Remote Telescope Control Hardware (RTC HW) System

The United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is the U.S. Department of Defense's authoritative source for the positions and motion of celestial bodies, motions of the Earth, and precise time. In order to provide accurate and timely position, navigation, and timing (PNT) services to DoD missions and programs, the USNO strives to resolve gaps in astronomical datasets by performing astrometry and photometry of numerous stars from various remote telescopes distributed worldwide. The current USNO telescope network consists of heterogenous systems that require on-site human interaction and site-specific software applications to collect and store astronomical data. An innovative solution is required that will automate the remote collection of data from such USNO sites around the world. To address the challenges described above, Numerica has designed and proposes to develop an innovative, affordable, standardized, accreditable Remote Telescope Control Hardware (RTC HW) system that is agnostic to the specific types of telescopes within USNOÆs heterogenous network of assets.