  The orbital and attitude dynamics of uncontrolled Earth orbiting objects are
perturbed by a variety of sources. In research, emphasis has been put on
operational space vehicles. Operational satellites typically have a relatively
compact shape, and hence, a low area-to-mass ratio (AMR), and are in most cases
actively or passively attitude stabilized. This enables one to treat the orbit
and attitude propagation as decoupled problems, and in many cases the attitude
dynamics can be neglected completely. The situation is different for space
debris objects, which are in an uncontrolled attitude state. Furthermore, the
assumption that a steady-state attitude motion can be averaged over data
reduction intervals may no longer be valid. Additionally, a subset of the
debris objects have significantly high area-to-mass ratio values, resulting in
highly perturbed orbits, e.g. by solar radiation pressure, even if a stable AMR
value is assumed. This assumption implies a steady-state attitude such that the
average cross-sectional area exposed to the sun is close to constant.
Time-varying solar radiation pressure accelerations due to attitude variations
will result in un-modeled errors in the state propagation. This work
investigates the evolution of the coupled attitude and orbit motion of HAMR
objects. Standardized pieces of multilayer insulation are simulated in near
geosynchronous orbits. It is assumed that the objects are rigid bodies and are
in uncontrolled attitude states. The integrated effects of the Earth
gravitational field and solar radiation pressure on the attitude motion are
investigated. The light curves that represent the observed brightness
variations over time in a specific viewing direction are extracted. A sensor
model is utilized to generate light curves with visibility constraints and
magnitude uncertainties as observed by a standard ground based telescope.
