Tracking the space debris from the Changchun Observatory

Changchun Observatory tracked Space Debris since Feb. 2014. This paper presents the technologies and results of Changchun station for space debris laser ranging (DLR) system. The system operates with a laser of 60 mJ/10 ns/500 Hz@532 nm laser and an optical camera for closed-loop tracking. Target selection assistant was introduced to DLR system. To represent the probability of return, the rebound index was calculated. Data identification was implemented in tracking control software and data processing. To improve the return rate, Range Bias/Time Bias is auto-corrected in the tracking software. The aim of this paper is to show the results and the analysis of the space debris observed during the period from the year 2014 to the year 2016. There are 491 passes observed for 232 different space debris targets were obtained during 35 terminator sessions. The observed targets are ranging between 460 km to 1800 km, with Radar Cross Sections (RCS) from \(>15~\mbox{m}^{2}\) to \(<1.0~\mbox{m}^{2}\). The Root Mean Square (RMS) value of the range is measured to be less than 1 m for small targets, due to the 10 ns laser pulse length while for large objects it can reach up to 3.5 meters.