UND installs North Dakota’s first academic radar system for space research
The University of North Dakota has installed two antennas for a bistatic radar system that will support academic research on objects in orbit and give students hands-on experience with technology tied to space security.
Workers installed the antennas on June 4, 2026, at UND’s campus in Grand Forks. The university describes the project as North Dakota’s first academic radar system for space applications.
The installation gives the university a new facility for studying radar detection and tracking in space. It also expands the role of a North Dakota university in research and workforce development connected to space security.
How the radar system works
UND’s system is bistatic, meaning its transmitter and receiver components are physically separated. The two antennas were installed at different campus locations: the Collaborative Energy Complex and Odegard Hall.
That arrangement forms the basis for research into how radar can detect and track objects in orbit. The university’s announcement links the project to space studies and national-security technology, while describing the facility as an academic research and training system rather than an operational military or intelligence installation.
The project is focused on objects above Earth, an area of research that requires the ability to detect and follow activity in orbit. For UND students, the antennas provide a physical platform for learning about radar detection and space-related technology instead of limiting that work to classroom instruction.
Student training and North Dakota’s research role
UND says students will receive hands-on experience through work connected to radar detection, space studies and national security. That training can connect engineering and technology education with a field that depends on specialized technical skills.
The installation also adds to North Dakota’s broader university research and workforce mission. Universities in the state engage with communities and industries through work that includes engineering, agriculture and rural health. UND’s radar facility brings space applications into that statewide research and education landscape.
For students, the practical value is the opportunity to work around the equipment used for space-focused research. The system can support learning about how radar signals are used to study objects in orbit, while giving the university a facility around which future research and instruction can be organized.
The project’s public description does not establish that the system can track every object in orbit. It identifies the facility’s purpose as research on radar detection and the tracking of objects in space.
What comes next
The June 4 installation marks the physical setup of the two antennas. UND has not stated the project’s total cost, funding sources or operational start date in its announcement. It also has not quantified expected student participation or identified research contracts tied to the system.
Those details will determine the scale of the facility’s long-term academic and workforce impact. The immediate development, however, is clear: North Dakota now has an academic radar installation specifically described by UND as the state’s first for space applications.
The facility gives UND a new setting for research, instruction and student experience in a field that connects radar detection, objects in orbit and national-security technology. Its value to the state will depend on how the system is used in future research and education, but the antenna installation establishes the university’s presence in academic space-security work.
Sources
- UND rooftop radar sets sights on space security, University of North Dakota
- NDSU leaders to connect with communities statewide during NDSU Across ND, North Dakota State University
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