Kala was born and raised in Honolulu and attended Punahou School ’22. He is currently attending Harvey Mudd College as a rising junior studying Engineering. He is interested in the aerospace industry and attending grad school after college.
Home Island: O’ahu
High School: Punahou School
Institution when accepted: Harvey Mudd College
Project Site: KBR, Kihei, Maui
Mentor: Laura Ulibarri
Project Title: Optimizing Telescope Locations to Observe Satellites
Project Abstract: Thousands of space objects are orbiting Earth, thus maintaining a record of their motion is crucial to avoid collisions and evaluate the orbital health of operational satellites. To ensure accuracy despite orbital perturbations, satellites must be observed frequently. KBR wants to determine the best placement of telescopes to observe the maximum number of satellites. A program was developed to produce a map of areas on Earth where telescopes would most effectively observe some list of satellites in low earth or geosynchronous orbit. There are many factors but the program looked at lighting, brightness, and weather conditions as determined by the user. This work aims to assist KBR in selecting an optimal set of locations that will provide them with the data they need for the lowest cost. It was made to have editable parameters to account for technical features such as the field of view and minimum observation brightness of the telescope and the size, speed, and distance of the satellites. These will assist KBR in identifying which type and how many telescopes they should use based on the satellites they are studying. After locating the best sites, the program finds an optimal set of locations for the telescopes.