Журнал

About Editorial Board Information for authors and reviewers Publication ethics Contacts User Account: send / review a manuscript
Archive
Volume 22, 2025
Номер 1
Volume 21, 2024
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5 Number 6
Volume 20, 2023
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5 Number 6
Volume 19, 2022
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5 Number 6
Volume 18, 2021
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5 Number 6
Volume 17, 2020
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5 Number 6 Number 7
Volume 16, 2019
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5 Number 6
Volume 15, 2018
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5 Number 6 Number 7
Volume 14, 2017
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5 Number 6 Number 7
Volume 13, 2016
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5 Number 6
Volume 12, 2015
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5 Number 6
Volume 11, 2014
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4
Volume 10, 2013
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4
Volume 9, 2012
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5
Volume 8, 2011
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4
Volume 7, 2010
Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4
Issue 6, 2009
Volume 1 Volume 2
Issue 5, 2008
Volume 1 Volume 2
Issue 4, 2007
Volume 1 Volume 2
Issue 3, 2006
Volume 1 Volume 2
Issue 2, 2005
Volume 1 Volume 2
Issue 1, 2004
Volume 1
Search
Find:
русский
ISSN 2070-7401 (Print), ISSN 2411-0280 (Online)
Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa
CURRENT PROBLEMS IN REMOTE SENSING OF THE EARTH FROM SPACE

  

Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2024, Vol. 21, No. 5, pp. 130-146

Radar monitoring of small-sized space debris objects

A.I. Baskakov 1 , A. A. Komarov 1 , V. A. Permyakov 1 
1 National Research University "Moscow Power Engineering Institute", Moscow, Russia
Accepted: 01.10.2024
DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2024-21-5-130-146
The task of ground-based radar monitoring of single small-sized objects of space debris (SD) about 1 cm or less in length, even in low Earth orbits, is extremely difficult due to the requirements of high energy and radar resolution. However, the appearance of small-sized objects is associated with the destruction of larger fractions of SD and therefore, as a rule, these are not single objects. Therefore, it is proposed to consider monitoring of not a single small SD element, but a “swarm” of such small-sized objects. In this case, as a first approximation, we can limit ourselves to determining the values of parameters that characterize the structure of the cloud of small-sized SD objects on average. The article uses a multi-point model of an extended group target with random statistically independent partial reflectors that fill a certain area of space with small-sized objects randomly distributed throughout the volume of the SD cloud. In the radial direction, the distribution of small-sized fractions of SD corresponds to the Gaussian distribution relative to a certain average value of orbit height. In the longitudinal direction, the distribution of SD elements is equally probable. It is proposed to estimate the average size of a debris cloud from the variance of the altitude (radial) spread of small-sized debris elements, which is determined by the two-frequency cross-correlation function of radar echo signals reflected from a swarm of small-sized fractions of debris. It is shown that with a high angular resolution of a ground-based radar antenna operating in the beam-park mode of vertical sounding, the necessary sensitivity to the radial extent of the cloud of small-sized fractions of SD is achieved. Narrowing of the antenna radiation pattern one can achieve either by inversely synthesizing the antenna aperture in each frequency channel along the direction of flight of the SD, or by using phased adaptive antenna arrays instead of radio telescopes with bulky mirror antennas. By narrowing the beam of the radar antenna one makes it possible to eliminate the influence of the decorrelating factor on the mutual two-frequency correlation coefficient and increase the sensitivity of measurements.
Keywords: space debris, radar monitoring, multi-point model, extended group target, scattering characteristics, reflected signal model, two-frequency cross-correlation function
Full text

References:

  1. Baskakov A. I., Min-Ho Ka, Terekhov V. A., Estimation of the ordinates of sea waves by the two-frequency cross-correlation function of the reflected signals during the nadir synthesis of the antenna aperture, Radiotekhnika, 2006, No. 12, pp. 37–41 (in Russian).
  2. Veniaminov S. S., Kosmitcheskii musor — ugroza tchelovetchestvu (Space debris is a threat to humanity), Moscow: IKI RAS, 2013, 208 p. (in Russian).
  3. Kobak V. O., Radiolokatsionnye otrazhateli (Radar reflectors), Moscow: Sovetskoe radio, 1975, 248 p. (in Russian).
  4. Kosmitcheskii musor. V 2 kn. Kn. 1. Metody nablyudeniya i modeli kosmitcheskogo musora (Space debris. In 2 v. V. 1. Observation methods and models of space debris), G. G. Raikunov (ed.), Moscow: Fizmatlit, 2014, 248 p. (in Russian).
  5. Molotov I. E., Volvach A. E., Konovalenko A. A., Falkovich I. S., Litvinenko L. N., Negoda A. A., Fedorov O. P., Lipatov B. N., Gorshenkov Yu. N., Agapov V. P., Tukkary G., Liu Sh., International experiments on the study of near-Earth objects using the VLBI method, Kosmitcheskaya nauka i tekhnologii, 2004, Vol. 10, No. 2/3, pp. 87–92 (in Russian).
  6. Nazarenko A. I., Modelirovanie kosmitcheskogo mysora (Space debris modeling), Moscow: IKI RAS, 2013, 216 p. (in Russian).
  7. Tikhonov V. I., Statisticheskaya radiotekhnika (Statistical radioengineering), Moscow: Radio i svyaz, 1982, 682 p. (in Russian).
  8. Liou J-C., Risks from orbital debris and space situational awareness, IAA Conf. Space Situational Awareness (ICSSA), 2020, Article JSC-E-DAA-TN76975, 27 p.
  9. Matney M., Small debris observations from the Iridium 33/Cosmos-2251 collision, Orbital Debris Quarterly News, 2010, Vol. 14, Issue 2.