Astronomers Use Unexpected Tool to Track Distant Space Junk
Using an amazing confluence of technology spanning half the world, astronomers with the ESA have managed to provide real-time tracking for small, elusive pieces of debris in distant orbit around Earth. Their project should prove a critical safeguard against the potentially catastrophic effects of a future cascading collision in space.
Radar instruments have been used to track space junk for a while, but only at much closer distances than geostationary orbit. When small objects get that far away, conventional radar instruments just aren't sensitive enough. Geostationary orbit is where some of the most critical space infrastructure lies, though, in particular GPS satellites, so it's just as important to track debris there.
The arrangement uses a radar installation at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory to send out radio waves that bounce off even small objects and return toward Earth. These are captured and analyzed at the UK's Lovell Telescope, an entire ocean away.
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