James Rowland, LeoLabs, Inc.; Darren McKnight, LeoLabs, Inc.; Bonnie Prado Pino, LeoLabs, Inc.; Benedikt Reihs, Independent; Matthew Stevenson, LeoLabs, Inc.
Keywords: Radar, Low-Earth Orbit, Resident Space Objects, Tracking, Searching, Launch and Early Orbit Phase
Abstract:
We present the LeoLabs’ worldwide network of phased-array radars. Our network consists of four completed radar sites, two UHF and two S-band, with additional S-band radar sites under construction. The network is designed to search for and track all Resident Space Objects (RSOs) in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) down to a radar cross-sections (RCS) of -34dBsm (corresponding to a characteristic length of 2cm), providing critically needed Space Domain Awareness for the LEO environment.
There are an estimated 250,000 such RSOs in LEO, yet only the largest 10% are currently catalogued and tracked. Nonetheless, collisions with RSOs of this size still have the potential to cause catastrophic damage to operational satellites and to generate dramatic increases in the LEO debris population. Thus, the tracking and characterization of this RSO population is of critical importance to the continued, sustainable use of LEO.
We show quantitative analyses of the radar network’s range and doppler measurement characteristics. Comparisons to independent data sets demonstrate the instrumentation’s accuracy and precision, while comparisons amongst the radar sites demonstrate the self-consistency of our measurements and precision of our orbital state vector estimates. We also show simulated network performance in cataloging and tracking previously-uncatalogued RSOs. We provide statistics on this effort, as well as case studies.
In addition to tracking RSOs, the network has proven effective for tracking objects during the Launch and Early Orbit phase (LEOP) of LEO missions. We provide characterization of the network’s performance during LEOP operations, including examples from selected missions.
We conclude by showing that our radars are capable of detecting objects in Geostationary Orbit (GEO). This suggests that phased-array radars are a viable technology for tracking objects in GEO.
Date of Conference: September 14-17, 2021
Track: Optical Systems & Instrumentation