Upgrading the Sardinia Radio Telescope for space objects observation and tracking

Space debris are an important problem for space operations and a hot topic for the space surveillance research. A structured network of radar sensors is already present worldwide, giving vital information about the debris status. In recent years, also the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT), a 64 m dish located in Sardinia (Italy), has been inserted in the European plan for space debris monitoring, as a rec eiver in a bi static radar named BIRALET. Since the SRT is devoted to radio astronomy applications, and it is not optimized for space debris echo detection, the need for a space debris dedicated channel has emerged. In this thesis, a detailed description a nd characterization of the new P band receiving chain for space debris monitoring purposes of the SRT are presented. The new channel has been assessed in several space objects measurement campaigns. In this thesis are also reported results of numerical sim ulations performed to assess the performance of P band receiver of the SRT in terms of both observation capabilities and orbit determination accuracy during follow up observations. Since one of the limitations of the P band BIRALET system is the relatively low pointing speed of the SRT and the availability of only one beam, this work also investigates the advantages of using a Phased Array Feed in C band for space debris monitoring (e.g. improved sensitivity and gain, detection of the object trajectory allo wed by multiple beams, improvement of the orbit determination of known and unknown debris), as a receiver of the SRT.