Weekly GEOINT Community News

Northrop Grumman Signs SSN for OmegA’s First Flight

The Saturn Satellite Networks (SSN) selected Northrop Grumman’s OmegA space launch vehicle to launch up to two satellites on the rocket’s inaugural flight, scheduled for Spring 2021. OmegA will launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39B and insert the SSN satellites into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.

NIRAC Gives Scientists Night Vision from ISS

The Aerospace Corporation’s Near Infrared Airglow Camera (NIRAC), deployed on the International Space Station (ISS), captures unique high-contrast, nighttime images. NIRAC’s orbital motion compensation system enables imaging at a spatial resolution of 80 meters, even as the ISS travels more than 10 kilometers during the camera’s 1.5-second image exposure time.

NRO Awards Two Commercial Integration Study Contracts

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) awarded two data integration study contracts to Capella Space, for commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and to Hawkeye 360, for commercial radio frequency (RF) remote sensing. These contracts represent an important milestone in the agency’s strategy of embracing both existing and emerging commercial geospatial providers to create an integrated overhead architecture consisting of both national and commercial capabilities.

France Acquires Automatic 3D Geospatial Information Capability

The AI4GEO Consortium will develop an automatic solution for producing 3D geospatial information. Over four years €30 million is to be invested. The French government’s PIA future investment program, led by the Secretariat General for Investment (SGPI), has invested €13.5 million in funding. AI4GEO marks France’s desire to acquire a 3D geospatial information capability at the cutting edge of innovation. Industry partners include Airbus Defense & Space, CLS, GEOSTAT, QuantCube, and Qwant.

 Peer Intel 

MITRE appointed Kim Warren as vice president of Public Sector Programs within the company’s Center for Programs and Technology. Warren will lead the Center’s technical work and the development of whole-of-government solutions to address challenges in homeland security, aviation and transportation, healthcare, finance and treasury, and the judiciary.

 Photo Credit: Northrop Grumman