Pleased with successes so far in acquiring and exploiting commercially-developed space-based remote sensing imagery and data, the executive branch is working toward establishing a program of record for commercial satellite radar capabilities, an intelligence community official said this week.
Study contracts that the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has awarded during the past few years to obtain imagery and data from commercial vendors who are operating satellites sensing phenomenologies on Earth to include electro-optical, radar, radio-frequency, and hyper-spectral have been “very responsive to mission demand,” Pete Muend, director of NRO’s Commercial Systems Program Office, said on Monday during a panel discussion at the SATELLITE 2024 Conference.
The war in Ukraine and other crises have accelerated that demand given the “meaningful capabilities” of these remote sensing products “and we were able to really hit the gas there and really leverage those a at much different scale than previously,” Muend said.
Now, the government is looking to increase its acquisition of these products, he said.
“So, one of the things that that showed there is there really is truly meaningful mission utility there with our partners at NGA, with the combatant commands, and other allies and partners generally, so much so that right now across the executive branch, we’re actually in the middle of a conversation about whether or not with commercial radar in particular, we want to formalize that into a longer-term program of record,” Muend said.
A program of record is a near guarantee that the government will put annual funding to purchase a system or capability. The NRO currently has one long-term contract in place for commercial satellite imagery, the Electro-Optical Commercial Layer (EOCL), that went into effect in May 2022.
The EOCL has a five-year base period and five one-year options and includes Maxar, BlackSky Technology [BKSY], and Planet Labs [PL]. The potential value of Maxar’s deal is $3.2 billion and for BlackSky $1 billion. Planet has not disclosed the value of its award.
For commercial radar imagery, NRO has study contracts in place with Airbus, Capella Space, ICEYE, and Umbra Lab. The agency uses the study contracts for radar and other phenomenologies to examine each companies’ offerings and capabilities, and at times to acquire imagery to meet operational demands.
Muend said it could take about a year for the government to iron out a path forward on an acquisition effort for satellite-based commercial synthetic aperture radar imagery. The executive branch, intelligence community, and Congress “are really interested in moving forward.”
Commercial remote sensing providers want to see that demand signal from government, along with actual funding, which can be a critical revenue stream for them in addition to any non-government sales.
Mark Mozena, vice president of government affairs for Planet’s federal business, said during the panel discussion that “EOCL was a great demand signal” for a relatively nascent commercial industry. But the government needs to do more given that commercial companies pay for their own development and need to know where to invest, he said.
The domestic and international commercial remote sensing industries are “booming,” but for the U.S. to maintain leadership the government needs to let industry know its needs two to five years out “so the commercial companies can start to include that in how they’re planning out their constellations and their own their own plans for their development,” Mozena said.