Italian activity in space debris measurements BT -

In the frame of the Italian Space Agency programme on Space Debris, the Measurement issue plays an important role. The paper deals with two of the activities which are currently going on in this field: 1. optical measurements: a semi-transportable optical observatory for space debris monitoring has been developed and is operative; 2. radar measurements of re-entering particles: a multi-static system for detecting meteoroids entering Earth atmosphere is being improved and used for re-entering orbiting debris too. The paper describes the mentioned facilities and the first results achieved.