SpaceNews: Maxar eager to launch new satellites amid soaring demand for imagery over Ukraine

 

As Maxar Technologies’ satellites continue to collect images of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the company is working with customers so it can allocate more capacity to meet U.S. government needs.

• Maxar’s primary customers – the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency – more than doubled purchases of commercial electro-optical imagery over Ukraine since the war started.
• The company also gets about 200 requests a day for imagery from news media organizations.
• The capacity crunch will be an issue “until we get the Legions launched,” Jablonsky said. WorldView Legion is a constellation of six imagery satellites that is critical to the company’s future.
• Since the war started, Maxar has also increased production of 3D maps of Ukrainian cities to help assess the damage from Russian attacks.
• Maxar uses its own satellite imagery archive, drone imagery and video sources and combines them with 3D technology to produce immersive environments that replicate the real world.
• This capability known as “precision 3D georegistration” has been used to make digital representations of parts of the world for U.S. Army training, for example. The 3D renderings of the terrain of the Earth also can be turned into a navigation system so autonomous cars can drive and aircraft can fly safely without GPS.

Maxar’s CEO Daniel Jablonsky: «The company has been delivering 3D maps of areas in Ukraine that we thought were of importance. We have the imagery of the entire globe and the processes to do this with accuracy. We found that it’s been really valuable for simulation, planning and assessments and also for helping people understand things in a visual way.”

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