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.
It’s the result of over seven years of effort and can now deliver actionable insights to space agencies and companies in need of such intelligence.
The emphasis is on the word “actionable.” This isn’t just about studying space for posterity. As mentioned in the video above, the people who need this information need it to be up to date, more than anything else. They need it to be close enough to real time that potential threats can at least potentially be actively avoided.
The other interesting wrinkle is the mention of threats, including both natural and “hostile” in nature. That demonstrates how this system tracks objects in general, not just “junk,” meaning it could absolutely reveal the movements of operational space technology.
The next step seems to be building out the network for radar receivers, allowing the system to cross-reference sightings of the same object from multiple perspectives. This should enable tracking of objects in three dimensions and provide much greater specificity about the potential dangers posed.
For now, the current successes are more than enough of a proof of concept to motivate that kind of expansion of the system. It could supplement the current technique of using optical telescopes to sweep the skies, and provide a more modern, scalable solution for the future.
