journal article·2019-09-30Open access

Orbit Determination of Resident Space Objects Using the P-Band Mono-Beam Receiver of the Sardinia Radio Telescope

Matteo Losacco, Luca Schirru

Applied Sciences· Volume 9· Issue 19

Abstract

The population of space debris in near-Earth space is continuously growing and it represents a serious problem for active satellites and spacecraft. A performant ground-based and space-based network of sensors is necessary for space surveillance and consequently to prevent new collisions and monitoring atmospheric reentry of these objects. This paper illustrates the possible role of the Italian ground-based novel bi-static radar sensor, named BIRALET, for space monitoring and resident space objects tracking. The main characteristics of the receiver system, the Sardinia Radio Telescope with its P-band mono-beam receiver, are described in detail. Then, a preliminary analysis of the performance of the sensor is presented, and the results of numerical simulations are shown, providing a general overview on both observation capabilities and orbit determination accuracy achievable with the Sardinia Radio Telescope.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics · Space Satellite Systems and Control · Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano, Via G. La Masa 34, 20156 Milano, Italy

National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Cagliari Astronomical Observatory, Via della Scienza 5, 09047 Selargius, Italy

References (23)

Show source-provided references
1. Muntoni, G., Schirru, L., Pisanu, T., Montisci, G., Valente, G., Gaudiomonte, F., Serra, G., Urru, E., Ortu, P., and Fanti, A. (2017). Space Debris Detection in Low Earth Orbit with the Sardinia Radio Telescope. Electronics, 6.10.3390/electronics6030059 ↗
2. Klinkrad, H. (2006). The Current Space Debris Environment and its Sources. Space Debris—Models and Risk Analysis, Springer.10.1007/3-540-37674-7_2 ↗
3. Weeden, B., Cefola, P., and Sankaran, J. (2010, January 14–17). Global Space Situational Awareness Sensors. Proceedings of the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance (AMOS) Conference, Maui, HI, USA.
4. Vallado, D.A., and Griesbach, J.D. (August, January 31). Simulating Space Surveillance Networks. Proceedings of the AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Girdwood, AK, USA.
5. Masekell, P., and Lorne, O. (2008, January 16–19). Sapphire: Canada’s Answer to Space-Based Surveillance of Orbital Objects. Proceedings of the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance (AMOS) Conference, Maui, HI, USA.
6. Space Debris Measurement Using Joint Mid-Latitude and Equatorial Optical Observations10.1109/TAES.2013.120272 ↗
7. Ender, J., Leushacke, L., Brenner, L., and Wilden, H. (2011, January 7–9). Radar Techniques for Space Situational Awareness. Proceedings of the IEEE International Radar Symposium (IRS), Leipzig, Germany.
8. Real-time space debris monitoring with EISCAT10.1016/j.asr.2005.03.038 ↗
9. The COBEAM-1/96 Experiment10.1016/S0273-1177(98)00226-9 ↗
10. Wilden, H., Kirchner, C., Peters, O., Ben Bekhti, N., Brenner, A., and Eversberg, T. (2016, January 18–21). GESTRA—A Phased-Array Based Surveillance and Tracking Radar for Space Situational Awareness. Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array Systems and Technology (PAST), Waltham, MA, USA.10.1109/ARRAY.2016.7832621 ↗
11. Losacco, M., Di Lizia, P., Massari, M., Mattana, A., Perini, F., Schiaffino, M., Bortolotti, C., Roma, M., Naldi, G., and Pupillo, G. (2018, January 1–5). The multibeam radar sensor BIRALES: Performance assessment for space surveillance and tracking. Proceedings of the 69th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Bremen, Germany.10.1109/AERO.2019.8741525 ↗
12. Pisanu, T., Schirru, L., Urru, E., Gaudiomonte, F., Ortu, P., Bianchi, G., Bortolotti, C., Roma, M., Muntoni, G., and Montisci, G. (2018, January 14–17). Upgrading the Italian BIRALES System to a Pulse Compression Radar for Space Debris Range Measurements. Proceedings of the 22nd International Microwave and Radar Conference (MIKON), Poznan, Poland.10.23919/MIKON.2018.8405212 ↗
13. Muntoni, G., Schirru, L., Montisci, G., Pisanu, T., Valente, G., Ortu, P., Concu, R., Melis, A., Saba, A., and Gaudiomonte, F. A Space Debris Dedicated Channel for the P-Band Receiver of the Sardinia Radio Telescope. IEEE Antennas Propag. Mag., in press.
14. Schirru, L., Muntoni, G., Pisanu, T., Urru, E., Valente, G., Gaudiomonte, F., Ortu, P., Melis, A., Concu, R., and Bianchi, G. (2017, January 13–15). Upgrading the Sardinia Radio Telescope to a Bistatic Tracking Radar for Space Debris. Proceedings of the 1st IAA Conference on Space Situational Awareness (ICSSA), Orlando, FL, USA.
15. Tapley, B.D., Schutz, B.E., and Born, G.H. (2004). Statistical Orbit Determination, Elsevier Academic Press.10.1016/B978-012683630-1/50020-5 ↗
16. Vallado, D.A., Hujsak, R.S., Johnson, T.M., Seago, J.H., and Woodburn, J.W. (2019, September 23). Orbit Determination using ODTK version 6. Available online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277238110_Orbit_Determination_Using_ODTK_Version_6.
17. (2019, September 23). ExoAnalytic solutions. Available online: https://exoanalytic.com/space-situational-awareness/.
18. Sardinia Radio Telescope: General Description, Technical Commissioning, and First Light10.1142/S2251171715500087 ↗
19. A Novel Application of the Active Surface of the Shaped Sardinia Radio Telescope for Primary-Focus Operations10.1109/LAWP.2014.2350034 ↗
20. Schirru, L., Pisanu, T., Navarrini, A., Urru, E., Gaudiomonte, F., Ortu, P., and Montisci, G. (2019, January 2–6). Advantages of Using a C-band Phased Array Feed as a Receiver in the Sardinia Radio Telescope for Space Debris Monitoring. Proceedings of the IEEE 2nd Ukraine Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (UKRCON), Lviv, Ukraine.10.1109/UKRCON.2019.8879919 ↗
21. Valente, G., Pisanu, T., Bolli, P., Mariotti, S., Marongiu, P., Navarrini, A., Nesti, R., Orfei, A., and Roda, J. (2010). The Dual Band L-P Feed System for the Sardinia Radio Telescope prime focus. Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V, Proceedings of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, San Diego, CA, USA, 15 July 2010, International Society for Optics and Photonics.10.1117/12.857306 ↗
22. Investigation of Reference Frames and Tim Systems in Multi-GNSS10.3390/rs10010080 ↗
23. Wan, E., and Van Der Merwe, R. (2001). Chapter 7: The Unscented Kalman Filter. Kalman Filtering and Neural Networks, Wiley.10.1002/0471221546.ch7 ↗