Abstract
Space debris monitoring is nowadays a priority for worldwide space agencies, due to the serious threat that these objects present. More and more efforts have been made to extend the network of available radar systems devoted to the control of space. A meticulous review has been done in this paper, in order to find and classify the considerable amounts of data provided by the scientific community that deal with RADAR measurement for the debris monitoring and tracking. The information gathered is organized based on the volume of found data and classified taking into account the geographical location of the facilities.
Highlights
Space debris is composed of manmade objects, once part of spacecraft, that orbit theEarth
An extensive and complete review of the measurement campaigns performed by the space surveillance sensors is still missing from the open literature. Since it would be overly complicated considering every type of sensor for space debris detection, i.e., radar, optical and laser, this review aims to accomplish at least part of this task, taking into account only the radar sensors
This review aims to gather and assemble as much information as possible on radar measurements on space debris, displaying them in an informative and understandable fashion
Summary
Space debris is composed of manmade objects, once part of spacecraft, that orbit the. Very large debris, which cannot be entirely vaporized by friction with the atmosphere during the reentry process, has a very small but definitely not negligible probability of reaching a populated area Given these hazards represented by the debris, worldwide space agencies have mobilized in order to set up a monitoring program and define the so-called mitigation procedures, namely the body of countermeasures employed to contain the risk. Ground-based radars, optical telescopes and laser systems are employed to detect, track and catalogue objects larger than 5–10 cm in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO), the most populated one, and those larger than 0.3–1.0 m at greater altitudes (Medium and Geostationary Earth Orbits—MEO and GEO) [4] Starting from this assumption it does not come as a surprise that countless space surveillance sites are scattered all over the globe, composing a dense network that acts as a massive ever-watching “eye” on the space environment. This classification choice aims to identify a specific sensor within a wider network, and to highlight its belonging to the local space agency and/or government organization, helping the reader to understand the operating context of these sensors
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