WASHINGTON — The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity chosen 4 vendors to develop technologies and recent approaches for tracking small debris objects in space.
A-Tech, Advanced Space, SRI International, and West Virginia University Research Corporation won four-year contracts of undisclosed value for the Space Debris Identification and Tracking (SINTRA) program.
The 4 vendors were chosen through a competitive Broad Agency Announcement.
IARPA, an agency under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said Aug. 1 in a news release that the 4 firms will develop technologies and methods to detect, track and characterize miniature space debris.
“Resulting technologies hold the potential to guard manned spacecraft and other beneficial space assets from these compact threats, that are difficult to detect and track and could cause significant damage,” IARPA said.
The agency said the goal of the SINTRA program is to fill gaps in current space debris-monitoring systems, which currently only track and monitor debris objects larger than 4 inches across.
IARPA is also in search of ways to to enhance existing small debris-tracking capabilities corresponding to ground-based radar, tracking satellites and optical sensors.
“Discovering recent ways to grasp the hundreds of thousands of artificial debris objects orbiting the Earth, especially since they’re ever-increasing in number, has never been more critical to on a regular basis life,” said Alexis Truitt, manager of the SINTRA program.
IARPA said there are currently over 100 million debris objects greater than 1 millimeter (about one-third of an inch) in size orbiting the Earth. The Department of Defense only tracks and monitors debris greater than 10 centimeters in size using the U.S. Space Surveillance Network.