Millimeter Wave Interferometry for Near Field Imaging

Abstract

Space situational awareness is a growing concern as near Earth orbits become increasingly crowded due to a large number of new satellites for research, communication, and surveillance. As launching a satellite is a costly proposition, it would be highly beneficial to be able to visually assess the success and state of launched satellites. This dissertation demonstrates via simulation that the astronomical technique of interferometry can be used to achieve comparable or better images of objects in near Earth orbits than the current methods such as inverse synthetic aperture radar and optical telescopes with reduced cost/restrictions (lower power and not limited by solar illumination of objects to be imaged). After demonstrating the basic feasibility of interferometry for space situational awareness, this dissertation discusses a natural extension of the feasibility study including a bench top experiment, a full scale array using telescopes located around Arizona, and the capabilities of a space based interferometric array.