Based in Colorado, since foundng of the firm in 2013, Guidestar has operated as an optical systems R&D company focused on design and development of innovative optical solutions for use in directed energy, free space laser communications, and sensing and imaging through optical turbulence - providing advanced optical solutions for light propagation and imaging in challenging environments. To that extent, the capabilities of the small firm aligned directly with General Atomic's EMS focus on delivering ground-breaking technologies for the defence and space markets. This made acquisition of the smaller firm a fairly logcal next step. Announcement of completion of the acquisition of Guidestar Optical Systems, Inc.,was made in late October 2020 with the smaller entity being integrated into GAs Electromagnetic Systems (EMS) group.
