{"id":17640,"date":"2020-09-25T00:56:33","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T16:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/blacksky-will-add-sharper-focus-and-night-vision-to-future-earth-watching-satellites\/"},"modified":"2020-09-25T00:56:33","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T16:56:33","slug":"blacksky-will-add-sharper-focus-and-night-vision-to-future-earth-watching-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/blacksky-will-add-sharper-focus-and-night-vision-to-future-earth-watching-satellites\/","title":{"rendered":"BlackSky will add sharper focus and night vision to future Earth-watching satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Satellite
One of BlackSky\u2019s Global satellites sits on a stand that\u2019s visible at the center of this view of the LeoStella satellite factory floor in Tukwila, Wash. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BlackSky\u2019s satellites are already producing frequently updated, high-resolution views of planet Earth \u2014 but now the company says its next-generation spacecraft will kick things up a notch.<\/p>\n

There\u2019ll even be night vision.<\/p>\n

BlackSky, which has offices in Seattle and Herndon, Va., announced today that its Gen-3 Global satellites will provide pictures with 50-centimeter spatial resolution, as well as short-wave infrared sensor readings.<\/p>\n

That level of resolution for visual imagery will be twice as sharp as the current Gen-2 satellites\u2019 1-meter resolution. And the short-wave infrared imaging system should be able to deliver night-vision views as well as images of the ground that cut through obscuring smoke and haze.<\/p>\n

BlackSky CEO Brian O\u2019Toole told GeekWire that the upgrades will continue as his company builds out its constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t like the old days, when you have to have some big announcement every five years,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is just going to be expected. Customers will expect that behind Gen-3 is going to be Gen-4.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Brian
Brian O\u2019Toole is the CEO of BlackSky, which has offices in Seattle and Herndon, Va. (BlackSky Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As of today, BlackSky has six of the Gen-2 Global spacecraft in operation \u2014 including two that were launched last month and are \u201cperforming exceptionally,\u201d according to O\u2019Toole. The company plans to have 16 Gen-2 satellites on the job by the end of next year, plus four spare satellites. (There\u2019s also a first-generation Pathfinder satellite that was launched into orbit in 2016.)<\/p>\n

Views from the Global constellation are fed into BlackSky\u2019s Spectra geospatial data platform, which uses artificial intelligence to correlate space imagery with data from a host of other sources. Thanks to its analytical capabilities, Spectra can track trends ranging from cargo transport patterns to the status of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

BlackSky\u2019s next-generation satellite is expected to play a key role in the U.S. Army\u2019s Tactical Geospatial Intelligence prototype program, known as TACGEO.<\/p>\n

The company won a multi-year contract in January to demonstrate the tactical utility of a single satellite with Gen-3\u2019s capabilities while leveraging the wider constellation\u2019s capabilities to support concurrent military exercises and combat training.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe customer would use that satellite for its own purposes, but it\u2019ll still work as an integrated satellite in our overall Global constellation, so they get the benefit of both,\u201d O\u2019Toole explained.<\/p>\n

GovTribe, an online service that monitors federal contracts and grants, set the potential value of the award at nearly $13 million.<\/p>\n

Today BlackSky announced that it has completed a preliminary design review of its Gen-3 design for the TACGEO program. The project is now well into its design and development phase.<\/p>\n

\u201cTACGEO is the first phase, it\u2019s part of a prototype,\u201d O\u2019Toole said. \u201cThere will be subsequent phases, which could include more satellites.\u201d<\/p>\n