NRO Wants New Electro-Optical Tech And Processing

COLORADO SPRINGS—The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) wants new technologies and processing for electro-optical (EO) imaging, with a new call for input to be released later this year to see what is possible.

NRO Director Christopher Scolese, in a speech at the Space Symposium here on April 18, says the office will release a request for proposals this fall under its Strategic Commercial Enhancements Broad Agency Announcement (SCE BAA) effort for new commercial EO capabilities.

“We’ve seen a number of organizations, companies and what have you that are developing new capabilities, new types of sensors, new types of ways of processing data coming from those sensors, different ways of implementing constellations, and that’s what we really want to go off and see,” Scolese says.

This will be the fourth focus area for the SCE BAA, following previous efforts centering on commercial radar, commercial radio-frequency and hyperspectral data.

Scolese says the solicitation will be open to U.S.-based companies and international businesses that have American subsidiaries.

“The purpose of the broad area announcement is to allow us to see what’s out there, for people or organizations that are interested in working with us and to give them the opportunity to see what we do in more detail so they can determine if they want to work with us,” Scolese says.

The NRO already has extensive EO capabilities in orbit, which are “doing well,” but the BAA is looking at future capabilities beyond what already exists, Scolese says.