Prototype Space Fence Now Tracking Actual Orbital Debris

This "fence" system, like some earlier fence systems, is called that because it's a bistatic (or multistatic) radar. The transmitters and receivers are at different locations, and the transmitted beam is not steered. Targets are located by time differences between what's received at multiple receivers. The previous system [wikipedia.org] had three transmitter sites and six receiver sites, spread across the US.

Fence systems are somewhat specialized, but a good way to find everything that crosses the fence volume. Once the RF gear is in place, it's mostly a processing problem. Unlike regular radars, there's no useful information without correlating multiple receiving stations.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/RZCysmJBgU4/prototype-space-fence-now-tracking-actual-orbital-debris

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