The company was awarded a Phase III SBIR Contract Award by AFRL to begin development.
WESTPORT, Conn.—AstronetX PBC was recently awarded a $3.5 million Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to develop a terrestrial prototype for its multi-purpose cislunar telescope network, the company said in a release.
Once operational, AstronetX’s network will be composed of telescopes distributed throughout cislunar space, providing persistent and pervasive commercial space science, space situational awareness, and space traffic coordination data that will complement and augment data from other sensors.
“There’s an exciting opportunity to incorporate new technologies into deep space multi-purpose imaging systems, including very large format commercial sensors that can simultaneously deliver high resolution and wide field of view, as well as innovative software algorithms for autonomous operations,” said AstronetX President and Chief Science Officer Jon Morse, Ph.D., in a statement. “We look forward to collaborating with other organizations providing cislunar transportation and communications infrastructure as we develop our capabilities.”
AstronetX’s multi-use commercial data services model is designed to meet the requirements of numerous customer segments, including government, universities, and research institutes, as well as the private sector.
“Our objective is to provide multi-use commercial data services from cislunar space to support the safety of autonomous and crewed missions, enable frontier space science studies, and respond to emerging markets in order to serve the growing needs of the Department of Defense and other United States government agencies, allied nations, the global science community, and the private sector,” said AstronetX Chief Operating Officer Robert Lasky, in the release. “With AFRL’s continued support, we’re able to begin developing the technology to deliver data for these important applications.”
AstronetX was previously awarded an AFWERX Direct-to-Phase II contract with matching funds from AFRL and USSF Space Systems Command in 2021 to design a lunar-based telescope concept. Under the Phase III SBIR contract, AstronetX will develop and test its telescope technology.
AstronetX is a Westport-based public benefit corporation that was established in 2019 to provide multi-purpose, space-based observational and database services to customers spanning government agencies, the space science community, and the private sector. Its services enable frontier research in the Earth and space sciences for the benefit of humanity, the company said.