{"id":17658,"date":"2020-07-21T21:59:24","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T13:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/air-force-goes-with-blackskys-spectra-ai-platform-to-track-impact-of-covid-19\/"},"modified":"2020-07-21T21:59:24","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T13:59:24","slug":"air-force-goes-with-blackskys-spectra-ai-platform-to-track-impact-of-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/air-force-goes-with-blackskys-spectra-ai-platform-to-track-impact-of-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force goes with BlackSky\u2019s Spectra AI platform to track impact of COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_562752\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-562752\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-562752\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/HartsfieldJacksonAtlantaInternational-630x406.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"406\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/HartsfieldJacksonAtlantaInternational-630x406.png 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/HartsfieldJacksonAtlantaInternational-1260x811.png 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/HartsfieldJacksonAtlantaInternational-768x494.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/HartsfieldJacksonAtlantaInternational-1536x989.png 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/HartsfieldJacksonAtlantaInternational-2048x1318.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-562752\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A satellite image of Atlanta\u2019s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport reveals an unusually high number of parked airplanes (identified in yellow boxes) and an unusually low number of parked cars. That\u2019s consistent with what would be expected during the COVID-19 pandemic. (BlackSky Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>BlackSky, a satellite data venture with offices in Seattle, says it\u2019s won a U.S. Air Force contract to track the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on military interests worldwide. The contract calls for BlackSky to monitor U.S. military bases overseas and assess the status of supply chains, using its AI-enabled Spectra geospatial data analysis platform.<\/p>\n<p>Spectra can analyze satellite data as well as news feeds and social media postings to identify anomalies worth following up on with additional imagery or investigation. The data inputs include imagery from BlackSky\u2019s own satellite constellation as well as from other sources.<\/p>\n<p>BlackSky has benefited from Pentagon contracts for years, but this latest project focuses on impacts related to the COVID-19 outbreak.<\/p>\n<p>The approach was demonstrated for GeekWire back in May, when BlackSky executives showed how satellite images could be compared to detect an unusual rise or fall in, say, the number of cars parked in a lot outside a given installation. That could point to places where social distancing is decreasing or increasing.<\/p>\n<p>Spectra can also analyze activity at airports, loading docks, maintenance facilities, fuel storage depots and other key installations to assess how supply chains might be affected by pandemic-related bottlenecks.<\/p>\n<p>Such analyses can be compared with reported infection numbers coming from local governments, and integrated into computer models to predict the risk to deployed Air Force personnel and the surrounding communities.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"BlackSky | Monitoring Outbreaks and Social Distancing to Maintain Force Readiness.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/puC6Dd9vVyY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlackSky is giving decision makers the crucial information they need to protect U.S. interests at home and overseas amid today\u2019s rapidly shifting threat landscape,\u201d BlackSky CEO Brian O\u2019Toole said today in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy combining global geospatial data sources with satellite remote sensing data, Spectra provides a near-real time look at the evolving pandemic and provides critical insights to inform national security,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The contract was awarded through AFWERX, the Air Force\u2019s small-business innovation program, and the Air Force Research Laboratory.<\/p>\n<p>Although the financial terms of the contract were not announced, AFWERX\u2019s solicitation called for providing Direct to Phase 2 grants worth as much as $1 million over the course of 27 months. AFWERX added the emphasis on responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the course of the solicitation.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Toole said Spectra will help the Air Force \u201cmaintain a watchful eye over its supply chain\u201d amid the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpectra will provide the Air Force an easy-to-use outbreak monitoring and decision support tool,\u201d he said. \u201cThe platform will help us combat the spread of COVID-19, manage risk and ensure the protection of personnel around the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>BlackSky, a subsidiary of Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries, has offices in Seattle as well as Herndon, Va.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A satellite image of Atlanta\u2019s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport reveals an unusually high number of parked airplanes (identified in yellow boxes) and an unusually low number of parked cars. That\u2019s consistent with what would be expected during the COVID-19 pandemic. (BlackSky Photo) BlackSky, a satellite data venture with offices in Seattle, says it\u2019s won a U.S. [&hellip;]<\/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":[437,404,2128,2010,439,20,442],"class_list":["post-17658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-air-force","tag-blacksky","tag-blacksky-global","tag-coronavirus","tag-military","tag-satellite","tag-satellites"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17658"}],"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=17658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}