Two Asia-Pacific governments have subscribed to the direct access program, or DAP, of geospatial imaging company Maxar Intelligence, drawing the first contracts for the 30-centimeter-class geospatial imagery from the company’s WorldView Legion satellite constellation.
According to a company announcement Thursday, the subscription contracts, valued at $35 million, allow Maxar to introduce its virtual constellation capability in the APAC region, enabling direct tasking of ultra-high-resolution synthetic aperture radar imagery in partnership with Umbra.
All-Weather Geospatial Monitoring
The collaboration will provide the two APAC subscribers access to Umbra’s SAR satellite imaging using Maxar’s platform. SAR imagery from the Umbra satellites can be drawn at a 25 cm resolution for nighttime monitoring in any weather condition, complementing Maxar’s electro-optical imagery.
Anders Linder, International Government general manager at Maxar Intelligence, noted that growing global political uncertainty increases demand for improved geospatial information for enhanced situational awareness. He said Maxar’s four orbiting WorldView Legion satellites offer the most tasking in the 30-cm class, dawn-to-dusk capacity.
“Combine that with the option to directly task SAR imagery through us, our customers can collect ground truth insights 24/7, giving them the transparency they need, when they need it,” the executive said.
Wide-Ranging Applications
Equipped with two Raytheon-designed imaging instruments, Maxar’s constellation is in low Earth orbit to support various applications within various sectors, including national security, military and commercial mapping, and maritime monitoring.
Telecommunications network planning, change detection and feature identification are potential applications for the constellation’s imaging. WorldView Legion can also contribute to humanitarian aid during natural disasters and help collect other data on world events.