NPS student team builds ISS-bound terahertz camera

A Naval Postgraduate School student-faculty team has built a terahertz imaging payload scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in 2027. The project shows how interdisciplinary training, defense research and hands-on engineering are being turned into spaceflight hardware with national security uses.

Why it matters: - The Terahertz Imaging Camera is a low-cost space sensor designed for remote sensing of atomic oxygen emissions in Earth’s upper atmosphere. - Those emissions help explain upper-atmospheric dynamics and winds that can affect satellite communications. - The system could also help identify human-made terahertz sources, including spacecraft launch and reentry events, with relevance to defense and intelligence missions. - The project also serves as a training pipeline for Naval Postgraduate School students who will move into space and operational roles.

What happened: - Naval Postgraduate School students and faculty developed the Terahertz Imaging Camera, or TIC, for launch to the International Space Station in 2027. - The payload was selected in 2025 through NPS’ inaugural Digital Trident AI Challenge. - TIC was chosen from 38 entries as one of seven projects funded through the challenge, with partial funding and in-kind support from the NPS Foundation and Alumni Association. - NPS’ Consortium for Robotics and Unmanned Systems Education and Research also awarded TIC seed funding for autonomous surveillance research tied to future terahertz sensors. - The camera is being prepared for launch early next year, according to the project team.

The details: - The TIC uses a novel microelectromechanical sensor, custom electronics, an intricate optics assembly and a launch-ready structure built to survive on-orbit conditions. - The sensor is based on metamaterial films that absorb terahertz waves at specific frequencies with high efficiency. - The sensor matrix contains more than 3,000 pixels that heat up when they absorb terahertz radiation. - An infrared camera on the back side reads the heat from individual pixels to build an image of the terahertz scene. - The optics for the terahertz and infrared portions were designed by U.S. Air Force Maj. Daniel Nelson, a 2025 graduate. - The focal plane array was fabricated in a cleanroom by Ensign Yvonne Fu, following the sensor design developed with help from physics professor Dragoslav Grbovic and 2025 graduate U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jennifer Nolta. - U.S. Navy Lt. Joshua McCowan focused on camera calibration and on interfacing the camera with onboard systems. - U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Brian Neri developed the concept of operations that combines NASA requirements, hardware capabilities and software constraints. - Neri’s thesis, “Concept of Operations and Functional Testing of Terahertz Imaging Camera 2.1,” earned an NPS Outstanding Thesis award in June 2026. - Ensign Justin Williams simulated the terahertz signatures the sensor is designed to detect. - Ensign Andrew Oleson performed structural analyses to show the payload can survive launch and operate in space. - Students and faculty held weekly meetings to present progress, troubleshoot problems and refine the design. - The team also relied on specialized labs, equipment, computing resources and faculty mentorship at NPS.

Between the lines: - The TIC project shows how NPS is blending classroom learning with flight hardware, thesis research and operational problem-solving. - The work required students from space systems, physics and electrical engineering to split technical tasks, then integrate them into one functioning system. - That integration mirrored real engineering programs, where trade-offs in complexity, risk and schedule affect the full team. - Challenges included mismatches between camera documentation and actual capabilities, limited campus expertise in specialized software, fabrication risks and reconciling simulation data with testing. - NPS leaders framed the project as part of a broader push to operationalize emerging technology for national security. - Dr. Wenschel Lan said the effort gave students a chance to design, build, test and operate real spaceflight hardware. - Kaitie Penry, director of the NPS Emerging Technology and Innovation Office, said the Digital Trident AI Challenge is meant to explore and operationalize technologies with an immediate impact on national security challenges.

What’s next: - The TIC payload will continue final integration and preparation ahead of its planned ISS launch in 2027. - Graduates from the TIC team are moving into operational commands and advanced training pipelines. - NPS expects the project’s students to carry the collaborative skills from the program into their next assignments. - The school’s broader CubeSat and space systems work will continue to use the same learn-by-doing model for future missions.

The bottom line: - The TIC is more than a student project. - It is a spaceflight payload, a national security technology testbed and a training exercise for the next generation of military space professionals.