The United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is the U.S. Department of Defense's authoritative source for the positions and motion of celestial bodies, motions of the Earth, and precise time. In order to provide accurate and timely position, navigation, and timing (PNT) services to DoD missions and programs, the USNO strives to resolve gaps in astronomical datasets by performing astrometry and photometry of numerous stars from various remote telescopes distributed worldwide. The current USNO telescope network consists of heterogenous hardware systems that require on-site personnel interacting with dissimilar hardware environments, leading to inefficient operations. To address these challenges, Numerica proposes to develop an innovative, repeatable, efficient, and testable remote telescope control hardware (RTC HW) system that uses standardized interfaces for maintaining data and network connection integrity. These standards will enforce policies put forth in the Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs), and requirements derived from Risk Management Framework (RMF) and Information Assurance (IA) practices. The proposed RTC HW system development will leverage Numerica's expertise deploying similar RTC HW systems for the Numerica Telescope Network (NTN).
Benefit: The proposed research and development will yield direct benefit to USNO telescope operators and analysts, by providing a unified remote telescope control capability that is repeatable, affordable, and durable. One of the primary benefits resulting from deployment of the proposed RTC HW solution would be a significant reduction in labor hours spent manning and operating USNO's heterogenous telescope systems. The proposed capability will also support future plans for USNO collection of data supporting the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) programs. Commercialization opportunities exist for both (i) other Government organizations that maintain global telescope networks (e.g., the U.S. Space Surveillance Network); and (ii) Numerica's own commercial space situational awareness (SSA) network. Additional transition paths will be identified during the Phase I.
Keywords: Remote Observatories, Remote Observatories, Sensors, Remote Telescope Control, Global Telescope Network, Command and Control
