Vista Photonics, Inc.

12/10/2025

Please accept our apologies if you've received bounce back messages for any emails sent to us. Our email host provider performed an upgrade to their systems two days ago and it didn't go well. As such, we have been unable to receive and respond to any emails sent to our staff. If you have an urgent need, please call our office at 505-216-2287. We'll post an update once the email issue has been corrected.

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10/30/2025

Dr. Jeffrey S. Pilgrim, President and Principal Scientist, accepted an award from NASA Johnson Space Center for the contributions of Vista Photonics to the Human Space Flight program.

From NASA's Johnson Space Center:

JSC NASA has been fortunate to have a long working relationship with Vista Photonics on various flight hardware projects going back over twelve years. In September 2025, the Anomaly Gas Analyzer (AGA) project reached significant milestones with the on orbit delivery of seven units to ISS as well as multi-program approval of System Acceptance Review (SAR) to certify the design for ISS and Orion. ISS will soon deploy the AGAs that flew on NG-21, SpX-33 and NG-23 for Ammonia and Fire Response in 2025/2026, while Orion is planned to fly AGAs around the moon on Artemis II in 2026.

EC3 would like to recognize the efforts of Jeff Pilgrim, president of Vista Photonics, for his significant contributions to the space industry. He has continued to press the envelope of laser-based trace sensing techniques to create best-in-industry sensors for critical applications, while building a team of flight hardware experts from a small business of less than ten individuals. The CTSD Challenge Coin is the most prestigious award in the EC Division at JSC, and is intended for those that exemplify heroic efforts in the support of the JSC Engineering Directorate. EC3 is fortunate to have the support and dedication of the team at Vista Photonics, congratulations for this significant achievement.

06/10/2025

https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/senate-committee-wants-to-keep-gateway-sls-and-orion/

Posted: June 5, 2025 10:37 pm ET | Last Updated: June 5, 2025 10:47 pm ET | The Senate Commerce Committee's portion of the reconciliation bill would fund portions of NASA's Moon-to-Mars program that President Trump wants to kill, especially the Gateway lunar space station, the SLS rocket and Orion s...

06/04/2025

22 years and we're still going strong! Thank you to everyone who has been a part of our journey.

04/25/2023

https://www.chem.uga.edu/events/content/2023/seeking-tricorder-evolution-nasa-anomaly-gas-analyzer

Dr. Jeffrey S. Pilgrim, winner of the 2023 UGA Chemistry Distinguished Alumnus Award, is President and founder of Vista Photonics, an optical instrumentation company located in Las Cruces, NM. He formed the corporation in June 2003 to develop and commercialize optical gas sensing technologies and in...

04/18/2023

The University of Georgia Department of Chemistry awarded Dr. Jeffrey S. Pilgrim the 2023 Distinguished Alumnus Award on April 14, 2023 in Athens, GA. The award was presented to Dr. Pilgrim by Dr. Michael Duncan, his graduate school group leader.

Vista Photonics is proud of the achievements of its President, CEO, and Founder and thank the Chemistry Department for the honor. Congratulations, Dr. Pilgrim!

04/04/2023

Our own Jeff Pilgrim is getting recognized by his Alma Mater on April 14, 2023!

From the University of Georgia Chemistry Department newsletter:

The 2023 Chemistry Alumni Lecture will be given on Friday, April 14, by Dr. Stefanie Milam from NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center. After the 4:00 lecture in the iSTEM-2 Auditorium, there will be a social hour (6:00) followed by the Alumni Awards Banquet (7:00) at the Trumps dining Room (South Milledge at the by-pass). It will include the presentation of student and faculty awards for the Chemistry Department as well as those for the Northeast Georgia Section of the ACS. The Distinguished Alumnus Award will be presented to Dr. Jeffrey Pilgrim (Ph.D. 1995 with Michael Duncan).

08/23/2022

I, you are go for launch. 🌙🚀

Today, the mission completed its flight readiness review, and it was decided that everything is on schedule for a launch at 8:33 a.m. ET Monday, Aug. 29. We are going to the Moon! https://t.co/KOrOCmSRu4

06/16/2022

https://www.nasa.gov/content/artemis-partners

05/15/2022

https://www.ices.space/

The International Conference on Environmental Systems focuses on the dissemination of technical and scientific information on topics related to humans living in space and working in extreme environments.

04/28/2021

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/28/509599284/forgotten-astronaut-michael-collins-dies

Collins was the crew member who stayed in orbit on the Apollo 11 command module while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. Later he oversaw building of the National Air and Space Museum.