Earth observation

Orbital Sidekick raises $10 million from customers and existing investors
Hyperspectral imaging startup Orbital Sidekick raised $10 million in an investment round led by Energy Innovation Capital.

Observing lightning with a cubesat constellation
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center is working with Los Alamos National Laboratories and the University of Alabama, Huntsville, on Cubespark, a proposed constellation of six cubesats to map lightning.

EOI Space forges equity and sales pact with Japan’s NTT Data
EOI Space, the Earth-observation startup formerly known as Earth Observant, attracted its first major customer for ultra-high-resolution imagery drawn from a constellation of satellites destined for very low Earth orbit.

Shay Har-Noy takes the helm at Edgybees
Shay Har-Noy, former Spire Global general manager for aviation and a former DigitalGlobe and Maxar Technologies vice president, has taken the helm at Edgybees, a company that specializes in aligning satellite and aerial still and full-motion imagery.

India’s PSLV rocket launches nine satellites in final mission of 2022
India’s space agency ISRO launched a one-ton Earth observation satellite and eight nanosatellites to sun-synchronous polar orbit Nov. 26 aboard the nation’s workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket.

Array Labs raises $5 million for 3D-imagery constellation
Silicon Valley startup Array Labs raised $5 million in a pre-seed funding round backed by Seraphim Space and Agya Ventures, a real estate technology fund.

Preligens aims to become a long-term DoD supplier
Preligens is expanding its U.S. subsidiary in a bid to become a long-term supplier of geospatial data analysis software to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Grasp acquires AirPhoton to form Grasp Global
French startup Grasp SAS has acquired Baltimore, Maryland-based AirPhoton to create Grasp Global, a U.S. Earth-observation company.

Open Cosmos unveils OpenConstellation, shared space infrastructure
British small satellite startup Open Cosmos announced plans Sept. 21 for OpenConstellation, shared space infrastructure designed to offer partners access to satellite data.

Planet shares information on Tanager hyperspectral constellation
Planet released additional information about the hyperspectral constellation the Earth-observation company is developing through the Carbon Mapper public-private partnership.