GESTRA - upgrading to future distributed phased array radar networks for space surveillance

More and more objects are orbiting the Earth. Especially mega-constellations lead to a big number of artificial objects in space, both active and debris. This increasing amount of space debris is becoming more and more dangerous for human spaceflight. An accurate catalogue of the debris particles orbiting the Earth enables satellites to avoid collisions. The space surveillance radar GESTRA, which was developed by Fraunhofer FHR, is a first step to create a German catalogue of objects in space. Additional transmitter and receiver units are built to create a distributed phased array radar network to increase the detection performance and accuracy of the GESTRA systems, allowing to detect even smaller debris particles with simultaniously decreased estimation uncertainity.