NRO Signs 5 Year Commercial Hyperspectral Satellite Imagery Agreement

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has entered into five-year agreements with six commercial providers of hyperspectral satellite imagery.

Hyperspectral sensors provide data across multiple spectral bands, enabling analysts to detect phenomena in colors that are typically invisible to the human eye. The NRO has expressed interest in using hyperspectral data for several years, and the technology has government and commercial applications. Hyperspectral imaging startups have emerged in recent years, and companies in the sector have struggled to find compelling uses for hyperspectral data, which has traditionally focused on defense. However, demand has been increasing in sectors such as agriculture, mining, climate, oil, and gas.

The selected firms, which include established remote-sensing industry companies and startups BlackSky Technology, HyperSat, Orbital Sidekick, Pixxel, Planet, and Xplore, will have their technical capabilities, business plans, and cybersecurity measures evaluated by the NRO in the initial stage. The NRO will also assess their on-orbit assets and procure data for demonstrations at a later stage. Companies that do not yet have operational constellations will provide the NRO access to their modeling and simulations until they are able to begin delivering actual data.

The six vendors were selected under the NRO's Strategic Commercial Enhancements program, which is open to both U.S. and foreign-owned U.S. commercial firms, and aims to assist the agency in understanding the capabilities of the commercial remote sensing industry.

In 2019, the NRO awarded its first commercial hyperspectral imaging study contract to startup HySpecIQ, and in September 2022, the NRO awarded six study contracts for commercial radio frequency remote sensing, followed by five commercial radar contracts in January 2022.