Evolution of Soliton Structures from Interaction with Radar Waves

In the space environment, there are sizable populations of sub-millimeter debris that are difficult to detect. This debris will accumulate charge through collisions with electrons while in orbit and conditions will be met where these charged objects excite nonlinear wave packets. These wave packets, also known as solitons, can either pin to the charged object or propagate ahead as precursors and have been proposed as a method for detecting and tracking debris (A. S. Truitt, C. M. Hartzell, “Simulating Plasma Solitons from Orbital Debris Using the Forced Korteweg-de Vries Equation,” Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, vol. 57, issue 5, Apr. 2020). Thus far, it is not well understood how these signatures register on preexisting diagnostic tools such as radar. We apply a numerical approach to characterize how, if at all, radar waves perturb the actual signature as an essential first step in modeling how these structures appear on radar.