Long Baseline Radar Bistatic Measurements of Geostationary Satellites

Radar detection and tracking of resident space objects in Geosynchronous (GEO) orbits is challenging due to the loss in sensitivity at the extreme distance of 36,000 km and because of the proliferation of small satellites with decreased radar cross section. One option to increase sensitivity of existing monostatic radar sensors is to employ large aperture radio telescopes configured as bistatic receivers. In this paper we report on long baseline bistatic measurements using the Millstone Hill Radar (MHR) in the USA and three receivers in Europe: the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT) in Italy, the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) in the Netherlands and the Jodrell Bank Observatory (JBO) in the UK.