This paper proposes a low budget solution to detect and possibly track space debris and satellites in Low Earth Orbit. The concept consists of a space-borne radar installed on a cubeSat flying at low altitude and detecting the occultations of radio signals coming from existing satellites flying at higher altitudes. The paper investigates the feasibility and performance of such a passive bistatic radar system. Key performance metrics considered in this paper are: the minimum size of detectable objects, considering visibility and frequency constraints on existing radio sources, the receiver size, and the compatibility with current cubeSat's technology. Different illuminator types and receiver altitudes are considered under the assumption that all illuminators and receivers are on circular orbits.


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    Title :

    CubeSat-Based Passive Bistatic Radar for Space Situational Awareness: A Feasibility Study




    Publication date :

    2019-02-01


    Size :

    2381995 byte




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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