{"id":17383,"date":"2022-05-25T17:19:41","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T09:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nro-strikes-multibillion-dollar-deals-with-blacksky-maxar-and-planet-for-spy-satellite-imagery\/"},"modified":"2022-05-25T17:19:41","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T09:19:41","slug":"nro-strikes-multibillion-dollar-deals-with-blacksky-maxar-and-planet-for-spy-satellite-imagery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nro-strikes-multibillion-dollar-deals-with-blacksky-maxar-and-planet-for-spy-satellite-imagery\/","title":{"rendered":"NRO strikes multibillion-dollar deals with BlackSky, Maxar and Planet for spy satellite imagery"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An artist\u2019s conception shows one of BlackSky\u2019s satellites in orbit. (Black Sky Illustration) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three satellite imaging companies are in line to receive billions of dollars from the National Reconnaissance Office over the next decade, thanks to a string of contracts announced today.<\/p>\n

The companies are the same satellite operators who won study contracts from the NRO three years ago: BlackSky, Maxar Technologies and Planet.<\/p>\n

BlackSky, which got its start in Seattle and is now headquartered in Virginia, says its contract for Electro-Optical Commercial Layer imagery sets up a five-year base subscription with a starting value of $85.5 million, plus options to extend the contract to 10 years. If all options are exercised, total contract value would be $1.021 billion.<\/p>\n

Colorado-based Maxar, which was the first to provide commercial satellite imagery to the NRO, would be paid $300 million per year for the first five years, plus options for $1.74 billion in the following five years. Total potential value would be $3.24 billion. California-based Planet didn\u2019t disclose the value of its contract.<\/p>\n

BlackSky\u2019s stock nearly doubled in value today, ending the trading session at $2.33 per share. Maxar\u2019s share price rose almost 18% to close at $28.86. Meanwhile, Planet\u2019s stock was up 14%, finishing the day at $5.73.<\/p>\n

Frequently updated commercial imaging has proven its value to the U.S. intelligence community in crises such as the war in Ukraine. The NRO said today\u2019s deals represent the agency\u2019s largest-ever commercial imagery contract effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NRO has a longstanding strategy of \u2018buy what we can, build what we must,\u2019\u201d NRO Director Chris Scolese said in a news release. \u201cThe diversity offered by our expanding architecture comprised of both commercial and NRO systems increases our resilience and enables an integrated approach to the threats facing our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

BlackSky CEO Brian O\u2019Toole said the contract award marked \u201ca really monumental and pivotal day\u201d for his company. \u201cWe\u2019ve just been validated by one of the most important customers in the world,\u201d he told GeekWire.<\/p>\n

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This montage shows some of the images captured over Ukraine by BlackSky\u2019s satellites over the course of a week in April. Click on the image for a larger view. (BlackSky Photos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

O\u2019Toole said BlackSky\u2019s ability to revisit imaging targets frequently has been a key selling point. \u201cWhat\u2019s expanded here is the need for high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations,\u201d he said. \u201cWe now have a platform that\u2019s the first of its kind that can do that, and provide hourly monitoring. And we can deliver that data extremely fast, directly into the government system.\u201d<\/p>\n

BlackSky already has 14 of its Global satellites in low Earth orbit, and is on track to start adding its more advanced \u201cGen-3\u201d satellites to the constellation, O\u2019Toole said. LeoStella, a joint venture owned by BlackSky and Thales Alenia Space, is building the Gen-3 satellites at its headquarters in Tukwila, Wash.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll begin expanding the constellation next year with Gen-3 capability, and that\u2019ll grow up to 30 satellites,\u201d O\u2019Toole said. \u201cWhen we get to 30, that\u2019s going to bring our hourly monitoring down to 30-minute monitoring capability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thirty satellites won\u2019t necessarily be the limit: \u201cWe can have just-in-time capability, so we can build and launch as the market demands,\u201d O\u2019Toole said. \u201cWe\u2019re not subject to the old model where you need to start five years ahead of time to figure out what your capacity might be.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Toole said BlackSky\u2019s Seattle facilities will continue to be in on the action.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, Seattle is where this company started, and it\u2019s at the heart of our space capabilities,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re continuing to expand in Seattle. In fact, we\u2019re going to be expanding into a new office in the coming years. That is where our center of excellence is for space, and will remain so for as long as we\u2019re in business.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An artist\u2019s conception shows one of BlackSky\u2019s satellites in orbit. (Black Sky Illustration) Three satellite imaging companies are in line to receive billions of dollars from the National Reconnaissance Office over the next decade, thanks to a string of contracts announced today. The companies are the same satellite operators who won study contracts from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[404,2128,4640,290,416,20,442],"class_list":["post-17383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blacksky","tag-blacksky-global","tag-maxar-technologies","tag-nro","tag-planet-labs","tag-satellite","tag-satellites"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17383"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}