Space Situational Awareness Sensors

Hensoldt (formerly the sensor division of Airbus Defence and Space, spun off as an independent company in 2017) is a German defense electronics company producing radar, optical, and signals intelligence systems. Hensoldt has developed dedicated space situational awareness (SSA) sensor systems that contribute to tracking the 30,000+ catalogued space objects and the hundreds of thousands of uncatalogued debris fragments that pose collision risks to operational satellites.

Hensoldt’s TIRA (Tracking and Imaging Radar) at Wachtberg, Germany, is one of Europe’s most capable space surveillance sensors — a 34 m L-band (1.3 GHz) phased array radar capable of detecting satellites in LEO and GEO with centimeter-scale imaging resolution using Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) techniques. TIRA has imaged the ISS, Hubble Space Telescope, and numerous debris objects in detail.

Hensoldt also produces the MSSS (Multi-function Space Surveillance Sensor) — a telescope-based electro-optical system for cataloguing debris in the 10 cm – 1 m size range that radar struggles with at GEO distances. Hensoldt’s SSA sensors feed data to ESA’s SSA program and Germany’s GSSAC (German Space Situational Awareness Centre) for conjunction analysis and collision avoidance services. The company is listed on Frankfurt Stock Exchange.