7th edition of the Advanced RF Sensors and Remote Sensing Instruments workshop + 5th Ka-band for Earth Observation workshop

The European Space Agency is pleased to announce that the 7th edition of the Advanced RF Sensors and Remote Sensing Instruments workshop, together with the 5th Ka-band for Earth Observation workshop paper submission portal is now open.

Due …

Planet shares begin trading on New York Stock Exchange

Planet completed its merger with special purpose acquisition company dMY Technology Group IV and began trading shares on the New York Stock Exchange Dec. 8 under the ticker symbol PL.

China launches new Gaofen-11 high resolution spy satellite to match U.S. capabilities

HELSINKI — China launched its third Gaofen-11 reconnaissance satellite Nov. 19, adding to a set of classified satellites with an optical resolution which may be comparable to top U.S. spy satellites.

NASA considers innovative business model for $500 million Earth Science campaign

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is soliciting information on how private sector innovation could help researchers make the most of a $500 million budget to obtain data on Earth’s changing surface.

Iceye and U.S. Army forge collaborative research pact

Iceye U.S. announced a cooperative research and development agreement with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Technical Center.

Hydrosat raises $10 million for thermal infrared imagery constellation

Hydrosat, a geospatial data and analytics startup, raised $10 million in seed funding for a satellite constellation to produce thermal infrared maps.

NGA notes advantages of unclassified commercial data

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is interested in keeping commercial datasets unclassified.

South Korean ground station operator orders its first EO satellite

Contec signed a contract with NanoAvionics for an Earth observation satellite that will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the second half of 2023. 

Spire CEO sees vast potential market for space data

Spire Global CEO Peter Platzer expects commercial and government demand for space data and analytics to surge in the coming years, offering enormous growth potential for the firm, which began trading shares publicly in August.

Planet to acquire VanderSat in $28 million deal

Planet announced an agreement to acquire VanderSat, a Dutch company that provides data on Earth surface conditions, like soil moisture and land surface temperature for about $28 million.

Iceye officially joins Copernicus Earth-observation Program

Iceye won a contract to provide data from its constellation of small synthetic-aperture radar satellites to Copernicus, the European Union program aimed at providing continuous, global Earth observation.

Planet unveils Pelican Earth-imaging constellation

Planet unveiled “very high resolution” Pelican Earth-imaging satellites and announced plans to bring synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) into its Planet Fusion Monitoring data stream.

NGA plans annual survey of international Earth imagery leaders

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency plans to conduct an annual assessment of commercial satellite imagery like the Olympic-themed evaluation the organization conducted earlier this year.

Earth observation is expanding into new markets

Markets for Earth observation data and associated services are growing and evolving, according to panelists at the Satellite Innovation 2021 conference.

Finland’s Kuva Space raises funds for hyperspectral constellation

Finland’s Kuva Space raised 4.2 million euros ($4.85 million) to fund its campaign to establish a constellation of commercial hyperspectral cubesats.

NGA renews Maxar contract for satellite imagery

Maxar Technologies won a $44 million contract option from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to continue to provide U.S. government agencies with access to unclassified high-resolution commercial imagery from Maxar and other commercial data providers.

Capella shares SAR data with researchers, app developers

Capella Space announced plans Sept. 14 to share synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) data gathered by its satellite constellation with researchers, nonprofit organizations, application developers and disaster response organizations.

Planet provides data to federal civilian agencies under NASA contract

Researchers delving into climate change, biodiversity loss and other topics through work funded by U.S. federal civilian agencies and the National Science Foundation will have access to Planet Earth-observation data through September 2022, under a NASA contract announced Sept. 14.

South Korea’s Satrec Initiative to build constellation of high-resolution Earth observation satellites

In the first step toward building its own constellation of Earth observation satellite, Satrec Initiative will send the high-resolution SpaceEye-T imaging satellite into low Earth orbit by the first quarter of 2024.

Planet and SpaceX announce multiyear launch agreement

Planet announced a multiyear agreement Aug. 5 that designates SpaceX as the Earth-observation company’s “go-to-launch provider through the end of 2025.”