The imagery data services deal has moved into its fourth phase following the automation of the entire tasking-to-delivery process. “BlackSky’s high-resolution Gen-2 high-cadence monitoring constellation continues to contribute valuable insight for space domain awareness,” said Brian O’Toole, BlackSky CEO.
“As on-orbit activities continue to increase, global monitoring efforts are expanding beyond terrestrial intelligence to include space intelligence,” O’Toole said. He added: “Automatically tasking and receiving NEI products reflects yet another pioneering innovation that gives customers reliable and actionable insight about spacecraft or on-orbit objects of interest at mission speed.”
As part of the contract, HEO’s software platform will autonomously identify imaging opportunities and task BlackSky’s satellites to detect, track, characterise and classify objects in orbit. The system will also assess potential threats and predict their effects.
“BlackSky has the ability to leverage remaining capacity typically associated with satellites passing over the ocean or satellites in eclipse, traveling across the dark side of Earth,” O’Toole said. “Customers can now use that excess capacity, with a high-quality user experience, to monitor objects in space with no humans in the loop.”
“Achieving true space awareness is going to require levels of inspection platforms across orbits, ready to capture imagery at a moment’s notice and HEO is building exactly that,” said Dr. Will Crowe, Co-Founder and CEO of HEO. “BlackSky’s high-resolution satellites and automated capacity give us eyes in mid-inclination orbit, turning downtime into an intelligence goldmine for operators who need to know what’s happening around their assets, when it happens.”
HEO added BlackSky’s constellation into its non-Earth imaging sensor network in 2024. Customers can now request imaging products through HEO’s automated tasking and delivery platform, HEO Inspect, which generates advanced analytics reports once imagery and metadata are processed.
