Solution Description:

Alphacore’s AFWERX showcase highlights their Space-based camera solution for detection and tracking of low observability threats, such as hypersonic missiles. The camera has features that make it optimal for this purpose: multispectral sensing, high frame rate, built-in detection and tracking algorithms, built-in computational imaging and real-time data processing capability, radiation hardness, low SWAP and low-cost. The precise tracking offered by this technology is a critical enabler for an effective interceptor technology. Hypersonic missiles pose a significant threat for the U.S. defenses and no effective methods to detect, track and mitigate this threat currently exist. Hypersonic weapons can evade conventional ballistic missile defense systems since they 1) are 10 to 20 times dimmer than what the US normally tracks with GEO satellites 2) fly in the atmosphere at altitudes between 30-50 km above the ground making the detection range shorter because the majority of their flight is masked by the curvature of the Earth, and 3) have an unpredictable flight path enabled by their maneuverability. Alphacore’s solution aligns with efforts to build a LEO based space sensor layer that is optimized for hypersonic missile defense and provides the ability to Find, Fix, Track and Target (F2T2).