Shape and Orbit Estimation Techniques for Space Debris Observation Using the Middle and Upper Atmosphere Radar (MU radar)

摘要

The aim of our study is to develop a method of estimating the shape and orbit of space debris using the Middle and Upper atmosphere (MU) radar, which is basically used for atmospheric observation. This can lead to an expansion of the observation network for space debris without constructing a new observation facility. In previous research using MU radar, the Single-Range Doppler Interferometry (SRDI) method had been proposed to estimate the shape of space debris. In the SRDI method, the shape of space debris can be estimated from a 2D imaging that uses the information of a fluctuating Doppler spectrogram caused by its spin motion. We will present results of the shape estimation of actual observations using the SRDI method. As for orbit estimation, we developed a technique to determine orbital elements of space debris from plural position vectors estimated from observation. We conducted actual observations using MU radar and succeeded in estimating the orbital plane with good accuracy. In this paper, the basic idea and some results for both shape and orbit estimations are presented.