Space Debris Observations with the Sardinia Radio Telescope

Space debris are manmade objects orbiting around Earth that represent a growing problem for on-going and future space operations. In order to avoid possible collisions between debris and spacecraft and to monitor the objects during the re-entry process, gathering as much information as possible about them is a primary need. These information can be acquired by means of radar or optical measurements depending on the observing scenario. Among the worldwide radio telescopes, the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT) is a new comer in the space debris detection plan. Although it has been used for several years to acquire and analyze distant radio astronomical sources, only recently it has been tested for space debris detection purposes. For this reason the research group of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the University of Cagliari, in collaboration with the Cagliari Astronomical Observatory (OAC), has studied a set of upgrades for the L-P band receiver of the SRT, in order to make the antenna a suitable instrument within the European space debris detection plan. This doctoral dissertation focuses on the characterization and upgrade of the receiving system and on the test of the whole receiving chain before and after the upgrade.