Satellogic

Satellogic is a space company that builds and operates the first scalable, fully automated high-resolution Earth Observation satellite constellation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The platform, Aleph-1, consists of 300 spacecrafts and will have the ability to remap the entire planet at both high-frequency and high-resolution, providing accessible and affordable solutions for customers.

Like Planet and BlackSky LEO satellite operators, Satellogic is targeting patented satellite imaging applications in fields such as disaster response, oil and gas prospecting, infrastructure monitoring, forestry and agricultural crop assessment.

Satellogic’s current fleet can cover an area of more than 1.5 million square miles, or 4 million square kilometers, per day with high-resolution imagery.

The company was established in 2010 and is headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina and has a satellite assembly facility in Montevideo, Uruguay, a R&D facility in Córdoba, Argentina, a data technology center in Barcelona, Spain, a product development center in Tel Aviv, Israel and business development centers in Miami, USA and Beijing in China.

Company History

The company was founded in 2010 by CEO Emiliano Kargieman and CTO Gerardo Richarte and is headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Kargieman and Richarte both served in Managing Director positions in Security and Technology companies prior to start Satellogic.

In October 2011 Satellogic developed the first prototypes CubeBug-1 and CubeBug-2, Argentina’s first Nano-satellites, sponsored by Argentinian Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation. In March 2012 the prototypes were tested and in 2013 the satellites were launched. A third prototype CubeSat (BugSat-1) with camera was launched on June 19th 2014. All prototype satellite served as technology tests and demonstrations for the ÑuSat satellites that will form the Aleph-1 constellation.

In September 2019 Satellogic closed a deal to provide dedicated satellite services to  ABDAS, a Chinese Data Science company for observation of sites within China’s Henan province when the satellites are passing overhead.

In December 2019 the company raised another 50 million USD to help it scale up its satellite constellation. The new funding came from a mix of new and existing investors. Two existing investors, Chinese company Tencent and Brazilian fund Pitanga, contributed about 40% of the funding. The rest came from new investors, including IDB Lab, the “innovation laboratory” of the Inter-American Development Bank.

On November 6^th 2020, the first 10 commercial ÑuSat satellites were launched with a Long March 4B rocket operated by CGWIC from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China. The satellites were nicknamed for 10 pioneering women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. CGWIC had been contracted by Satellogic to launch in total 90 CubeSats for the company.

On September 3^rd 2020 the company launched their new spacecraft, ÑuSat-6. The mission allowed Satellogic to test sub-meter imaging technology. The satellite was launched with a Vega launcher, operated by Arianespace from the Guiana Space Center via a launch procured by Spaceflight, Inc.

On July 6^th 2021 Satellogic announced plans to go public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger that valued the company at 850 million USD. The company merged with CF Acquisition Corp. V (SPAC), sponsored by financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald and started trading on the NASDAQ in January 2022.

In December 2021 the company announced the built of a 57,000 sq ft (4,700m2) satellite manufacturing facility in The Netherlands, the largest facility to date. The new facility will be located close to Rotterdam and The Hague. The location was chosen strategically due to the availability of skilled workers and logistics infrastructure. Production is expected to commence during the second quarter of 2022. Satellogic expects the facility to reach production capacity of 25 satellites per quarter by Q3 2023.

In September 2022 the company signed a three-year contract with the government of Albania for a dedicated Satellite Constellation, a unique program derived from Satellogic’s Constellation-as-a-Service (CaaS) model, providing Albania access to two NewSat satellites, Albania-1 (ÑuSat-32) and Albania-2 (ÑuSat-33). Satellogic will enable ​​Albania to address pressing issues involving agriculture management, illegal crops, illegal construction activity, traffic management, wildfire monitoring, border security, and environmental monitoring through high-quality imagery with country-wide capacity. The satellites were launched on the SpaceX Transporter-6 Ride-share mission in January 2023.

On December 11^th, 2024 a new agreement between Maxar Intelligence and Satellogic was announced. The agreement allows Maxar to task Satellogic’s constellation to support national security missions for the government of the USA and select US-partners internationally, bringing together Satellogic’s high frequency revisit capability with Maxar’s high resolution imaging and AI technologies.

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Resources

www.satellogic.com
www.iafastro.org
www.dgiwbresearch.com
www.geekwire.com  edition January 15^th, 2019
www.spacenews.com  edition September 13^th, 2019
www.wikipedia.org
www.spacenews.com  edition December 19^th, 2019
www.news.satnews.com  edition September 4^th, 2020
www.spaceflightnow.com  edition November 6^th, 2020
www.satellitetoday.com  edition July 6^th, 2021
www.innovationquarter.nl  edition December 29^th, 2021
www.satellitetoday.com  edition January 3^rd, 2022
www.space.skyrocket.de
www.news.satnews.com  edition September 2022
www.satellitetoday.com  edition December 11^th, 2024