Long baseline bistatic radar imaging of tumbling space objects for enhancing space domain awareness

Abstract

Long baseline bistatic radar systems herald enhanced sensitivity and metric accuracy for space objects in geosynchronous orbits and beyond. Radio telescopes are ideal participants in such a system; in particular, they often feature large apertures with low-noise temperatures and have stable, synchronised clocks. Pairing radio telescopes with high-power radars creates new methodologies for Space Domain Awareness. This paper describes long baseline bistatic measurements using the Millstone Hill Radar in the USA, the Tracking and Imaging Radar in Germany, multiple receivers of the enhanced multi-element remotely linked interferometer network array in the United Kingdom, and the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in the Netherlands. The authors, a Research Task Group formed by the NATO Science and Technology Organisation Sensors and Electronic Technology Panel (SET-293), performed novel bistatic and monostatic radar imaging experiments with real on-orbit tumbling rocket bodies. These experiments on tumbling objects at near-geosynchronous orbits highlight successful demonstrations of advanced bistatic Doppler characterisation across diverse imaging geometries. Specialised Doppler processing on tumbling targets, such as the Doppler superpulse algorithm, enables high-fidelity rotation period estimation and determination of minimum target size.