During the last quarter century significant advances in semiconductor detector technologies have enabled the creation of compact and reliable spaceflight systems and devices that have greatly extended the reach and quality of our observations for astrophysics, planetary science and heliophysics. In the case of high energy and time domain astrophysics this is particularly true of high-Z semiconductor systems that have made use of CdTe, CdZnTe (CZT) as well as high purity germanium (HPGe).

More recent advances in commercial spaceflight over the past decade have expanded opportunities for the deployment of these technologies, particularly within CubeSats (<~12 kg) and SmallSats (<500 kg), which have enabled the successful collection of targeted science data. This trend is accelerating with the recent launch of the first generation of lunar landers through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, the planned return and extended settlement of humans on the lunar surface through the Artemis and Lunar Gateway programs, and the replacement of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2030 with the Commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Destinations (CLDs) project.

I will give an overview of these parallel developments and discuss some of the future opportunities and observations that these programs and technologies will enable including those that cut across traditional boundaries between disciplines within the space sciences.

Branden Allen is an Astronomer, Planetary Scientist, and technologist who has spent the bulk of his career at the intersection of detector development, aerospace, and the space sciences.  He began his graduate studies at UC Irvine on the Milagro telescope, a ground-based large area cosmic- and gamma-ray all-sky monitor built to study extremely energetic astrophysical phenomena at TeV energies and transitioned to the development of spaceflight X- and gamma-ray detector technologies after moving to the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard-Smithsonian in 2007. There, he played a leading role in 2 successful high-altitude balloon campaigns as well as the conception, design and operation of a soft X-ray (0.3--10 keV) imaging spectrometer for the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission to help carry out in situ global characterization of the near Earth asteroid, 101955 Bennu. 

He joined the University of Hawai’i at Manoa in Aug. 2024 and is the inaugural program lead for the Space Science and Engineering Initiative (SSEI): a collaborative effort between the College of Engineering (CoE) and Institute for Astronomy (IfA). There he has initiated (1) a new detector development program for the creation of the next generation of finely pixelated CdZnTe (CZT) and MCT Infrared detector arrays, (2) is leading the proposed Portable Lunar Observer for Volatiles, Environment and Resources (PLOVER), an instrument package designed for flexible deployment within the framework of the NASA-led Lunar Gateway and Artemis Programs, and (3) is developing concepts for future spaceflight opportunities in astrophysics.