Descartes Labs and its subsidiary, Descartes Labs Government, has selected EarthDaily Analytics as a supplier for their EO data to power their geospatial analytics and AI solutions. 

EarthDaily’s Constellation will unlock a continuous stream of scientific-quality and analytics-ready data providing an unprecedented industry advancement for Descartes Labs’ customers.

The anticipated EarthDaily Constellation is set to launch later in 2024. Their “string of pearls” configuration will enable coverage of nearly 100% of the world’s land masses and maritime regions every six hours, providing the widest commercially available spectral range specifically tailored to inform and guide a diverse set of the most mission-critical, real-world applications. The EarthDaily Constellation will fundamentally change customers’ ability to identify change and adapt quickly in an increasingly complex world.

Retina integrates Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) for rapid intelligence extraction, enabling government agencies to see the world in real-time clarity through a single, streamlined interface. WayFinder, a new mission management tool, aids Search and Rescue (SAR) operations by shortening the time between emergency beacon detection and responders hitting the ground, reducing emergency response times by 25-50%. Iris, an InSAR-based deformation monitoring solution, visually focused on AOIs, with an easy to use, no code interface. Iris continuously monitors critical infrastructure for signs of deformation and provides fast alerting for improved response to these anomalies. Together, Retina, WayFinder and Iris arm the Public Sector with actionable insights for mission-ready decisions to meet mission-critical objectives.

Descartes Labs and EarthDaily’s integration of data and analysis will yield an unparalleled scope and quality of actionable insights for the private and public sectors alike. The addition of EarthDaily data will provide a valuable enhancement to data agnostic, deep tech intelligence of Retina, WayFinder and Iris, Descartes Labs Government’s trifecta of solutions being released at GEOINT Symposium 2024. 

“Access to EarthDaily data will improve mission response times, enabling swift reactions to real-world events. Integrating this data into our product solutions will be pivotal in powering our current tip and cueing event alerting system,” said Nicole Toigo, President of Descartes Labs Government.

Don Osborne, CEO of EarthDaily Analytics, said, “Uniting EarthDaily data with the AI driven analytics that are foundational to Descartes Labs and Descartes Labs Government, delivers a complete end-to-end solution across industries, enterprises and governments, globally.”

About Descartes Labs Government (DLG)
Descartes Labs Government is a wholly owned subsidiary of Descartes Labs. Our solutions are grounded in an ever-expanding portfolio of cloud-native, dual-use, AI-driven products and capabilities that are commercially available and mission-stress-tested by a variety of government organizations. Our expert team comes from a broad range of physical and applied science backgrounds at top institutions, and our strength lies in blending physical and statistical modeling techniques.  

HyImpulse, a German manufacturer and system provider of commercial launch vehicles for satellite transport, successfully test-launched their 12 meter long and 2.5 ton single-stage rocket “SR75” that can transport smallsats weighing up to 250 kg to an altitude of around 250 km.

The hybrid rocket propulsion system of the launch vehicle operated as planned. After the successful lift-off, the SR75 will be retrieved for further examination and analysis of the data.

HyImpulse introduces a groundbreaking propulsion concept with its rockets, using solid paraffin (commonly known as candle wax) and liquid oxygen as fuel. Paraffin, being both cost-effective and inherently safe as a fuel, serves as an alternative to conventional liquid or solid fuels and does not have the risk to explode. This innovative design significantly simplifies the construction of launch vehicles, cutting costs by a remarkable 40 percent compared to traditional propulsion systems. As a result, satellite transportation expenses are reduced by an impressive 50 percent, demonstrating HyImpulse’s commitment to affordable access to space.

The SL1 multi-stage orbital launch vehicle, scheduled for its inaugural lift-off by the end of 2025, stands at a height of 32 meters and weighs 50 tons. Depending on the weight of the payload, it can ascend to an altitude exceeding 500 km, i.e., reaching low Earth orbits. Designed for cost-effective transportation of smallsats into space, it can carry payloads of up to 600 kilograms to LEO.

Dr. Mario Kobald, co-founder and co-CEO of HyImpulse, said, “ Setting up a commercial launch vehicle equipped with entirely new propulsion technology up for launch and lift-off with such an efficient team and a relatively small budget is quite a feat. We’re signaling Germany’s prowess as a spacefaring nation and expanding Europe’s access to space. Already, we’re planning the launch of a larger, multi-stage transport launch vehicle capable of deploying satellites weighing up to 600 kilograms into low Earth orbits by the end of next year.”

Dr. Christian Schmierer, co-founder and co-CEO of HyImpulse, said, “With this successful launch, which also provides us with valuable data for further development, we have validated our technical concept and demonstrated our market readiness. Our utilization concept is designed for the cost-effective transport of small satellites into space. This enables the implementation of privately funded environmental and climate projects, research projects, as well as navigation, telecommunications, and more. The demand for commercial launch vehicles for the transportation of satellites in Europe is substantial. Accordingly, with a volume well exceeding 100 million Euro, our order book is already substantial and continues to grow monthly.”

This marks the first-ever satellite Exolaunch has deployed for NASA,
which launched via Rocket Lab’s Electron vehicle on April 23, 2024.

Exolaunch provided the deployment services for NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) satellite aboard Rocket Lab’s “Beginning of the Swarm” mission.

The liftoff occurred on April 23rd. at 1000 NZT / 2200 UTC from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. As the first satellite the company has deployed for NASA, this landmark launch is Exolaunch’s 28th mission.

ACS3, which features a 12U nanosatellite (smallsat) bus built by Kongsberg NanoAvionics, is testing new structures for solar sail systems, which harness sunlight for propulsion. The satellite was successfully deployed into orbit using Exolaunch’s flight-proven EXOpod deployer.

With NASA’s ACS3 now in orbit, the mission’s primary objective is to test the deployment of lightweight booms designed to unfurl a solar sail measuring about 30 feet per side. ACS3 marks the first use of composite booms, as well as sail packing and deployment systems, for a solar sail in space. Additionally, exploring solar sailing as a viable alternative to chemical and electric propulsion systems is crucial to enabling future low-cost, efficient deep space missions.

This innovative technology holds great promise for a variety of applications, including space weather monitoring satellites, asteroid reconnaissance missions, and solar observation missions, contributing to significant advancements in space exploration and science.

“Exolaunch is honored to have been a part of NASA’s ACS3 mission,” said Jake Cornish, U.S. launch director at Exolaunch. “Congratulations to NASA and Kongsberg NanoAvionics on reaching this crucial milestone, and thank you, Rocket Lab, for a smooth ride to orbit. We are excited to see the potential applications of ACS3 unfold, and are proud to support and enable NASA’s innovative endeavors in space exploration using small satellites.”

The Space Development Agency (SDA) has issued an award using Other Transaction Authority (OTA) with a total potential value of approximately $414 million to build eight satellites, for launch in first quarter fiscal year 2027, to accelerate fire-control capability for global detection, warning, and precision tracking of advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems.

This firm fixed-price agreement was awarded to Millennium Space Systems, Inc. to deliver eight satellites as part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture‘s (PWSA) Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter (FOO Fighter) program. FOO Fighter, or F2, will demonstrate advanced missile defense capability by incorporating fire control-quality sensors into a prototype constellation.

“The FOO Fighter program will provide an operational demonstration of fire control efforts separate from, but complementary to, our missile warning/missile tracking and missile defense efforts already underway in the tranches,” said Derek Tournear, SDA director. “We look forward to working with Millennium, a new teammate in the expanding marketplace of performers innovating to deliver the PWSA for the warfighter.”

Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR) has entered into a multi-million-dollar deal with a financial firm to provide the firm’s High-Resolution Weather Forecast model, which offers a six-day outlook powered by proprietary data collected from space, and develop an AI-powered model for long-range forecasting.

Through this deal, Spire will build off of its recent collaboration with NVIDIA to leverage Earth-2, NVIDIA’s platform for weather and climate change modeling, to train and run AI weather models. These models are projected to increase the accuracy of weather forecasts and produce long-range probabilistic forecasts at unprecedented speeds.

Spire’s multipurpose constellation of satellites, using radio occultation technology, captures precise vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, and humidity across the globe, including under-observed areas and remote regions. By using these proprietary datasets to initialize an AI forecasting model, the Company aims to usher in a new era of accuracy, speed and reliability in weather forecasting.

Spire’s suite of Weather and Climate solutions, including its recently launched High–Resolution Weather Forecasts, DeepVision, global weather forecasts, proprietary data sources like ocean winds and soil moisture, and additional atmospheric weather datasets, serves customers across various industries including energy, logistics, utilities, agriculture and more.

“Having spent my career in the field of weather, I’m amazed at the rapid pace by which we’re seeing AI transform weather forecasting, especially when paired with proprietary data that can only be collected from space,” said Michael Eilts, general manager of Weather & Climate at Spire. “As climate change causes more volatile and extreme weather patterns, our models are equipping financial firms with the crucial insights needed to anticipate weather’s influence on price dynamics and market trends.”

Umbra has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to progress to Phase II of the Distributed Radar Image Formation Technology (DRIFT) program.

This significant milestone underscores Umbra’s pivotal role in advancing cutting-edge capabilities for DARPA’s mission to create breakthrough technologies for national security. The DRIFT program leverages data from multiple Umbra Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites flown in formation, paving the way for the development of groundbreaking processing algorithms.

These U.S. capability advancements in formation flying and joint collection techniques are a testament to Umbra’s expertise in remote sensing space systems and its commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation. Phase II entails a comprehensive multi-month collection campaign, during which Umbra’s SAR satellites will generate bistatic and multistatic datasets for further analysis by DARPA and its partner contractors in the DRIFT program. At the culmination of Phase II, Umbra will conduct an on-orbit demonstration showcasing the multistatic capabilities it has developed.

In March, Umbra released bistatic imagery from its tandem satellites. With eight satellites currently in orbit, Umbra plans to deploy the remaining satellites in its licensed 32 satellite constellation in strategically designed pairs. With the ability to capture images at day/night, all-weather capable, Umbra’s SAR satellites are indispensable for monitoring change. Umbra’s satellites deliver the highest quality SAR data at unprecedented volumes and area density, enabling the U.S. Government, its allies, and commercial partners with actionable, all-weather insights.

Jason Mallare, Vice President of Global Solutions at Umbra, said, “We’re grateful to contribute to DARPA’s vision, leveraging top-tier U.S. capabilities for asymmetric advantage. Umbra’s differentiated technology and relentless focus on tech evolution drive us forward. We’re excited about the future this technology and similar capabilities hold for Umbra and the nation.”

About Umbra
Umbra is a vertically integrated space technology company that offers intelligence data as a service to commercial and government customers. Our cutting-edge products help customers solve complex business, environmental, and security challenges. Umbra is founded, funded, built and operated in the USA with headquarters in Santa Barbara, California, and has a presence in Austin, Texas, and Washington, D.C.

Satellogic (NASDAQ: SATL) has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with O.N.E. Amazon to bring innovation to conservation — this announcement coincides with Earth Day, amplifying the importance of advancing geospatial sciences for planetary health and preservation.

Satellogic will look to support O.N.E. Amazon’s creation of the Internet of Forests (“IoF”), a large-scale sensor network that, along with machine intelligence infrastructure, will be used to monitor key variables within the Amazon rainforest.

“Satellogic’s mission is to monitor the planet to help solve the Earth’s most pressing issues. We understand the importance of initiatives like the O.N.E. Amazon project, and we are happy to support the IoF,” said Matt Tirman, President, Satellogic. “Our global, sub-meter resolution satellite constellation allows us to revisit any point on Earth daily and can obtain imagery quickly, allowing maximum responsiveness to any environmental change event.”

“Tokenization of the Amazon rainforest requires a granular assessment of environmental and social conditions within a given area of land. We believe Satellogic’s state-of-the-art earth-mapping technology will play a key role in the success of IoF,” said Rodrigo Veloso, CEO, O.N.E. Amazon. “The Internet of Forests is intended to ensure reliable measurements of key environmental and social metrics; serve as world – class data collection and storage infrastructure for scientific analysis of forest environments; and enable local communities to better understand how their behavior and the behavior of institutions impact the natural environment within the rainforest.”

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is set to launch a batch of Starlink satellites into LEO from Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral, for the Starlink mega-constellation, on Monday, April 22 from 3:40 – 7:40 PDT.

The $52 million launch is part of SpaceX’s project for space-based Internet communication system.

Weather forecast calls for a temperature of 69°F, broken clouds, 75% cloud cover and a wind speed of 24mph.

Space Launch Complex 40 has witnessed the launch of 236 rockets, including 236 orbital launch attempts, while Cape Canaveral, FL, USA, has been the site for 947 rocket launches.