Space Technology

SRI's interdisciplinary teams provide integration skills, technology, and expertise in the management of complex projects to meet the evolving requirements of space missions and monitoring, including

  • Sources and sensors: from novel power components and imagers to robotics and microfabrication

  • Launch integration services: optimization of launch outcomes in collaboration with government clients

  • Mission assistance: from studies of space weather to entirely new mission concepts

  • Small satellite technologies: from pico- and nanoscale components to CubeSats

  • Novel devices: from the SRI-developed Spindt cold cathode emitter to microsystems for harsh environments

SRI's Center for Geospace Studies, Space Technology and Integration Program, and Center for Fracture Physics offer expertise gained from working with the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Specialized facilities and equipment suitable for tests in extreme conditions that mimic space environments include

  • MEMS fabrication facilities

  • Small satellite technology evaluation laboratory

  • CubeSat integration laboratory

  • Spacecraft materials integration laboratory

  • Space particle source test laboratory

  • RF ground systems

  • Avionics test facility

  • Thermal vacuum chambers

  • Clean rooms and other resources, such as Sensitive Compartmented Information facilities (SCIFs) for flight hardware

Projects

SRI researcher looks at a Deep STARE imager and camera system.
Deep-STARE Imager and Camera System

To keep astronauts, equipment, and satellites out of harm’s way, SRI provides a rare capability to quickly track tens of thousands of objects in near-Earth space.

Topics: Homeland Security + National Defense Imaging Technologies Intelligence, Surveillance + Reconnaissance Remote Sensing Space Technology
Two SRI researchers work on a RAX CubeSat
Radio Aurora Explorer (RAX) CubeSat

Disruptions in Earth's ionosphere from solar activity can cause communications blackouts, negatively affecting GPS and radio signals. SRI’s revolutionary small satellites offer a novel way to monitor such conditions.

Topics: Atmospheric Studies GPS Tracking + Precision Navigation Homeland Security + National Defense Satellite Technology Space Technology Systems Architecture + Engineering
spectral glow
Terrestrial Atmosphere Studies: Iron Oxide in the Mesosphere

Spectral emission studies reveal meteorites’ contribution to airglow.

Topics: Atmospheric Studies Space Technology

Products + Solutions

man in cleanroom prepares imaging products for delivery
Imaging Solutions

From sensor design and development to the packaging and manufacturing of high-performance sensors and cameras, SRI delivers a complete imaging solution.

Topics: Imaging Technologies Intelligence, Surveillance + Reconnaissance Low-Light CMOS Imaging Medical Imaging Remote Sensing Satellite Technology Sensors Space Technology
man remotely guiding a surgical robot
M7 Surgical Robot

SRI’s telerobotic surgical system, M7, expands the reach of surgical intervention by enhancing the precision of minimally invasive procedures and enabling surgeons to operate from afar.

Topics: Robotics Space Technology Unmanned Robotics Perception

Press Releases

image of auroral sky
Space Weather Researchers from SRI International and University of Michigan Take First-Ever Measurement of Auroral Turbulence Using a Nanosatellite Radar Receiver

Space weather researcher have taken the first-ever measurement of naturally occurring auroral turbulence recorded using a nanosatellite radar receiver.

Topics: Advanced Radar Atmospheric Studies GPS Tracking + Precision Navigation Satellite Technology Space Technology
SRI International and the University of Michigan Awarded National Science Foundation Contract to Build CubeSats for Space Science

SRI been awarded a contract from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in collaboration with the University of Michigan. The contract supports the building of CubeSats, small satellites for space weather and atmospheric research.

Topics: Space Technology
man working on AMISR radar array
SRI International Announces Findings from New Upper Atmospheric Radar System Built for Scientific Research

SRI announced that early scientific results are now available from the Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR), a modular, transportable radar system funded by the National Science Foundation.

Topics: Advanced Radar Atmospheric Studies Space Technology
SRI International to Evaluate Effectiveness of NASA Online Game Designed to Increase Student Interest in Science

SRI International was awarded a contract to evaluate "Astronaut: Moon, Mars, and Beyond," a NASA-themed, multi-player, online game designed to attract student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers.

Topics: Space Technology

SRI In the News

Arecibo Telescope to Have New Management

According to this article, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico will now be managed by a consortium of organizations including SRI, the Universities Space Research Association, Universidad Metropolitana, and other institutions.

Topics: Advanced Radar Atmospheric Studies Satellite Technology Space Technology
Boeing Delivers Two Nanosatellites to U.S. Air Force

SRI was part of a team that built, tested, and integrated nanosats that the Air Force is scheduled to launch on the ORS-3 mission in summer 2013 to collect and transmit weather data.

Topics: Space Technology
New Study Supports Theory Of Extraterrestrial Impact

This article reports that a 16-member international team of researchers that includes SRI's Paul S. De Carli, senior metallurgist, has identified a nearly 13,000-year-old layer of thin, dark sediment buried in the floor of Lake Cuitzeo in central Mexico.

Topics: Space Technology
Rocket Loaded With Solar Sail and Satellites Blasts Off From Alaska

This news story reports that the Minotaur 4 rocket, carrying seven different satellites, including one that will attempt to deploy a small solar sail into orbit, successfully blasted off from the Alaska Aerospace Corporation's Kodiak Launch Complex on Nov. 19.

Topics: Satellite Technology Space Technology
Overhead view of Arecibo Observatory
World's Largest Radio Telescope Under New Boss

The world's largest single-dish radio telescope has received a five-year, multimillion-dollar funding commitment that SRI says will allow scientists to probe the mysteries of imploded stars and maybe even lead to the detection of elusive gravitational waves predicted by Albert Einstein.

Topics: Advanced Radar Atmospheric Studies Space Technology
Simulated Zero Gravity Robotic Surgery Demo

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