The magnitude of some scientific achievements can overwhelm one’s ability to truly appreciate the thinking behind them. To whit: helping to launch a 70-foot satellite into orbit a million miles away from Earth so it can image a 13.7-billion-year-old universe.
Just sit with that for a minute and really try to process it. Imagine tackling that technological snarl over morning coffee. Easy jobs are basically a myth in any industry, but the brains behind work like the James Webb Space Telescope are reaching some extraordinary heights. Even renowned astrophysicists and astronomers rightfully applaud the Webb.
So, in moments like these, you have to wonder—who on Earth was able to actually pull that off? And for more than a century, the answer has often been Raytheon Technologies, a global technology leader that works with a wide variety of agencies to solve some of the most complex technological problems in human history. From climate change to asteroid mapping, Raytheon Intelligence & Space (or RI&S), a Raytheon Technologies business, is identifying and developing solutions that do more than broaden our understanding of our world—they are protecting our very way of life.
Advancing Earth observation
Nearly 70 years after the first satellite was launched into Earth’s orbit, our planet has accumulated a wide collection of technological trinkets. Thousands of satellites now orbit Earth every day: They improve our ability to communicate, detect wildfires, monitor climate change and predict the weather. With cutting-edge sensing technologies and data processing capabilities, Raytheon Intelligence & Space—as well as Colorado-based subsidiary SEAKR Engineering—support critical missions that advance our knowledge of the globe.
Take weather patterns, for example. Severe weather is dangerous, costly, and hard to predict: In 2021 alone, the U.S. experienced 20 weather and climate disasters, including winter storms, wildfires, tropical cyclones, floods and tornado outbreaks. A key part of minimizing damage from such events is advance knowledge and proactive mitigation.
That’s why Raytheon Intelligence & Space researchers in Aurora, Colorado, developed the Common Ground System for NASA’s Joint Polar Satellite System. Operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the CGS helps monitor global environmental conditions by collecting and disseminating data related to weather, oceans, and the atmosphere.
That provides the critical weather and environmental data meteorologists and forecasters need to make timely and accurate weather predictions—ones that can save lives, protect property, and decrease the devastating economic impact caused by severe weather. The same Raytheon Intelligence & Space team also designed and manufactured the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, or VIIRS, which generates high-fidelity sea, land and atmospheric data that can help dynamically track wildfires, delineate fire perimeters and identify active fire fronts.
Exploring new frontiers
For all its work in observing and protecting our planet, Raytheon Intelligence & Space is just as busy looking far beyond it. The James Webb Space Telescope—orbiting the sun approximately a million miles from the Earth—is one of its greatest achievements to date. The Raytheon Intelligence & Space team built and delivered the Webb’s ground test and flight operations systems: The ground software that “flies” the telescope was used during rigorous testing ahead of the launch, while other software is responsible for monitoring the health and performance of the observatory in orbit. RI&S software even receives and transfers the Webb’s observation data.
But RI&S’s more than 34,500 tech innovators, inventors, scientists and technicians are involved with far more than just the Webb. In West Virginia, teams worked with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory to outfit the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope—the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope—with a new transmitter, allowing it to transmit a radar signal into space. That’s pretty important stuff: The Green Bank Observatory detects and characterizes Near-Earth Objects, such as asteroids large enough to cause significant damage should they ever strike the Earth.
“Raytheon’s radar techniques could ultimately improve our ability to explore the Solar System,” said Steven Wilkinson, Principal Engineering Fellow at Raytheon Intelligence & Space. “Working with the astronomy community allows us to apply decades of radar know-how to a project that provides high-resolution images of Near-Earth objects.”
Raytheon Intelligence & Space is even helping NASA explore Mars. Remember when NASA’s InSight Lander touched down on Mars back in 2018? Blue Canyon Technologies, an RI&S subsidiary, provided key control systems for the support satellites that relayed the data collected from InSight’s entry, descent, and landing. Blue Canyon is now working on its next lunar project: a 2025 commercial mission to deliver a suite of three NASA-sponsored science payloads to the moon’s Schrödinger basin.
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The next gen
And that’s really Raytheon Intelligence & Space’s modus operandi: always looking ahead, whether to the next project, planet, or even person. It’s partnered with the Space Foundation in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders in the state, most recently announcing a $50,000 grant to support the Space Foundation’s Discovery Center field trip scholarships and the New Generation program that will benefit nearly 2,000 Colorado students, teachers and young professionals.
But Raytheon Intelligence & Space has a wide footprint—in addition to its expansive teams in Colorado, it’s been a major North Texas employer for almost 40 years. Just last year, it celebrated the opening of a sophisticated high-tech addition to the RI&S campus in McKinney: the Advanced Integration and Manufacturing Center, a 178,000-square-foot facility that will produce futuristic technologies. There are also plans to build more state-of-the-art production facilities in North Texas by 2025, generating more than 1,200 jobs across nearly 400,000 square feet of manufacturing and lab space.
That’s a serious expansion—and like all of Raytheon Intelligence & Space’s work, that means serious brainpower. So just like the last few decades, Raytheon Intelligence & Space is always on the hunt for talent that can dream as big as it can. And, just like a telescope that can see 13.7 billion years into the past, that’s pretty big.
“We’re working on some of the world’s most pressing issues,” said Douglas Greene, senior director, Talent Acquisition, RI&S. “That’s a challenge we accept—and we’re committed to hiring people who embrace that kind of challenge. Audacious thinking is what the world needs. At Raytheon Intelligence & Space, we’re focused on delivering it.”
Want to start your own Raytheon Technologies adventure? Explore current Raytheon Intelligence & Space job openings.
This story was produced by WIRED Brand Lab for Raytheon Intelligence & Space
