B.C. amateur astronomer tracks Artemis II for NASA

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday. Photo by Scott Tilley

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Scott Tilley has long been fascinated by the distant whispers of satellites and spacecraft drifting far above the Earth.

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From his home on the Sunshine Coast, the amateur astronomer follows secret space missions, once discovered a missing satellite, and keeps tabs on space traffic — all by examining radio waves.

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This week, he is tracking NASA’s Artemis II rocket as one of 34 individuals and organizations from around the world selected by the American space agency to monitor its first crewed mission to orbit the moon in more than 50 years.

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“I’m excited to be part of it,” he said in an interview Thursday afternoon when the Artemis II had dipped 24 degrees below the horizon and was no longer traceable from the B.C. coast. But he admitted the mission was a “little bland.”

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“There’s so much information in the media. It’s so much more followed than other missions,” he said.

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Tilley, whose blog is called Riddles In The Sky, is accustomed to finding and observing classified satellites whose launches are not publicized. Using an S-band radio and a two-metre dish mounted on a platform on the roof of his house, he scans the skies for radio signals. A software program records the frequency numbers, which he then extracts, using a “whole lot of math,” to determine a satellite’s position.

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In contrast, the Artemis II, which launched Wednesday afternoon from Florida with a crew of four, including Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, is being carefully watched, including by NASA’s Deep Space Network, an international array of giant radio antennas that support interplanetary spacecraft missions. The antennas, positioned in California, Spain and Australia, are part of the agency’s primary system for tracking space travel — although they might not be the most efficient.

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The Artemis II crewed lunar mission lifts off from Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on April 1, 2026. Photo by JIM WATSON /AFP via Getty Images

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Last August, NASA issued a request for proposals seeking volunteers willing to track the spacecraft using radio waves. Tilley, who tracked the Artemis I, was one of the Canadian applicants selected, along with the Canadian Space Agency and the University of New Brunswick. Over the course of the 10-day mission, the groups will send their data to NASA.

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“It’s like a test of non-NASA systems, to see how well they can keep track,” said Tilley.

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The data will help NASA “identify ways to augment future moon and Mars mission support,” according to an agency statement. Or, as Tilley puts it, it’s a way to see if smaller stations that use technology such as his could be used on future moon missions, so they don’t have to task the larger, more costly primary systems.

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Tilley, an electrical technologist who designs, installs and fixes power systems for boats, has been interested in radio waves since he was a boy. He remembers watching a 60 Minutes program with his father about kids who tracked Soviet satellites during the Cold War. He studied engineering in university and over time began tracking satellites as a hobby, hoping to learn more about celestial mechanics and the math behind it.