Major upgrade to Haystack radar will enable enhanced imaging of space

  • Published
  • By Kevin Gilmartin
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  In a joint project with Air Force Space Command and MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the Electronic Systems Center began a major upgrade of the Haystack radar in Tyngsborough, Mass. this month, replacing the existing antenna with a new system that will be able to identify smaller objects in space with greater resolution.

The approximately 18-month project will add W-band capabilities to the existing X-band long-range imaging radar. The X-Band radar uses radio waves with about a one-inch wavelength and the new W-Band capability uses radio waves with a wavelength ten-times smaller. The enhanced system, called Haystack Ultrawideband Satellite Imaging Radar (HUSIR), will allow imaging of satellites in low earth orbits with improved resolution. Additionally, the upgrade will facilitate shared use of the antenna between radar and radio astronomy activities.

"The Haystack antenna upgrade is a remarkable piece of engineering," said Colin Lonsdale, director of the MIT Haystack Observatory, an interdisciplinary research center that uses the facility. "The project will result in a system that is many times more accurate than the one it is replacing, which was itself state of the art in the 1960s. The extraordinary precision of the new reflector surface is the key factor in enhancing the utility of the antenna. This new telescope will not only create powerful new functionality for Lincoln Laboratory, but will also transform radio astronomy capabilities at Haystack for both research and education."

Upgrading the radar is not only a technical challenge, but a construction challenge according to Leigh French, HUSIR program manager in ESC's 850th Electronic Systems Group at Hanscom Air Force Base. The 120-foot radar dish is enclosed in a 150-foot radome, a weatherproof dome enclosure that protects the radar antenna while remaining transparent to the electromagnetic signals transmitted or received.

Officials in charge of the replacement project are focused on getting the job done as quickly as possible with the least impact on the system's users as well as local residents. The current radar operation was shut down in mid-April, and subassemblies are in place and configured, ready to be put into place.

"The first challenge we face with this project is opening the radome," said Mr. French. "We will be bringing in a 610-ton, 400-foot-tall crane onto the site and taking off the cap of the eggshell-like structure to expose the existing antenna." This is a very delicate process, according to Mr. French. Workers must ensure that they find the exact center of gravity on the dome and carefully place straps around the portion to be lifted, which weighs 115,000 pounds. The radome uncapping is on schedule for May 27.

Once the radome is uncapped, workers will quickly begin to dismantle the existing antenna and remove it from the radome. The yoke upon which the antenna sits will be modified and a transition structure and a backstructure will be installed to support the new surface. The skin of the radome will also be replaced during the process, and some of it will already be removed when the cap is lifted off.

Eventually, the new antenna will be lowered into place and secured. Officials anticipate this phase of the project will be complete by September. Completing the installation and testing the new transmitter and processing system will be more complex. Officials expect the system to be placed back into service in late 2011.

HUSIR will be part of the Lincoln Space Surveillance Complex, which comprises three radar systems located on MIT property in the towns of Westford, Groton, and Tyngsborough. Lincoln Laboratory developed the Haystack facility in the 1960s. When first unveiled in 1964, it was considered the world's most sensitive antenna. Since then, it has been used as a radio telescope giving scientists and students a powerful tool to study targets ranging from planets in our solar system to distant objects like quasars.

The Haystack radar has also served as a contributing sensor in the U.S. Space Surveillance Network, allowing officials to view images of satellites orbiting Earth and to determine the satellites' structures, mission, and status. It has also collected data on space debris that could threaten other satellites, the space shuttle or the International Space Station.

"After more than 45-years of extraordinary service, the radar system is about to undergo a major upgrade that will once again put it among the finest space imaging instruments in the world," said Mark Czerwinski, program manager at Lincoln Laboratory. "When complete, it will offer enhanced space situational awareness through on-demand, ultra-high-resolution data on microsatellites."