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The Use of Meteor Radars in the Detection of Infalling Space Debris

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

D.I. Olsson-Steel  and
W.G. Elford
D.I. Olsson-Steel
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Mathematical Physics, University of Adelaide, G.P.O.Box 498, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
W.G. Elford
Affiliation:
Spaceguard Orbital Debris Analysts, 51 Warwick Street, Enfield, SA 5085, Australia

Abstract

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Radars of various configurations are used to detect the flux of meteors into the atmosphere, and therefore may be of use in characterizing the artificial meteors produced by small (100 microns - 1 cm) pieces of space debris upon re-entry. Both conventional and over-the-horizon radars are discussed here, and the ways in which they may be deployed in order to detect infalling space debris are outlined.

Type
Space Debris
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 112: Light Pollution, Radio Interference, and Space Debris , 1991 , pp. 166 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 1991

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