Orbital debris size estimation from radar cross section measurements

MIT Lincoln Laboratory has conducted a measurememt program for man-made orbital debris since 1991 in response to NASA's need to characterize the orbital debris population and facilitate manned spaceflight activities. The primary sensors used in that effort are the Haystack and Haystack Auxiliary (HAX) radars located at the Lincoln Space Surveillance Complex (LSSC) in Westford, Massachusetts. This paper will describe the first year results from a new effort being conducted at LSSC, the objective of which is to assess NASA's current procedure for the determination of debris size from RCS data. RCS data will be acquired from NASA-selected 43 Resident Space Objects (RSO). Results will be compared to the size estimates from the FPS-85 radar, an asset of the Space Surveillance Network.