Germany's Eye on Space – the Tracking and Imaging Radar Tira

With the increasing number of satellites and use of near-Earth space for communication, remote sensing, navigation, defence and security services, the importance of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) is growing. Radar is crucial for SSA as it detects space objects and gathers data for dynamic analysis. Radar identifies satellites and space debris, measures orbital parameters like distance and velocities for Space Surveillance allowing the prediction of trajectories in the framework of Space Traffic Management and collision avoidance tasks. Wideband imaging radar technology providing high-resolution images of objects in space plays a particularly important role in SSA and makes important contributions to the field of Space Reconnaissance. This article explains the development of ground-based radar for space observations taking as a case-study the Tracking and Imaging Radar TIRA of Fraunhofer FHR in Wachtberg, Germany. The article describes the evolution of the TIRA system from the post-war period to the present day.