Space Systems and Technology

Space Systems and Technology develops the technology to meet the challenges of an increasingly congested and contested space domain. Our engineers design, prototype, operate, and assess systems that detect, track, identify, and characterize resident space objects. Given the potential for conventional conflict to extend to space, we conduct R&D on concepts and systems that will provide space mission resilience.

We research and develop technology for advanced satellite systems that are used to monitor the activity of objects in space and to perform remote sensing of Earth. Our work focuses on the development of instruments, hardware, and algorithms that provide both space-based and ground-based systems with novel capabilities for detecting, tracking, and imaging objects in space and on Earth. We also manage the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program, which uses ground-based electro-optical sensors at a field site in Socorro, New Mexico, to find and catalog near-Earth objects, such as asteroids and comets. Since 1997, the LINEAR program has discovered 50% of the known asteroids in our solar system.