🚀 go-pugleaf

Jeff Vincent
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                   January 19, 1989


RELEASE:  89-8

NASA SEEKS PROPOSALS FOR ORBITAL DEBRIS RADAR


     NASA has requested proposals from industry for a ground-
based radar that will quantify and characterize debris orbiting 
between 180 to 360 miles above Earth.  The radar would have the 
capability of detecting debris as small as 1 centimeter in 
diameter, contrasted with the 10-centimeter capability of current 
radar systems.

     The data gathered by the orbital debris radar are needed for 
designing the permanently manned Space Station Freedom.  Even the 
smallest pieces of orbital debris pose a potential hazard to 
spacecraft, so it is important that the pressurized modules of 
Freedom be built to withstand as much orbital debris damage as 
possible.  Space Station Freedom is planned to be in Earth orbit 
for up to 30 years.

     Information is extremely limited about the number and size 
of small debris pieces at the operational altitude range of the 
space station.  Preliminary experiments, using radar astronomy 
facilities, have suggested that the number of small debris 
particles at these altitudes may be higher than expected.  The 
new radar will provide definitive information about such debris, 
determining its size, altitude and orbital inclination.

     The orbital debris radar facility will conduct preliminary 
processing of data before sending it to NASA's Johnson Space 
Center, Houston, for further analysis and incorporation into 
models of the orbital debris environment.

     Under the request for proposals (RFP) issued today, an 
offeror would design, construct and test an orbital debris radar 
and associated hardware and software.  After a 5-month period of 
preliminary testing and operation at Goldstone, Calif., the 
offeror would be responsible for shipping the radar to an 
overseas location and then reestablishing and retesting the radar 
in preparation for operations at the overseas site.

     To meet Space Station Freedom design schedules, preliminary 
test results from the stateside location should be available by 
October 1991.  The overseas station should be operational by 
March 1992.  

     The deadline for responses to the RFP is 7 weeks after its 
release.  The firm, fixed-price contract will be managed by 
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.