common orbital terminology for other ontologies. This will serve as a core ontology of high-level domain-specific classes for orbital entities for space domain ontologies.
  • The Celestial Orbit Type Ontology (the Gravitaitonal/Astronomical Orbit Type Ontology) An ontology of orbital categories. A taxonomy of orbits.
  • OSO/OSDO/OSEDO - The Orbital Space Ontology / Orbital Space Domain Ontology / Orbital Space Environment Domain Ontology The broadest scope encompassing and consisting of the following ontologies. A generic formal represenation for the orbital space about any central body or astronomical reference frame.
  • OEO - Orbital Event & Process Ontology An ontology of occurrences in orbit, e.g. collisions
  • OOO - Orbital Object Ontology An ontology of objects in orbital motion about some central body or barycenter.
  • Space Mission Ontology An ontology of generic Space mission design concepts.
  • NESEO - THe Near-Earth Space Environment Ontology An ontology specifically for the near-Earth environment. This can be an ontological model of instance data, whereas OSO and the SSAO capture universal concepts.
  • AMO - The Astrodynamics Modeling Ontology An ontology of the astrodynamic models for objects in orbits.
  • SWO - Space Weather Ontology An ontology of space weather phenomena as contrasted with space artefacs such as artificial orbital debris. SWO classes may be found in existing astronomy ontologies(TBD)
  • UCSSO - The Union of Concerned Scientists Satellite Ontology A case-study demonstration of building an ontology for a specific database. This is an ontology for UCS Satellite Database, not intended for any other (but intended to show that the SSAO or the OSO can be used for any database). https://purl.org/space-ontology/ucsso
  • STMO - The Space Traffic Management Ontology An ontology of the STM domain, to include organization, coordination and other activities for traffic in the orbital space environment.

Status & Desiderata

  • Some under development, others concepts to be developed. All Subject to revision. No claims to completeness.
  • Need funding, sponsorship, employment option, and/or partners to complete work
  • Seeking professors interested in me as a PhD student for this project.
  • Currently independently pursued by the author so an opportunity and resources is needed to thoroughly develop the ontologies as envisioned. Interested parties should make contact. Informaticisits, Astrodynamicists, computer scientistis, ontology engineers, AI professionals, etc. are needed to realize the vision.

SEEKING sponsorship or other funded opportunities to sustainably continue development. Personal opportunnities of interest include:

  • A university degree studentship (a BS or MS in a space discipline; or a PhD in ontology, philosophy, or interdisciplinary)
  • An employment contract
  • Grants (e.g., with NASA, ESA, EU, etc.)
  • University professors and companies to partner with and apply for grants
  • Partners, coauthors, etc.

The scope of each ontology will overalp--there will be a set of ontology terms shared among the subdomain ontologies. This set of classes will tentatively be placed in an ontology file to be imported as a core ontology for the others.

Example Users

  • A planetary orbit visualization application by Dr.Daniel O'Neil, NASA MSFC.

Creator/Author/Developer

Robert J. Rovetto rrovetto[at]terpalum.umd.edu, ontologos[at]yahoo[dot]com Ontologist, Philosopher, Astronautical Ontologist. Research Affiliate, Center for Orbital Debris Education and Research (CODER), University of Maryland National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) Datanauts, 2017 Alumnus of Univ.of Maryland, & The State University of New York. Space studies coursework from American Military University. AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Committee AIAA Space Architecture Committee on Standards Education Committee, International association for Ontology and its Applicaitons

Publications

History, Author Bio-Contextual-Efforts

This has been a pursuit since 2011 when I thought of applying ontology to the orbital debris domain to help ameliorate the OD hazard via ontology-based data-sharing and integration (verifying documents and references available upon request). I continue to search for an opportunity to work sustainably on and complete this project, ideally in a team environment with professionals with the required knowledge, e.g., astrodynamics, astroinformatics, computer science, and ontological engineering. I have developed enough paper concepts to make this a PhD project, but also seek to enter a space discipline degree program, with astronauitcs and orbital dynamics being my original passions.

License

Copyright (c) Robert J. Rovetto 2011-2020.

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