The Dark Energy Survey

What The Dark Energy Survey does

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is an international astronomical collaboration that uses the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the 4-meter Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile to map approximately 5,000 square degrees of the southern sky — roughly one-eighth of the celestial sphere — and to constrain the nature of dark energy. Survey operations ran from August 31, 2013 through 2018, utilizing 525 nights of observation time, and generated a catalog of more than 300 million galaxies along with thousands of supernovae. The DES Data Management System (DESDM), hosted at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), processes approximately 2.5 TB of raw data per night using the Blue Waters supercomputer and Fermilab farm computers, then releases reduced and calibrated images and catalogs publicly through NCSA data portals (DR1, DR2, Y3, Y6, SVA1).

The collaboration is governed by a Science Committee and Management Council and brings together more than 400 scientists from over 25 institutions across seven countries (USA, Brazil, Germany, Chile, Spain, UK, Switzerland, Australia). Scientific analysis applies four complementary cosmological probes — weak gravitational lensing, galaxy clusters, baryon acoustic oscillations, and Type Ia supernovae — to measure the expansion history of the universe over the past 14 billion years. The project is led by Director and Spokesperson Josh Frieman (Fermilab / University of Chicago KICP), with Fermilab serving as the primary U.S. institutional host and project management hub.

DES is publicly funded and does not generate commercial revenue. Primary funding sources are the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and equivalent agencies from the UK (STFC), Spain (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad), Brazil (FINEP, CNPq), and other participating countries. All data products are released publicly to the scientific community at no cost, with raw data becoming public one year after observation. The go-to-market model is community-led scientific collaboration: outreach is conducted through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, public data releases, and education programs (Dark Bites, Dark Energy Detectives, public lectures).

Name

The Dark Energy Survey

Legal name

The Dark Energy Survey

Website

https://darkenergysurvey.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

The Dark Energy Survey is an international scientific collaboration using the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco telescope in Chile to map 5,000 square degrees of the southern sky and constrain dark energy. Funded by government science agencies, it serves the global astronomical research community with public data releases.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Arlington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Research Grant Funding: DES is funded by government science agencies including the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, U.S. National Science Foundation, and international counterparts. The project does not generate commercial revenue.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Dark Energy Survey operates a five-year wide-area optical imaging survey of 5,000 square degrees of the southern sky using the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the 4-meter Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo in Chile. It produces and publicly releases calibrated astronomical images, galaxy catalogs, and cosmological data products that enable researchers worldwide to constrain the nature of dark energy using four complementary probes (weak lensing, galaxy clusters, baryon acoustic oscillations, and Type Ia supernovae).

Product overview

The Dark Energy Survey is a cosmological research program that operates as a unified scientific platform combining a dedicated astronomical camera, a large-scale sky survey, and comprehensive data processing infrastructure. The core instrument is the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), a 570-megapixel digital camera mounted on the 4-meter Blanco telescope in Chile. DES generates and processes vast astronomical datasets through the DESDM system, producing calibrated images and scientific catalogs released through NCSA data portals. The survey uses four cosmological probes—supernovae, weak gravitational lensing, galaxy clusters, and baryon acoustic oscillations—to constrain the nature of dark energy and cosmic acceleration. Data products include multiple public releases (DR1, DR2, Y3, Y6) with catalogs of hundreds of millions of galaxies and thousands of supernovae.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DECam (Dark Energy Camera): The 570-megapixel digital camera mounted on the Blanco 4m telescope at CTIO, Chile, used for the survey observations.

Products and services

• Dark Energy Camera (DECam)
• DES Data Release 1 (DR1)
• DES Data Release 2 (DR2)
• Y3 Cosmology Data
• Y6 Cosmology Data
• Science Verification Data (SVA1)
• DECam Data Management System (DESDM)
• EasyAccess

Quantifiable outcome

• First simultaneous constraints from four cosmological probes (weak lensing, clusters, BAO, supernovae)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

AI capability3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Primary US institution managing DES operations, instrument development, and data processing. Led construction of DECam and hosts the project management office.
• National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProcesses and stores all DES astronomical data using supercomputing resources. Manages the DESDM data pipeline.
• Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHosts the 4-meter Blanco telescope and DECam instrument at 2200m elevation in the Chilean Andes. Provides observatory operations support.
• UK DES Collaboration (UCL, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Portsmouth, Sussex, Nottingham)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUK institutions contributing to DES science and analysis, funded by STFC and Higher Education Funding Council.
• Spain DES Collaboration (IEEC/CSIC, IFAE, CIEMAT)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpanish institutions contributing scientific expertise and funded by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad.
• DES-Brazil ConsortiummajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrazilian institutions (LIneA and others) providing data portal infrastructure and scientific analysis, funded by FINEP and CNPq.
• South Pole Telescope SurveymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerExternal collaboration combining DES optical data with SPT millimeter-wave observations for enhanced cosmological constraints.
• Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratorymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDeveloped custom CCDs for DECam optimized for detecting redshifted light from distant galaxies.
• Santa Cruz-SLAC-Stanford DES ConsortiummajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUS consortium contributing weak lensing analysis and simulation development.
• OzDES (Australian Collaborating Institutions)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAustralian institutions conducting spectroscopic follow-up observations using the Anglo-Australian Telescope.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Planck (ESA): ESA CMB cosmology mission that produced definitive constraints on cosmological parameters including dark energy. Comparable as a flagship cosmology survey, though using CMB rather than optical/IR probes.
• Vera C. Rubin Observatory (LSST): Next-generation wide-field optical sky survey using an 8.4m telescope with a 3.2-gigapixel camera. Direct successor to DES for southern-sky cosmological surveys and primary scientific competitor now ramping up operations.
• Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (WFIRST): NASA space mission explicitly designed to study dark energy via supernovae, weak lensing, and BAO. Highly comparable scientific mandate and probe portfolio to DES, with broader wavelength coverage and larger survey area.
• Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS): Foundational large-scale spectroscopic and photometric galaxy survey that established the methodology for precision cosmology surveys. Closely comparable in mission: mapping large-scale structure to constrain cosmological parameters.
• South Pole Telescope (SPT): CMB survey at the South Pole that overlaps directly with DES's footprint. Already a documented DES cross-correlation partner; both target dark energy through complementary probes (CMB lensing vs. optical weak lensing/BAO/SNe).
• Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP): Wide-field optical imaging survey on the Subaru 8.2m telescope using a 870-MP camera covering ~1400 sq degrees. Closely comparable wide-field weak-lensing methodology to DES, with deeper imaging over a smaller area.
• Euclid (ESA): ESA space telescope launched 2023 dedicated to mapping dark matter and dark energy via weak lensing and galaxy clustering. Uses the same core cosmological probes (weak lensing, BAO) as DES but from space with near-IR coverage.

Broad incumbents

• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL): Built the custom red-sensitive CCDs for DECam and leads DESC for Rubin. Comparable as a DOE national lab contributing detector technology and cosmology leadership directly adjacent to DES's value chain.
• NOIRLab / Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory: Hosts the Blanco 4m telescope and DECam at CTIO—the physical infrastructure DES depends on. Operates as an umbrella for multiple astronomy facilities; comparable as a host/incumbent of large-scale optical survey capability.
• Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab): Primary US institutional host and management hub for DES, including DECam construction. Broadly comparable as a major DOE national laboratory with cosmology and particle physics programs (including Dark Energy Science Consortium, DESC, for LSST).

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/theDESurvey
• Facebookfacebook.com/darkenergysurvey
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-dark-energy-survey

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about The Dark Energy Survey