Our Story

Innovating, problem solving, dynamic, tenacious

      HartSCI is based in the world-renowned Optics Valley in Tucson, Arizona. Since 2008 the HartSCI team has been using our expertise in astronomy and optics to solve challenging problems in high-resolution imaging and related sensing technologies. Our innovative team of scientists and engineers is changing the way the astronomy community can use smaller telescopes for exploration of the heavens.   Our ongoing work enables aerospace and major government partners to advance their capabilities in the fields of detection, custody and characterization of space-based assets for SDA and ISR missions. By applying the experience and techniques learned from our years of participation in the development of world-class observatories and instrumentation we are now bringing advanced imaging instrumentation to the broader astronomy community.

HartSCI's Management

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Michael Hart, Ph.D

President

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Stephen Warner, B.SC.

Vice President

      Michael Hart studied physics at Oxford University before taking a PhD in Astronomy at the University of Arizona, with an emphasis on optical instrumentation for high resolution imaging. He founded HartSCI in 2008 and he continues to provide technical leadership to the product development teams.

      His scientific specialties include adaptive optics, the dynamic compensation of optical image blur, numerical image restoration, and optical remote sensing methods. Dr. Hart is also an Emeritus Associate Professor at the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences. He holds several patents in the fields of remote sensing and adaptive optics.

      Dr. Hart is a licensed private pilot and also occasionally finds time to squeeze in some camping and woodworking.

      Stephen Warner is Vice President and Program Manager for Hart Scientific Consulting International. Spanning three decades, Mr. Warner provided engineering, technical, and management expertise at the University of Arizona Richard F. Carris Mirror Lab as engineer and Production Manager. He completed his career at UA Engineering and Technical Services (ETS) as a Project Manager, and retired from there in 2015 when he joined Hart Scientific.

      Since joining the company he has provided engineering and contract management for a variety of DoD research programs as well as managing company operations.

      Mr. Warner’s hobbies include golf, RVing, boating, and off-road vehicle adventures.

Partners

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      Founded in 2006 with the endless goal of creating the perfect telescope, PlaneWave Instruments designs and manufactures observatory-class instruments for ground-breaking astronomical research, satellite observation, astrophotography, and laser communication around the world. In 2019 we began a direct, collaborative engineering effort to integrate HartSCI’s adaptive optics systems with Planewave’s telescopes. Now, HartSCI and PlaneWave are manufacturing and marketing the world's first commercially available adaptive optics system and telescope package; a pre-integrated solution for advanced imaging and spectrographic applications and high-bandwidth laser communications.


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      HartSCI and ALPAO have collaborated for over 4 years in a close partnership to develop, design, and produce state of the art Adaptive Optics (AO) systems. With more than 13 years of experience, ALPAO aims to revolutionize optics by removing aberrations. The company designs and manufactures a range of AO products for research and industry since 2008, including: deformable mirrors, wavefront sensors, Real Time Computers, and specific software. Each product is tailor-made for various applications such as astronomy, ophthalmology, microscopy, free space optical communications, quantum protocol, and laser applications.


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      In 2016, Orion Labs and Hart Scientific began a business relationship that has continued to grow and expand to the present day.  We provide a complimentary skillset to facilitate the vision of HartSCI’s programs.  From conceptual optical design & analysis to CDR-qualified designs, as well as fabrication of optomechanical hardware and optical alignment & test, Orion Labs has aided HartSCI in many of its successes over the years.  

      Our core business is custom parts fabrication using CNC machines.  We also provide optical engineering consultation and service support for infrared emission microscope systems.  We serve the astronomical instrumentation, optical metrology, aerospace and semiconductor industries.  Orion Labs is based in Tucson, AZ. 


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News

HartSCI is proud to announce that we will be attending and sponsoring the AMOS Conference again this year! Please stop by and visit our booth in the Exhibition Hall. We look forward to speaking with you about all of our new programs and offerings this year! Aloha!
HartSCI is pleased to announce that the company is contracted to deliver adaptive optics technology to a customer in support of ground-to-space laser communications. Space systems currently form the backbone of worldwide communications networks, both civilian and military. Communication links between orbiting satellites (article continues...)

We’re excited to announce that HartSCI has outgrown our present facility and we’re moving to new larger premises effective June 11 2024! We’re staying in our beloved Tucson but our new address will be:
4565 S. Palo Verde Road, Suite 203
Tucson, AZ 85714

The expansion into a larger space will enable us to increase our production capacity and keep pace with the increasing number of programs we support as our team grows. We extend a huge thank you to our customers for making this exciting phase of growth possible!

    HartSCI, in partnership with the University of New Mexico, has been awarded a $1.25M contract, FA9451-24-C-X003, from the Air Force Research Laboratory to advance novel technology in the lasers used to make guide beacons for adaptive optics (AO). Advanced laser-guided AO instrumentation is essential to maintaining Space Domain Awareness for national security because of the detailed information it provides about orbiting satellites. (Article continues...)
    HartSCI’s President Dr. Michael Hart will be presenting the short course on Adaptive Optics and Wave Propagation through Random Media at this year’s SPIE meeting on Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation in Yokohama, Japan. This full-day course will be offered on Sunday June 16 at the conference venue at the Pacifico Yokohama. Intended for engineers, scientists, technicians, and students, the course will enable you to understand the principles and applications of adaptive optics and to make basic performance predictions. You can find details and register for the course here: https://spie.org/AS/course/adaptive-optics
      HartSCI attended the International Workshop on Adaptive Optics For Industry and Medicine, AOIM2024, conference in Padua, Italy March 12-15, 2024. Dr. Michael Hart briefed the group on the capabilities of our adaptive optics systems. During his briefing he also ran a live demonstration of one of our ClearStar AO+ systems located at our lab in Tucson, AZ, opening and closing the control loop remotely from Italy in real-time over the web!
      Join us at the AMOS conference in Maui, HI September 19-22. Please stop by our booth in the Exhibition Hall to preiew some of our new ClearStar AO product line.

      The HartSCI team deployed a custom variation of our ClearStar Plus AO system last week, this time to the NPOI site in Northern Arizona. It is installed on a Planewave PW1000. The weather did not cooperate, but the Lowell Observatory, NPOI and HartSCI team prevailed!

      PlaneWave Instruments and Hart Scientific Consulting International (HartSCI) have announced their new partnership to offer the world’s first commercially pre-integrated adaptive optics solution.

      HartSCI attended the 2022 SPIE Telescopes and Instrumentation conference in Montreal, CA July 19 - 21, 2022. We shared a booth with Planewave Instruments in order to announce the new ClearStar AO system for commercial sale this fall. The reaction was overwhelmingly positive from the attendees.

      HartSCI is pleased to announce our selection and award of a new contract under the Air Force’s AFWERX TACFI program. The AFWERX MISSION is to accelerate agile and affordable capability transitions by teaming innovative technology developers with Airman and Guardian talent. 

      PlaneWave Instruments and Hart Scientific Consulting International (HartSCI) have announced their new partnership to offer the world’s first commercially pre-integrated adaptive optics solution.

      HartSCI is pleased to announce the award of three separate Phase II SBIR/STTR contracts by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Directed Energy Directorate. The awards encompass the deployment of an adaptive optics system, the construction of...

      The presentations from HartSCI’s attendance at the 2018 AMOS conference can be found below.   Stable Narrow-line VECSEL Operation for Sodium Guide Star Generation High Resolution Imaging of Satellites in Daylight Comparative...

      HartSCI has been recognized by the AFRL SBIR program for key advances in the Air Force’s capability for high-fidelity daylight imaging of satellites. HartSCI’s innovative image restoration technology enhances the Air Force mission to provide...

Our Story

Innovating, problem solving, dynamic, tenacious

      HartSCI is based in the world-renowned Optics Valley in Tucson, Arizona. Since 2008 the HartSCI team has been using our expertise in astronomy and optics to solve challenging problems in high-resolution imaging and related sensing technologies. Our innovative team of scientists and engineers is changing the way the astronomy community can use smaller telescopes for exploration of the heavens.   Our ongoing work enables aerospace and major government partners to advance their capabilities in the fields of detection, custody and characterization of space-based assets for SDA and ISR missions. By applying the experience and techniques learned from our years of participation in the development of world-class observatories and instrumentation we are now bringing advanced imaging instrumentation to the broader astronomy community.

HartSCI's Management

Image

Michael Hart, Ph.D

President

Image

Stephen Warner, B.SC.

Vice President

      Michael Hart studied physics at Oxford University before taking a PhD in Astronomy at the University of Arizona, with an emphasis on optical instrumentation for high resolution imaging. He founded HartSCI in 2008 and he continues to provide technical leadership to the product development teams.

      His scientific specialties include adaptive optics, the dynamic compensation of optical image blur, numerical image restoration, and optical remote sensing methods. Dr. Hart is also an Emeritus Associate Professor at the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences. He holds several patents in the fields of remote sensing and adaptive optics.

      Dr. Hart is a licensed private pilot and also occasionally finds time to squeeze in some camping and woodworking.

      Stephen Warner is Vice President and Program Manager for Hart Scientific Consulting International. Spanning three decades, Mr. Warner provided engineering, technical, and management expertise at the University of Arizona Richard F. Carris Mirror Lab as engineer and Production Manager. He completed his career at UA Engineering and Technical Services (ETS) as a Project Manager, and retired from there in 2015 when he joined Hart Scientific.

      Since joining the company he has provided engineering and contract management for a variety of DoD research programs as well as managing company operations.

      Mr. Warner’s hobbies include golf, RVing, boating, and off-road vehicle adventures.

Partners

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      Founded in 2006 with the endless goal of creating the perfect telescope, PlaneWave Instruments designs and manufactures observatory-class instruments for ground-breaking astronomical research, satellite observation, astrophotography, and laser communication around the world. In 2019 we began a direct, collaborative engineering effort to integrate HartSCI’s adaptive optics systems with Planewave’s telescopes. Now, HartSCI and PlaneWave are manufacturing and marketing the world's first commercially available adaptive optics system and telescope package; a pre-integrated solution for advanced imaging and spectrographic applications and high-bandwidth laser communications.


Image

      HartSCI and ALPAO have collaborated for over 4 years in a close partnership to develop, design, and produce state of the art Adaptive Optics (AO) systems. With more than 13 years of experience, ALPAO aims to revolutionize optics by removing aberrations. The company designs and manufactures a range of AO products for research and industry since 2008, including: deformable mirrors, wavefront sensors, Real Time Computers, and specific software. Each product is tailor-made for various applications such as astronomy, ophthalmology, microscopy, free space optical communications, quantum protocol, and laser applications.


Image

      In 2016, Orion Labs and Hart Scientific began a business relationship that has continued to grow and expand to the present day.  We provide a complimentary skillset to facilitate the vision of HartSCI’s programs.  From conceptual optical design & analysis to CDR-qualified designs, as well as fabrication of optomechanical hardware and optical alignment & test, Orion Labs has aided HartSCI in many of its successes over the years.  

      Our core business is custom parts fabrication using CNC machines.  We also provide optical engineering consultation and service support for infrared emission microscope systems.  We serve the astronomical instrumentation, optical metrology, aerospace and semiconductor industries.  Orion Labs is based in Tucson, AZ. 


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News

HartSCI is proud to announce that we will be attending and sponsoring the AMOS Conference again this year! Please stop by and visit our booth in the Exhibition Hall. We look forward to speaking with you about all of our new programs and offerings this year! Aloha!
HartSCI is pleased to announce that the company is contracted to deliver adaptive optics technology to a customer in support of ground-to-space laser communications. Space systems currently form the backbone of worldwide communications networks, both civilian and military. Communication links between orbiting satellites (article continues...)

We’re excited to announce that HartSCI has outgrown our present facility and we’re moving to new larger premises effective June 11 2024! We’re staying in our beloved Tucson but our new address will be:
4565 S. Palo Verde Road, Suite 203
Tucson, AZ 85714

The expansion into a larger space will enable us to increase our production capacity and keep pace with the increasing number of programs we support as our team grows. We extend a huge thank you to our customers for making this exciting phase of growth possible!

    HartSCI, in partnership with the University of New Mexico, has been awarded a $1.25M contract, FA9451-24-C-X003, from the Air Force Research Laboratory to advance novel technology in the lasers used to make guide beacons for adaptive optics (AO). Advanced laser-guided AO instrumentation is essential to maintaining Space Domain Awareness for national security because of the detailed information it provides about orbiting satellites. (Article continues...)
    HartSCI’s President Dr. Michael Hart will be presenting the short course on Adaptive Optics and Wave Propagation through Random Media at this year’s SPIE meeting on Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation in Yokohama, Japan. This full-day course will be offered on Sunday June 16 at the conference venue at the Pacifico Yokohama. Intended for engineers, scientists, technicians, and students, the course will enable you to understand the principles and applications of adaptive optics and to make basic performance predictions. You can find details and register for the course here: https://spie.org/AS/course/adaptive-optics
      HartSCI attended the International Workshop on Adaptive Optics For Industry and Medicine, AOIM2024, conference in Padua, Italy March 12-15, 2024. Dr. Michael Hart briefed the group on the capabilities of our adaptive optics systems. During his briefing he also ran a live demonstration of one of our ClearStar AO+ systems located at our lab in Tucson, AZ, opening and closing the control loop remotely from Italy in real-time over the web!
      Join us at the AMOS conference in Maui, HI September 19-22. Please stop by our booth in the Exhibition Hall to preiew some of our new ClearStar AO product line.
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ClearStar Plus AO Deployment

      The HartSCI team deployed a custom variation of our ClearStar Plus AO system last week, this time to the NPOI site in Northern Arizona. It is installed on a Planewave PW1000. The weather did not cooperate, but the Lowell Observatory, NPOI and HartSCI team prevailed!

2022 Amos Technology Conference

      HartSCI attended the 2022 AMOS Technologies Conference Sept 27-30 in Maui, HI. Dr. Michael Hart gave a talk at the conference on the new paradigm in adaptive optics offered by the introduction of HartSCI’s ClearStar AO system.

     HartSCI attended the 2022 SPIE Telescopes and Instrumentation conference in Montreal, CA July 19 - 21, 2022. We shared a booth with Planewave Instruments in order to announce the new ClearStar AO system for commercial sale this fall. The reaction was overwhelmingly positive from the attendees.

      HartSCI is pleased to announce our selection and award of a new contract under the Air Force’s AFWERX TACFI program. The AFWERX MISSION is to accelerate agile and affordable capability transitions by teaming innovative technology developers with Airman and Guardian talent. 

      PlaneWave Instruments and Hart Scientific Consulting International (HartSCI) have announced their new partnership to offer the world’s first commercially pre-integrated adaptive optics solution.

      HartSCI is pleased to announce the award of three separate Phase II SBIR/STTR contracts by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Directed Energy Directorate. The awards encompass the deployment of an adaptive optics system, the construction of...

      The presentations from HartSCI’s attendance at the 2018 AMOS conference can be found below.   Stable Narrow-line VECSEL Operation for Sodium Guide Star Generation High Resolution Imaging of Satellites in Daylight Comparative...

      HartSCI has been recognized by the AFRL SBIR program for key advances in the Air Force’s capability for high-fidelity daylight imaging of satellites. HartSCI’s innovative image restoration technology enhances the Air Force mission to provide...

Our Story

Innovating, problem solving, dynamic, tenacious

      HartSCI is based in the world-renowned Optics Valley in Tucson, Arizona. Since 2008 the HartSCI team has been using our expertise in astronomy and optics to solve challenging problems in high-resolution imaging and related sensing technologies. Our innovative team of scientists and engineers is changing the way the astronomy community can use smaller telescopes for exploration of the heavens.   Our ongoing work enables aerospace and major government partners to advance their capabilities in the fields of detection, custody and characterization of space-based assets for SDA and ISR missions. By applying the experience and techniques learned from our years of participation in the development of world-class observatories and instrumentation we are now bringing advanced imaging instrumentation to the broader astronomy community.

HartSCI's Management

Image

Michael Hart, Ph.D

President

      Michael Hart studied physics at Oxford University before taking a PhD in Astronomy at the University of Arizona, with an emphasis on optical instrumentation for high resolution imaging. He founded HartSCI in 2008 and he continues to provide technical leadership to the product development teams.

      His scientific specialties include adaptive optics, the dynamic compensation of optical image blur, numerical image restoration, and optical remote sensing methods. Dr. Hart is also an Emeritus Associate Professor at the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences. He holds several patents in the fields of remote sensing and adaptive optics.

      Dr. Hart is a licensed private pilot and also occasionally finds time to squeeze in some camping and woodworking.
Image

Stephen Warner, B.SC.

Vice President

      Stephen Warner is Vice President and Program Manager for Hart Scientific Consulting International. Spanning three decades, Mr. Warner provided engineering, technical, and management expertise at the University of Arizona Richard F. Carris Mirror Lab as engineer and Production Manager. He completed his career at UA Engineering and Technical Services (ETS) as a Project Manager, and retired from there in 2015 when he joined Hart Scientific.

      Since joining the company he has provided engineering and contract management for a variety of DoD research programs as well as managing company operations.

      Mr. Warner’s hobbies include golf, RVing, boating, and off-road vehicle adventures.

Partners

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      Founded in 2006 with the endless goal of creating the perfect telescope, PlaneWave Instruments designs and manufactures observatory-class instruments for ground-breaking astronomical research, satellite observation, astrophotography, and laser communication around the world. In 2019 we began a direct, collaborative engineering effort to integrate HartSCI’s adaptive optics systems with Planewave’s telescopes. Now, HartSCI and PlaneWave are manufacturing and marketing the world's first commercially available adaptive optics system and telescope package; a pre-integrated solution for advanced imaging and spectrographic applications and high-bandwidth laser communications.


Image

      HartSCI and ALPAO have collaborated for over 4 years in a close partnership to develop, design, and produce state of the art Adaptive Optics (AO) systems. With more than 13 years of experience, ALPAO aims to revolutionize optics by removing aberrations. The company designs and manufactures a range of AO products for research and industry since 2008, including: deformable mirrors, wavefront sensors, Real Time Computers, and specific software. Each product is tailor-made for various applications such as astronomy, ophthalmology, microscopy, free space optical communications, quantum protocol, and laser applications.


Image

      In 2016, Orion Labs and Hart Scientific began a business relationship that has continued to grow and expand to the present day.  We provide a complimentary skillset to facilitate the vision of HartSCI’s programs.  From conceptual optical design & analysis to CDR-qualified designs, as well as fabrication of optomechanical hardware and optical alignment & test, Orion Labs has aided HartSCI in many of its successes over the years.  

      Our core business is custom parts fabrication using CNC machines.  We also provide optical engineering consultation and service support for infrared emission microscope systems.  We serve the astronomical instrumentation, optical metrology, aerospace and semiconductor industries.  Orion Labs is based in Tucson, AZ. 


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