BlackSky Wins Air Force Research Contract to Track Vehicles in Real Time from Space
Automated target recognition service will fuse multiple satellite data sources, maintain vehicle custody and disseminate intelligence worldwide
HERNDON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY) won a competitive U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory AFWERX Direct to Phase 2 contract, funded by the Space Development Agency, to build an automated target recognition service that will gather and combine radio frequency and electro-optical satellite sensor data to track mobile assets in real-time and securely distribute actionable intelligence to remote devices and analysts worldwide.
“BlackSky’s first-of-its-kind commercial, vertically integrated space and ground architecture takes advantage of contemporary advances in AI and edge processing to advance the DOD’s real-time imagery and analytics delivery requirements,” said Patrick O’Neil, BlackSky chief technology officer. “The company’s rapid-revisit capabilities and leading innovations in automated detection give customers an opportunity to conduct ISR operations from space.”
BlackSky has a proven ability to track moving targets on-orbit using its proprietary electro-optical high-resolution satellite constellation. Unlike traditional moving target indicators that rely exclusively on radar sensors, the BlackSky Spectra platform uses multi-frame Burst imagery and computer vision to fuse open-source intelligence feeds with multi-sensor imagery to provide information and intelligence on critical targets of interest.
“BlackSky will take advantage of our existing commercial ground and space architectures that enable assured secure tasking, collection, and low-latency data delivery to make mobile asset monitoring possible at scale,” said O’Neil.
About BlackSky
BlackSky is a leading provider of real-time geospatial intelligence. BlackSky delivers on-demand, high frequency imagery, monitoring and analytics of the most critical and strategic locations, economic assets, and events in the world.
BlackSky designs, owns and operates one of the industry’s leading low earth orbit small satellite constellations, optimized to capture imagery cost-efficiently where and when our customers need it. BlackSky’s Spectra AI software platform processes data from BlackSky’s constellation and from other third-party sensors to develop the critical insights and analytics that our customers require.
BlackSky is relied upon by U.S. and international government agencies, commercial businesses, and organizations around the world. BlackSky is headquartered in Herndon, VA, and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange as BKSY. To learn more, visit www.blacksky.com and follow us on X (formerly Twitter).
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws with respect to BlackSky. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “project,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “strategy,” “future,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections, and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this document. If any of these risks materialize or underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect our expectations, plans, or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this communication. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause their assessments to change. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date, and we do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Additional risks and uncertainties are identified and discussed in BlackSky’s disclosure materials filed from time to time with the SEC which are available at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov or on BlackSky’s Investor Relations website at https://ir.blacksky.com.
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Source: BlackSky Technology Inc.
Released October 16, 2023