Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Systems, devices, and methods for determining space object attitude stabilities from radar cross-section statistics
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Application No.: US16574464Application Date: 2019-09-18
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Publication No.: US11378685B2Publication Date: 2022-07-05
- Inventor: Matthew A. Stevenson , Michael Nicolls , Chris Rosner
- Applicant: LeoLabs, Inc.
- Applicant Address: US CA Menlo Park
- Assignee: LeoLabs, Inc.
- Current Assignee: LeoLabs, Inc.
- Current Assignee Address: US CA Menlo Park
- Agency: Dentons US LLP
- Main IPC: G01S13/933
- IPC: G01S13/933 ; G01S13/10

Abstract:
This disclosure enables various technologies for determining space object attitude stabilities from radar cross-section statistics. In particular, such determinations can be made via employing various phased-array radars with various fields of views, which can monitor various space objects (e.g., satellites, space debris, rocket bodies, space stations) over various periods of time (e.g., minutes, hours, days, weeks, months) as the space objects come into the fields of views. For example, a technique for estimating attitude stability of low-Earth RSOs using RCS statistics from various radars (e.g., group of radars, phased-array radar network). Assuming a non-isotropic shape, an Earth-oriented RSO can have an elevation-angle dependent RCS when viewed from a ground-based radar. Therefore, an RSO attitude stability can be tested by looking for a difference in a median or mean RCS when the RSO is viewed at different elevation angles.
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