The search for debris in GEO Original Research Article

The debris population in and near the geosynchronous ring (GEO) is still poorly known. Most of the observational effort has been concentrated on low altitude regions where the spatial density of debris objects is higher than the estimated figures for GEO. However, the GEO ring is a unique environment for science and for commercial applications, and there is no natural removal mechanism in this region. Recent optical surveys with the NASA CCD-Debris-Telescope (CDT) and the ESA 1m telescope in Tenerife (Canary Islands) confirmed the existence of a previously suspected large population of small, uncatalogued debris objects in GEO. The number of detected debris per size class is steadily increasing down to the current observational limit of about 20 mag, corresponding to objects of 0.1 to 0.2 m in diameter. In total this new population outnumbers the catalogued population by a factor of two.