ATLAS: Latest Advancements and First Observations
Pandeirada, J. Pandeirada
; Bergano , MB
;
Marques, P. M.
; Coelho, BC
; Barbosa , D.
;
Figueiredo, M. A. T.
Remote Sensing Vol. 16, Nº 4, pp. 704 - 704, February, 2024.
ISSN (print):
ISSN (online): 2072-4292
Scimago Journal Ranking: 1,09 (in 2023)
Digital Object Identifier: 10.3390/rs16040704
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Abstract
The increasing amount of space debris poses a significant threat to operational satellites and space-based services. This article updates the community on the current status of the development of ATLAS, a tracking radar that is part of the EUSST network and aims to detect space objects in low Earth orbits. This article focuses on the latest activities performed: calibration of the pointing system and initial observations of space objects. The calibration procedure consisted of cross-scanning the Solar disk and yielded great results, obtaining an offset of 5.3° in azimuth and 0.10° in elevation. The first observation campaign resulted in 33 range detections of the International Space Station (ISS) with a probability of false alarm of 1E-9. The observations were then used to readjust the radar equation to assess the real-world performance of the system.
