Arizona’s space brain trust just got a major new mission, and this one is looking a little closer to home.
The University of Arizona has signed a three-year, $8.6 million cooperative agreement with the U.S. Space Force to develop a new imaging system designed to advance space domain awareness. Translation: better ways to monitor and understand the increasingly crowded, complicated and high-stakes neighborhood above Earth.
The effort is called the Strategic Space Technology Institute for Ultra-High-Resolution Imaging at Millimeter Wavelengths, or SURe. Led from Tucson, the project will expand a network of ground-based antennae, also known as radio telescopes, and improve data analysis methods to detect and image satellites orbiting Earth.
A New Mission Above Earth
“For decades, the University of Arizona has redefined how we explore the farthest reaches of space – from mapping the moon and Mars to helping capture the first image of a black hole,” Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, senior vice president for research and partnerships, says. “Now, in partnership with the U.S. Space Force, we are applying those same world-class capabilities closer to home. We are adapting our astronomical tools used for studying distant objects to enable observations of the dynamic environment of satellites orbiting the Earth. We are delivering unprecedented clarity in support of national security. This effort shows that our legacy of discovery is not only about exploration – it is essential to the nation’s safety and long-term strategic strength.”
The timing is not exactly casual. According to Christopher Walker, U of A astronomy professor and director of the SURe project, the number of satellites in orbit around Earth is growing quickly. Thousands more are expected to launch by 2030, adding to congestion, collision risks and competition in the region between Earth and the moon.
That orbital traffic spans multiple zones. Low Earth orbit, or LEO, reaches up to about 1,200 miles above Earth and includes the area where the International Space Station operates. Medium Earth orbit, or MEO, stretches from about 1,243 to 22,236 miles above sea level and is commonly used for navigation systems such as GPS. Geosynchronous orbit, or GEO, sits much higher and is useful for certain communication and meteorological satellites because objects there move in sync with Earth’s rotation.
How Tucson Plans to See More
SURe’s job is to help see what is happening out there with sharper detail.
The team will gather images of satellites using multiple radio antennae, some mobile and some stationed at permanent sites. Together, those antennae are known as the Arizona Array, with diameters ranging from about the length of a couch to the length of a house: 2 meters, 6.1 meters, 10 meters and 12 meters.
The science gets wonderfully brainy. The array uses very long baseline interferometry, a technique that lets researchers combine signals from multiple widely separated antennae to create images with the spatial resolution of a much larger antenna. It is a method traditionally used to study extremely distant objects, including the event horizon of a supermassive black hole. Now, the U of A team is adapting it to study satellites circling Earth.
“By looking at the differences in what each antenna detects, we can reconstruct what an image of the satellite would look like if it had been observed by a really giant antenna or telescope,” Buell Jannuzi, U of A principal investigator, director of Steward Observatory and head of the Department of Astronomy, says.
Smarter Signals, Sharper Images
To make sense of those signals, the team will use software and analysis techniques developed at the U of A. The method compares radio waves received at each antenna, adjusts for timing and angle differences created by the antennae’s separation, and reconstructs satellite shapes, orientations and surface features with a level of detail beyond what a single practical-sized antenna could provide.
“SURe’s novel approach of combining millimeter-wave interferometric techniques with near-field correction and target illumination offers the potential for transformative change in the ability to detect, image and monitor objects in LEO, MEO and GEO,” Walker says. “We’ll achieve high-resolution imaging, day or night, even in poor weather conditions – capabilities that traditional optical telescopes or radar cannot provide.”
The U.S. Space Force funded SURe through the Space Strategic Technology Institute 4, a program focused on turning academic research into practical applications through a university consortium of government, academic and industry partners.
The project team includes the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the University of Virginia, with the work anchored in Tucson. Industry collaborators include Tucson-based FreeFall Aerospace Inc. and Rincon Research Corp., along with DA2 Ventures in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Virginia Diodes in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Why It Matters Here
“The U of A is uniquely capable of leading this effort,” Walker says. “Together with our academic and industry partners, our team has the expertise to carry this off.”
Walker has also led major NASA efforts, including the $50 million NASA Explorer mission GUSTO, a long-duration balloon-borne observatory that flew above Antarctica for 57 days to map the gas and dust between stars, helping scientists understand how stars and galaxies form.
For Steward Observatory, SURe marks a new kind of partnership.
“SURe marks the first time Steward Observatory has applied its astronomy expertise in partnership with the U.S. Space Force,” Jannuzi says.
He says the work fits Steward’s long history of collaborating with federal agencies to support scientific research and national security space needs.
“It’s great to see this new partnership developing, highlighting how transformational research can impact not just basic science but also national interests,” Jannuzi says. “This work brings in funding from outside the state as part of the space science enterprise at the University of Arizona. Space science at the U of A generates more than $560 million annually in direct economic impact for the state.”
In other words, Tucson is not just gazing at the stars. It is helping keep watch over the increasingly busy space lanes above us.
See the full announcement and details here.
