Cree’s fully owned subsidiary Wolfspeed, and Lockheed Martin have jointly developed a special chip to help track down space debris including remains of satellites orbiting the earth, reported Triangle Business Journal.

Researchers estimate there are at least 500,000 pieces of space debris floating around from previous satellite launches and other space projects, which is why the U.S. federal government is investing resources into developing a tracking system to avoid potential collision between space objects with satellites or space missions in the future.

The existing tracking system is only capable of detecting large objects. However, the new radar chip technology based tracking system coined “Space Fence” developed by Wolfspeed and Lockheed Martin will boost detection by 10 times, and be able to also check on smaller objects.

Space Fence is a solid-state radar system that uses a Cree-developed chip called Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC), which according to Cree co-founder John Palmour is a rather complicated process. The radar is made up of a large array of elements that together make an integrated beam.

The chips have passed 5,000 hours of accelerated stress testing, and are being manufactured at Wolfspeed facility in Research Triangle Park. Lockheed Martin followed up by building the chips into transmit-receive modules.

If the device passes all the tests, the large ground-based radar will be installed in the Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific by 2018.