Analysis and simulation of a ground-based radar for space debris detection

• Autor(a) principal: Adams, Jason Earl Baptista
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/27084

Space debris, most commonly known as space junk, has become a problematic issue for the orbit placement of satellites. They can cause serious damage or disable costly systems and can potentially produce injuries to astronauts on missions in outer space. Space Agencies like NASA and more recently ESA have put in place several programs for space debris tracking, using a combination of optical and radio telescopes. These programs currently survey almost 20 000 debris pieces larger than 5 cm. Portugal is considering becoming a member of the Space Survey and Tracking (SST) program using the Azores as a platform for the installation of a radar, capable of tracking debris objects in the sky between 300 – 1800 km. In order to investigate the properties required for such a space infrastructure, one needs to model radio telescope responses. This dissertation lays out fundamental radar principles for the operational needs of a radar, notions of Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), Radar Cross Section (RCS), pulse integration techniques are presented along the way. These principles were used for performance simulation of the soon to be installed antenna in Flores, Azores in a monostatic configuration. The calculated values show the antenna’s capability in detecting medium to low sized orbital debris in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). For comparison reasons, the performance of another Azorean radar in a more powerful setup was also shown in order to demonstrate the necessary detection capabilities in Geostationary Orbit (GEO)