Air Force ROTC detachments visit Lincoln Laboratory facilities
U.S. Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (AFROTC) cadets from around New England traveled to Lincoln Laboratory's Lincoln Space Surveillance Complex to learn more about space situational awareness and radar from experts.
"The Laboratory is deeply involved in programs that evolve the technical education of the officer corps," says Grant Stokes, Laboratory Fellow in the Space Systems and Technology Division. "This is especially true in the U.S. Space Force (USSF), which we partner with across a number of programs, including funded slots in the Laboratory’s Military Fellows program. For the USSF, we have expanded the Military Fellows program beyond the Service Academies and now accept military fellows who come through the ROTC program."
The detachments spent the first part of the day at Millstone Hill, learning about space domain awareness through presentations from Stokes and fellow Laboratory researchers Idahosa Osaretin and Daniel Salvucci of the Advanced Sensors and Techniques Group and Carlos Gonzalez Huertas of the Space Systems Analysis and Test Group. They also toured facilities such as the Millstone Radar Control Room and the Firepond Control Room and Telescope. In the afternoon, they were transported to Haystack Observatory, where they toured the facility and were briefed on the Haystack Ultrawideband Satellite Imaging Radar Radome and W-Band Transmitter Shelter. According to Stokes, for some detachments, this was their first introduction to classified operations.
"Dr. Stokes and the entire team at the Laboratory were incredibly welcoming, informative, and inspiring to us cadets — many of whom advanced from zero space radar knowledge to familiarity and fascination with several of the Laboratory’s classified space projects by the end of the trip," says Cadet Kylyn Smith of Yale University. "The experience encouraged us that the domain into which we will soon commission is captivating and our work within it will be pivotal in securing our nation's future."
"AFROTC cadets have many opportunities to tour operational locations, but the Millstone Hill trip has been the only place so far where I felt empowered to ask technical questions about systems critical to Air Force operations," says Cadet Jack Long of Cornell University. "The subject matter experts available to us at every facility we toured were second to none, and I came away from the trip with a real appreciation for not only the intelligence output of each system, but for the engineering challenges involved with their production."