WASHINGTON — The National Reconnaissance Office announced Dec. 5 it has signed agreements with five industrial providers of electro-optical satellite imagery, including 4 startups which can be just beginning to construct out their constellations.
Airbus U.S. Space and Defense, Albedo Space, Hydrosat, Muon Space and Turion Space were chosen for the NRO’s Strategic Industrial Enhancements program, which seeks recent and emerging varieties of electro-optical imagery beyond what the agency already procures from Maxar, BlackSky and Planet Labs under a 2022 contract often known as the Electro-Optical Industrial Layer.
The NRO has access to significant industrial sources of images under the EOCL contracts nevertheless it’s now seeking to capture the following wave of technologies which have emerged within the industry lately, corresponding to industrial non-Earth imagery, or the imaging of objects in space.
“The industrial EO market continues to expand with recent capabilities and recent providers,” said NRO Director Chris Scolese. “We’re excited to proceed our work with mission partners and the user community to repeatedly explore recent providers and emerging capabilities so we are able to deliver first-class industrial EO solutions today and well into the long run.”
The five Strategic Industrial Enhancements contracts are projected to increase for two.5 years. In the course of the first stage, the NRO will examine the businesses’ capabilities at each the person sensor and constellation levels, in addition to business and cybersecurity planning. Within the second stage, the agency will assess on-orbit capabilities and procure data products.
Pete Muend, director of the NRO’s industrial systems program office, said these contracts “display our commitment to fulfill increasing customer demands with greater industrial capability.”
These awards follow six agreements with industrial hyperspectral imaging corporations awarded in March 2023, six industrial radio-frequency distant sensing contracts awarded in September 2022, and five industrial radar contracts in January 2022.
Recent constellations
The businesses chosen by the NRO include a longtime Earth imaging data provider, Airbus, and 4 emerging players like Hydrosat, a thermal infrared data and analytics company that gives geospatial intelligence for climate, food security and the environment through every day surface temperature data and analytics.
Hydrosat’s contract with the NRO includes the evaluation of high-resolution thermal imagery from its planned constellation of satellites, CEO Pieter Fossel said in a news release.
One other startup chosen by the NRO, Muon Space, will provide multispectral electro-optical and infrared data collected by the corporate’s future climate monitoring constellation, designed to offer global coverage with rapid revisits for a persistent understanding of world thermal activity.
California startup Turion Space is constructing a non-Earth imaging constellation to offer space situational awareness services.
The startup Albedo plans to operate satellites in very low Earth orbit to assemble ultra-high resolution visible imagery in addition to high-resolution thermal infrared imagery. Albedo also plans to offer nighttime imaging, non-Earth imaging and video.