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Europe Sets Sights On Asteroid Tracking Radars

Posted by Soulskill on from the bruce-willis-bat-signal dept.

coondoggie writes "The European Space Agency today said it would develop a radar system that will be capable of tracking space hazards such as asteroids and orbital debris. ESA and France's Office National d'Etudes et Recherches Aérospatiales research center will work with five other partners in France, Spain and Switzerland to this month design a test surveillance radar and develop a $6 million demonstrator model."

2 of 44 comments (clear)

  1. They Aren't For Tracking Asteroids by careysub · · Score: 5, Informative

    The ESA radar systems are for tracking space debris orbiting the Earth not for tracking asteroids.

    Sheesh - can't the summary writer at least read TFA? (I know, I know, this is /.)

    --
    Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
    1. Re:They Aren't For Tracking Asteroids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not as hard as you would think. Radar is actually already in (relatively) wide use for asteroid research, since asteroids tend to have quite low albedos (ie., they're really dark) and aren't lit that well. It's often easier to get a radar image than a decent visible image...of course, that's if you already know where the asteroid is and can use a high-gain antenna (like Goldstone's) to not waste all your power.