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A Starlink satellite orbits above the Pacific Ocean near Alaska in this image captured by a BlackSky Gen-2 satellite on August 28, 2024. The Starlink satellite was 120 kilometers away from the BlackSky satellite at the time the image was captured. Credit: BlackSky Technologies
PARIS — BlackSky Technology announced “a seven-figure” contract Sept. 19 from Australian startup HEO to provide imagery of space objects for defense, intelligence and commercial use.
Through the agreement, BlackSky, a firm known for rapid and automated Earth-observation, will join HEO’s non-Earth imaging sensor network.
“Leveraging the power of real-time dynamic monitoring in the space domain unlocks additional value from BlackSky’s high-resolution constellation,” BlackSky CEO Brian O’Toole said in a statement. “Space situational awareness is critically important for our customers as the space domain continues to become a highly contested operational environment. Automatically tasking and receiving NEI products reflects yet another pioneering innovation that gives customers reliable and actionable space-based intelligence about spacecraft or on-orbit objects of interest at mission speed.”
Specifically, BlackSky will share with HEO high-resolution imagery of mid-inclination orbit.
“Activating [non-Earth imaging] capabilities gives BlackSky the ability to leverage unused capacity typically associated with satellites passing over the ocean or satellites in eclipse, traveling across the dark side of Earth,” according to the news release.
Patterns of Life
Prior to releasing the news, BlackSky and HEO worked together to test the non-Earth imaging partnership. Now, the firms are focused on “automating the entire tasking-to-delivery process,” the news release said.
“HEO is driving innovation in space by delivering non-Earth imaging solutions at scale, giving our customers in-orbit insights when timing is crucial,” Will Crowe, HEO co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. “Adding BlackSky’s high-resolution constellation to HEO’s sensor network through this partnership will unlock even more applications of NEI data across industries.”
Going forward, HEO customers will request non-Earth imagery through an automated tasking and delivery platform, HEO Inspect. Then, HEO’s software will identify imaging opportunities and task BlackSky satellites through an API. Imagery captured will be transferred along with metadata to HEO Inspect for object detection and identification.
Customers will receive “advanced analytics reports that include information such as a satellite’s attitude and location, subsystems identification and pattern-of-life analyses,” the news release said.
Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco.
Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She…
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