Haystack Ultrawideband Satellite Imaging Radar
Abstract
Since the launch of satellites into Earth orbits more than 50 years ago, space has become crowded. Commercial and military satellites, both active and defunct, share the space environment with an assortment of space debris, such as remnants of damaged spacecraft and spent rocket boosters. This profusion of orbiting objects could seriously threaten space assets, such as the International Space Station or NASA s science missions such as the Hubble Space Telescope. Moreover, the global proliferation of satellites for communications, geospatial navigation services, and environmental monitoring is making the safeguarding of space and spacecraft more challenging than ever before. Necessary to protecting the integrity of the space environment is accurate space situational awareness that is, knowledge of the identity, location, behavior, and capabilities of objects orbiting in space. Providing such awareness is the mission of the U.S. Space Surveillance Network (SSN), a network of optical and radar sensors that detect, track, and collect data to characterize objects orbiting Earth.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA625766
Entities
People
- Joseph Usoff
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology