If you’ve tried to take a photo while in a moving vehicle, you know how hard it is to capture that image with clarity and sharpness. Now, imagine trying to accomplish that while traveling at 17,500 miles per hour (or 7.8 km per second).

That’s exactly what Maxar Intelligence’s next-generation WorldView Legion satellites will do every day, collecting 30 cm-class imagery of Earth that is sharp and clear from hundreds of kilometers above the planet’s surface. One of the keys to unlocking this capability is the satellite’s new telescope, the imaging instrument that enables the satellite’s core functionality.

Maxar worked with its instrument partner Raytheon to develop a new instrument that offers consistent capability in a smaller, lower power design. Let’s take a closer look.

New focal plane technology

One of the biggest upgrades to the instrument was the use of new focal plane technology.

A focal plane collects the light from a telescope, turns that into an electrical signal which the instrument processor collects and sends to the ground. All six WorldView Legions will use their focal planes to image light we can see with the human eye and will also collect wavelengths that are too long to see with the naked eye.

The focal plane is a very sensitive part of the instrument. In the new design, we kept the quality we need for precision imagery but used fewer electronics boxes. That made it cheaper to manufacture, and it consumes an order of magnitude lower power. Put simply, the telescope packs more punch.

More insights across the spectrum

WorldView Legion will increase Maxar’s ability to collect 30 cm-class imagery, which is in high demand across many of the missions that Maxar serves. These new satellites will also collect multispectral imagery, enabling Maxar’s customers to gain additional insights.

While the multispectral bands are similar to what our current satellites provide, what’s new on WorldView Legion is that our teams have more control to expose each band individually. These improvements allow customers to more easily determine what objects on the ground are made of using our satellite imagery. For example, we can more easily distinguish what is vegetation versus what is manmade material. These enhancements also minimize sensitivity to water vapor.

After the telescope reflects light onto the focal plane array, the rest of the instrument turns that light into an electrical signal that ultimately forms an image. The on-board instrument processor then takes that image and prepares it for delivery back to Earth.

Redefining Earth observation

This new telescope will enable Maxar to further expand the capabilities of its industry-leading constellation. When all six WorldView Legion satellites are operational on orbit, Maxar will be able to collect more than 6 million sq km of imagery per day and revisit the most populated areas of the globe up to 15 times per day. This combined capability of high-resolution imagery at varied times throughout the day provides operational flexibility to our customers to meet their mission objectives.

Women's History Month is a time to acknowledge and celebrate the profound impact of women in shaping history, society and the workforce. We spoke with three remarkable female colleagues who are integral members at Maxar and active participants in the Maxar Women's Network Employee Resource Group (ERG). Learn more about the significance of Women's History Month to them.

Q: What does Women’s History Month mean to you?

Jacqueline: Women’s History Month is a very special time for me. It gives me an opportunity to honor and appreciate all the achievements that women have had throughout history. My mom was a single parent, and she has been my role model from a very young age. This month reminds me of all that I have accomplished thanks to the many sacrifices she made in her life. She embodies the attitude and perseverance that many women have had to have throughout history. Women’s History Month is a time to value and celebrate all the strong role models that we as women have had not only in history, but also in our personal lives.

Wendy: Women’s History Month is a chance to highlight and celebrate the accomplishments of women who have contributed to the advancement of technology and society. At Maxar Intelligence, the Maxar Women’s Network uses this month as an opportunity for networking and recognition for talented women across the organization.

Q: How does Maxar value women in the workplace?

Jacqueline: Maxar has always been an inclusive workspace for women. Every team I’ve been part of has always provided me with the space and opportunity to express my ideas and feel comfortable to be 100% myself. Everyone has always been supportive. Maxar appreciates the value of having women representation in all teams and communities.

Rebecca: In my experience, Maxar management has been respectful and attentive to the women in the company. I appreciate that my boss understands my thought process and values my contribution to our group.

Q: What woman in history has influenced you the most or had the biggest impact on your life? How and/or why?

Rebecca: Eleanor Roosevelt influenced me the most. Her quote “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts”, helped me through trying times--leaving the military, new jobs, and divorce. She was strong in character and mind and wasn’t one that seemed to take much from the people around her. My goal in life is to be as strong and powerful, inside and out.

Wendy: As a kid, I watched every space shuttle launch, and I particularly admired Mae Jemison. In her post-astronaut career, she supported youth science camps, and I have always believed that nurturing a love of science in kids is paramount to the future of science and technology. When the space shuttle Endeavor went on display at the California Science Center, I got a behind the scenes tour from a friend and got misty-eyed witnessing the scale and beauty of the vehicle that brought Mae Jemison to space.

Q: Name a woman that inspires you at Maxar and explain why.

Jacqueline: Barb Dehne, Sr Manager, Agile Management. She is a strong, kind, and extremely knowledgeable leader within the Spacecraft Engineering group. She is not only someone who knows how to get things done, but she is able to do so with a smile on her face! She inspires me every day to be a better engineer.

Rebecca: All the women at Maxar inspire me! Working in an environment that is majority male, we are all compelled to champion our beliefs and ideals within our industry.

Wendy: Every single woman I have worked with on the WorldView Legion launch team is impressive and inspiring. They embody the knowledge, grit, and integrity that are paramount to the success of a large-scale program like WorldView Legion.

Two WorldView Legion satellites built by Maxar Space Systems for Maxar Intelligence arrived and are preparing for launch at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. These satellites will ride a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into orbit as soon as April.

These are the first two of six planned WorldView Legion satellites, which will enhance Maxar Intelligence’s constellation by delivering industry-leading resolution and accuracy. When all six WorldView Legion satellites are launched, it will triple Maxar Intelligence’s capacity to collect 30 cm-class and multispectral imagery. The full Maxar constellation of 10 electro-optical satellites will image the most rapidly changing areas on Earth as frequently as every 20 to 30 minutes, from sunup to sundown.

“WorldView Legion will extend the quality and capability of our industry-leading constellation, redefining Earth observation constellation performance and providing customers with unprecedented access to timely, actionable insights that help drive mission success,” said Dan Smoot, Maxar Intelligence CEO.

These Maxar Space Systems-built satellites are the first Maxar 500™ series buses to complete production at the company’s satellite manufacturing locations in Palo Alto and San Jose, California. The Maxar 500 series bus is a mid-size platform that can be tailored for multiple missions and orbits. As part of the WorldView Legion program, Maxar invested to create a bus with better stability, agility and pointing accuracy; future Maxar 500 customers can benefit from this technology for their missions.

“WorldView Legion and the Maxar 500 series platform is the culmination of decades of experience in building satellites for customer missions,” said Chris Johnson, Maxar Space Systems CEO. “We are excited to reach this important program milestone and look forward to continued partnership on the program.”

The launch of the first two WorldView Legion satellites will be broadcast on spacex.com and on x.com/spacex.

Today, nearly 75% of the world’s population lives within 50 kilometers of the ocean. Coastal zones host critical ecosystems, infrastructure and economic assets. So, it’s of growing concern that these stretches of land are increasingly vulnerable to the dramatic effects of climate change. Maxar Intelligence is partnering with EY and Microsoft on the latest EY Open Science Data Challenge, which asks university students and early-career professionals to use artificial intelligence (AI), Maxar’s high-resolution satellite imagery, and Microsoft’s Planetary Computer’s Hub environment to help build a sustainable future for society and the planet.

The challenge is currently in Phase 1 during which participants will build machine learning models to detect damaged and undamaged buildings after tropical storms. The top entrants from Phase 1 will move on to Phase 2, which asks them to create a practical disaster response plan describing how their models will be used in practice and the value they offer to local beneficiaries for disaster response. The top finalists will receive a cash prize and a trip to the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium in Athens, Greece, for the awards ceremony in July 2024.

Satellite imagery used in this challenge

Through our Open Data Program, Maxar provided additional satellite imagery for the 2017 Hurricane Maria event, specifically in the Analysis-Ready Data (ARD) format. This format means the stack of imagery has undergone atmospheric correction, radiometric correction, orthorectification and pan-sharpening. In addition, ARD uses a patented process to align imagery collected on different dates. ARD provides smoother seamlines between image strips and improved alignment of vectors, which in turn yields greater accuracy for feature extraction and change detection. By Maxar handling these preprocessing steps, it enables users of ARD to jump straight into their image analysis workflows, unlocking insights from our satellite imagery faster.

Ask the Experts panel session

To help challenge participants get a jumpstart on their projects, we hosted an Ask the Experts panel session in February. Vincent Tompkins, a senior data scientist at Wovenware, and two experts from EY answered questions for an hour. Here’s the recording of the session:

Our satellite imagery expert, Chris Orndorff, has three tips for using our satellite imagery in this challenge:

1. Benefits of using ARD for training AI and machine learning (ML) algorithms:

Maxar’s ARD enables greater control over certain atmospheric, topographic and land cover conditions within an image and provides consistency in multitemporal imagery inputs to AI/ML.

We previously published a blog post describing a study that demonstrates how ARD increases the accuracy of an object detection model and enables users to speed up their pixel-to-answer workflow by requiring fewer iterations to train their models. Challenge participants should see increased value for their models utilizing the Maxar ARD format.

2. Improving Maxar imagery with atmospheric compensation (ACOMP):

ACOMP is Maxar’s proprietary, fully automated, physics-based framework for mitigating the effects of the atmosphere between the satellite and the ground. In the simplest terms, it lets us see through haze, water vapor and particulates across diverse atmospheric conditions. This process normalizes reflectivity to a surface reflectance value for each pixel in an image, improving the accuracy of multitemporal data analysis.

3. Distinguishing between commercial and residential buildings in satellite imagery:

Maxar’s satellite imagery allows an end user to see details that can help determine if a building is used for commercial or residential purposes. Look for features like flat and white roofs (likely commercial) versus pitched, darker roofs (likely residential); parking lots around the building (commercial) versus buildings more closely together with singular sidewalks running from the street to the building (residential).

The deadline to register for the challenge and submit a solution for Phase 1 consideration is March 10.

December is flying by and the holidays are quickly approaching. Join us for a look back on notable 2023 events as seen from space by the Maxar Intelligence constellation of high-resolution satellites:

Geopolitical Events

From conflicts between countries and rival factions, to ongoing development of islands in the South China Sea, geopolitics led news reports around the globe. Many of these events can be seen from space, and we’ve selected a few to share below.

Conflict continues for a second year between Ukraine and Russia

North Korea holds nighttime parade

Development in the South China Sea

Power struggle in Sudan

War breaks out between Israel and Hamas

Weather And Climate Events

Forces of nature wreaked havoc on man-made infrastructure during 2023. The gallery below highlights different types of storms and geological events.

Human Interest Events

Some events just look cool from space while other events captured our attention to see how they end. This gallery showcases a handful of these occasions.

Happy holidays and cheers to the new year

As 2023 comes to an end, the team at Maxar Intelligence wishes you a joyful holiday season, hopes for peaceful resolutions to conflicts around the globe and looks ahead to 2024.

Members of the media can work directly with the Maxar News Bureau on investigations or sign up to receive distributions of current event imagery.

Citations:

¹ “Russia is covering aircraft with car tires, potentially to protect them from Ukrainian drones,” CNN, September 6, 2023.

² “June 2023 Summit Eruption,” National Park Service.

³ “Before-and-after satellite images show Libya flooding damage,” CNN, September 14, 2023.

⁴ “Hurricane Otis Causes Catastrophic Damage in Acapulco, Mexico,” NOAA, November 2, 2023.

⁵ “Presumed human remains and shattered Titanic submersible returned to shore,” Reuters, June 29, 2023.

⁶ “SpaceX Starship launch failed minutes after reaching space,” Reuters, November 18, 2023.

Maxar has delivered the OSAM-1 spacecraft to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The On-orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) mission will be the first to robotically refuel a satellite not designed for fueling or servicing. Maxar will also provide robotic arms that support on-orbit activities, including in-space assembly and manufacturing.

Maxar delivered two major elements in September to Goddard, which is the integration site for OSAM-1:

• The spacecraft bus – Built in Palo Alto, California, this is the most maneuverable satellite that Maxar has ever produced. A suite of thrusters gives OSAM-1 unique maneuver capability that offers six degrees of freedom, including the ability to execute “back away” maneuvers. The OSAM-1 spacecraft is based on the reliable Maxar 1300™ series platform. This is also the baseline for NASA’s Psyche mission launching in October and the Intelsat 40e satellite that hosts a NASA payload, TEMPO. There are more than 90 Maxar 1300 series spacecraft in orbit today.
• SPIDER Pallet – Maxar is also building the Space Infrastructure Dexterous Robot, or SPIDER. The SPIDER pallet is the stowing location on the spacecraft for the robotic arm and the modular antenna components it will assemble in space. This deck also houses a robotic processor, cameras and a camera controller for the assembly mission.

NOTE: As a leading artificial intelligence and software development consultancy, Wovenware works closely with Maxar teams and its own customers to make it easier and faster to generate actionable insights from vast datasets. We invited Carlos to share his perspectives on “Insights as a Service,” an emerging AI and data analytics service that is helping drive value in the geospatial sector and beyond.

Data in all its forms—from images to text or video—drives business and governments alike today. It has become the lifeblood to smart decision making and problem solving, and end users have been working hard to harvest and cultivate data to generate actionable insights. Yet, accomplishing this task is easier said than done. End users often struggle with a plethora of data without a strategic plan of what to do with it, and even when they have a plan, they sometimes find that key types of data are missing.

To that end, “Insights as a Service” has emerged as a strategic business enabler. It’s an emerging model whereby service providers take on the task of maintaining, organizing, supplementing and interpreting an organization’s data to deliver insights that address specific business problems. To unpack the rising need for Insights as a Service, I wanted to share answers to some of the most common questions we’re hearing and underscore how we’re applying this approach to drive value for our customers.

Why is “Insights as a Service” becoming more attractive to end users?

Today, no business decision can be made without data. “Insights as a Service” enables organizations to source the insights without having to figure out how to manage and accumulate troves of data they may never need to use again. In a typical “as-a-service” model, companies only pay for the insights they need, without having to gather, prepare and analyze data, procure data analytics tools or develop predictive AI algorithms.

How does “Insights as a Service” work?

It starts with understanding the business problem, which sounds so basic, but isn’t as easy as it sounds. We work with the various stakeholders within an organization through a design experience session to understand what the organization hopes to achieve and determine the best strategy to move forward. We create and test a prototype solution to remove any project risk and instill confidence that the data-driven insights can help solve the problem.

Once the goal of the project is clearly articulated, datasets are gathered in the form of text, images or video, and that data—structured or unstructured—is cleansed and labeled so that we can train an appropriate machine learning algorithm, or predictive model. Once the solution has reached a high level of accuracy and supported by the trends and decisions created by the solution, we provide a comprehensive analysis and outline critical steps that can be taken to reach the stated goals. Organizations come to us for support of the full lifecycle or just parts of it. For example, we can simply provide the needed data or the predictive model, instead of the full data analysis.

What are some of the greatest benefits of this approach?

One of the biggest benefits is that it reduces costs associated with AI infrastructure, data storage and software licenses. End users are never stuck with expensive resources and data that could be used only once, and they only pay when insights are needed.

Can you share some examples of “Insights as a Service” in action?

One project we’re quite proud of is our development of a machine learning model and creation of datasets built on Maxar’s satellite imagery. Maxar’s customers leverage these datasets to address a wide range of national security, commercial and other priorities—from detecting changes in land use and monitoring assets, to assisting in humanitarian relief efforts. Specifically, the model we created is being used to detect aircraft in satellite imagery, which can be useful in monitoring the flow of air traffic around the world. Other use cases include predicting deforestation levels in national parks, planning routes for oil pipelines across swaths of territory and more. With Maxar, we’ve generated some exciting outcomes in the speed and accuracy of the insights we deliver to customers. We’re continuing to work together to unlock new value from Maxar’s advanced geospatial datasets, and we believe we’re on the cusp of a new era in data-driven insights.

To learn more about Wovenware’s approach to “Insights as a Service,” we invite you to learn more on Wovenware’s blog.

Thousands of people are reported to have died and at least 10,000 more are missing in Libya after a devastating Mediterranean storm burst dams, triggering flash floods that swept away buildings and wiped out as much as a quarter of the eastern coastal city of Derna. The death toll is likely to be much higher once emergency crews are able to access the entire area. As of Tuesday, September 12, 2023, more than 40,000 have been displaced.

Learn more about the floods in Libya in these news articles:

• AP News
• Reuters

When crises occur, Maxar is committed to supporting the humanitarian community by providing critical and actionable information to assist response efforts and fulfill our purpose, For A Better World. As part of our Open Data Program, Maxar will publicly release data of the affected areas to support response efforts as it becomes available.

Any imagery or data distributed through the Open Data Program is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 license (CC BY-NC 4.0). This licensing allows for noncommercial use of the information, meaning it can quickly be integrated into first responder workflows with organizations like Team Rubicon, the Red Cross and other nonprofits. If commercial companies are interested in using the data distributed through the Open Data Program, it can be purchased by contacting us here.

Imagery has been posted on our Open Data Program website. Please continue to check this site and our social media channels for updates on additional post-event data.

A strong magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Morocco at 11:11 p.m. local time on Friday, September 8, 2023. The epicenter was located in the High Atlas mountain range, 72 kilometers southwest of Marrakech, a city of more than 840,000 people. More than 300,000 people in Marrakech and the surrounding region were impacted by the quake, and the area nearest to the Atlas Mountains were hardest hit, with some towns completely destroyed. As of Sunday, September 10, the media reported more than 2,100 people have been killed and 2,400 injured, with numbers expected to rise.

Learn more about the earthquake in Morocco in these news articles:

• CNN
• AP News

When crises occur, Maxar is committed to supporting the humanitarian community by providing critical and actionable information to assist response efforts and fulfill our purpose, For A Better World. As part of our Open Data Program, Maxar will publicly release data of the affected areas to support response efforts as it becomes available.

Any imagery or data distributed through the Open Data Program is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 license (CC BY-NC 4.0). This licensing allows for noncommercial use of the information, meaning it can quickly be integrated into first responder workflows with organizations like Team Rubicon, the Red Cross and other nonprofits. If commercial companies are interested in using the data distributed through the Open Data Program, it can be purchased by contacting us here.

Imagery has been posted on our Open Data Program website. Please continue to check this site and our social media channels for updates on additional post-event data.

According to Euroconsult, Earth Observation data and services markets are expected to reach $7.9 billion by 2031, up from $4.6 billion in 2021. Unlocking the full potential of this fast-growing industry, requires a deep pool of Geographic Information System (GIS) talent—people trained in processing, sorting and analyzing EO datasets to help end users across government and commercial sectors derive actionable insights.

To support this growing need, many governments and industry organizations have made it a priority to bring more students into GIS careers. The U.K. Geospatial Commission, for example, has conducted studies identifying gaps in GIS skillsets to inform the government’s GIS strategy.

We spoke with Maxar’s Bhavini Karadia, Customer Success Manager based in the U.K., about the value of a career in GIS, how she got into the field and how the Maxar team in the U.K. support outreach to students and academia to help build the talent pipeline, including her involvement in a Royal Geographic Society program to encourage students 12- to 15-year-olds to study geography.

Q: What drove you to study geography and was a career in GIS always the goal?

Bhavini: As a teenager, I’d always been intrigued by the endless possibilities and the broad nature of the geography field, and that has led lively debates about climate change, deep dives into shifting global demographics and learning how beaches are formed. I decided to pursue my natural curiosity at an undergraduate level, earning my bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of Northampton and a master’s degree in development studies at SOAS, University of London. Maxar was my first corporate job. My role as an Imagery Support Representative was the perfect fit.

Q: Do you think there’s enough awareness about GIS career opportunities?

Bhavini: Geography is a common way into the GIS sector. Geography typically has a reputation of being a “traveling wanderlust” degree with no proper job prospects at the end of it. I think there is a lack of understanding of how many doors a geography degree can truly open. The GIS industry has a lot of room for growth and innovation and there are countless paths to get there. There’s opportunity to combine various types of satellite imagery and many verticals and use cases that are still maturing—and that means more opportunity for early career professionals.

Q: What are the talent challenges in the field and what should industry do to help address them?

Bhavini: The GIS sector still lacks true diversity of ethnic minorities and women, especially when it comes to the subsector of international intelligence and defense. While this is slowly changing and diversity statistics are ticking up, there is still a long way to go. In EMEA and APAC specifically, it would be great to see an expanded number of industry internship opportunities to allow young people to try various roles out before they commit to careers in the sector. It would also be a smoother transition for young people to find their feet in the working world. Having universities forge relationships with remote sensing companies would also be very impactful for our industry. For example, Maxar has partnered with the University of Northampton and the Royal Geographical Society over the years in the U.K., and we have deep relationships with universities in the U.S., including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Q: Can you expand on the engagement you’ve had with academic institutions in the U.K.?

Bhavini: We’ve established a strong relationship with Leicester Space Park that we continue to nurture, providing data and other support for several of their research projects. We have also deepened our relationship with Sudbury Primary school in London, engaging them in our “GIS Day” academic outreach programming and contributing to the renovation of their early years outdoor area as part of Maxar’s back to school initiative. On a personal note, I have been working with the Royal Geographical Society as part of their “What do geographers actually do?” series, which is focused on engaging young students and teaching them about the career opportunities enabled by geography degrees.

Q: Anything else you’d like to share?

Bhavini: I’m inspired by the colleagues I get to work with and the customers we get to support. My team is composed of incredibly talented and intelligent individuals, and it’s inspiring to see the important role that Maxar’s products and services play in the daily workflows of our customers and how they drive meaningful outcomes for important projects.

Hurricane Idalia made landfall on Wednesday, August 30, 2023, as a Category 3 storm, hitting the Gulf Coast of Florida with catastrophic flooding and record-breaking storm surge. Maximum sustained winds reached 125 mph causing flooded street, closed airports and widespread power outages. Storm surge damage could stretch over 200 miles along Florida’s coast. Both Georgia and South Carolina had announced a state of emergency in anticipation of the storm’s possible effects on the region.

Learn more about Hurricane Idalia in these news articles:

• CNN
• AP News

When crises occur, Maxar is committed to supporting the humanitarian community by providing critical and actionable information to assist response efforts and fulfill our purpose, For A Better World. As part of our Open Data Program, Maxar will publicly release data of the affected areas to support response efforts as it becomes available.

Any imagery or data distributed through the Open Data Program is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 license (CC BY-NC 4.0). This licensing allows for noncommercial use of the information, meaning it can quickly be integrated into first responder workflows with organizations like Team Rubicon, the Red Cross and other nonprofits. If commercial companies are interested in using the data distributed through the Open Data Program, it can be purchased by contacting us here.

Imagery has been posted on our Open Data Program website. Please continue to check this site and our social media channels for updates on additional post-event data.

August 23, 2023 Update: This open data activation has been expanded to include imagery for the fires in Kelowna, Canada.

Thousands of residents are evacuating Yellowknife, the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories, to escape unprecedented fires burning across the region. Authorities in Yellowknife, home to approximately 20,000 residents, called for an evacuation of the city and surrounding areas by Friday, August 18, 2023. More than 1,000 fires are currently burning across Canada as the country in what is the worst fire season on record. Extreme winds and lack of rain have complicated efforts to contain the fires.

Learn more about the fires in Canada in these news articles:

• CNN
• AP News

When crises occur, Maxar is committed to supporting the humanitarian community by providing critical and actionable information to assist response efforts and fulfill our purpose, For A Better World. As part of our Open Data Program, Maxar will publicly release data of the affected areas to support response efforts as it becomes available.

Any imagery or data distributed through the Open Data Program is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 license (CC BY-NC 4.0). This licensing allows for noncommercial use of the information, meaning it can quickly be integrated into first responder workflows with organizations like Team Rubicon, the Red Cross and other nonprofits. If commercial companies are interested in using the data distributed through the Open Data Program, it can be purchased by contacting us here.

Imagery has been posted on our Open Data Program website. Please continue to check this site and our social media channels for updates on additional post-event data.

A landslide on August 3 in the mountain resort town of Shovi in Georgia has killed up to 19 people as of Tuesday, August 9 and dozens more are missing. More than 200 people were evacuated from the area, located at the confluence of two rivers. Drone footage showed mud, trees and other debris covering the town. A geologist from Georgia’s National Environmental Agency said the landslide was caused by heavy rainfall and intensified melting of two glaciers into the at the headwaters of the river.

Learn more about the Shovi landslide in these news articles:

• Reuters
• France 24

When crises occur, Maxar is committed to supporting the humanitarian community by providing critical and actionable information to assist response efforts and fulfill our purpose, For A Better World. As part of our Open Data Program, Maxar will publicly release data of the affected areas to support response efforts as it becomes available.

Any imagery or data distributed through the Open Data Program is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 license (CC BY-NC 4.0). This licensing allows for noncommercial use of the information, meaning it can quickly be integrated into first responder workflows with organizations like Team Rubicon, the Red Cross and other nonprofits. If commercial companies are interested in using the data distributed through the Open Data Program, it can be purchased by contacting us here.

Imagery has been posted on our Open Data Program website. Please continue to check this site and our social media channels for updates on additional post-event data.

In June, defense ministers, military chiefs and other government officials from around the world gathered in Singapore—where Maxar’s Asia team is based—for the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security summit allowing policymakers to debate security challenges and exchange ideas.

As one of the Dialogue’s corporate attendees, I was privileged to hear what was on their minds and to speak with some of these leaders privately. One of the biggest, thorniest topics they raised this year was the ongoing challenge of ensuring maritime security.

If the Asia Pacific is the heartbeat of the world economy, then the region’s maritime shipping lanes are the world economy’s arteries. The Asia Pacific’s waters are the lifeline of global trade, with an astounding 60% of the world's trade traversing through these vital shipping lanes. Approximately 2,000 ships transport goods across the region every day. Disruptions to freedom of navigation or behavior that negatively impact a country's maritime economy—not to mention its undersea cables or energy pipelines—has far-reaching impacts on the global stage.

“International waters, which cover roughly half the planet and make up two-thirds of the ocean, suffer from patchwork regulation and inconsistent enforcement, a challenge that can give rise to human rights abuses, criminal acts and environmental harms,” the Washington Post reported.

Maritime security starts with maritime domain awareness, which is imperative to ensure the stability and prosperity of not only the region but the broader world. Given the vast expanses of water that are not regularly observed or policed by any nation, and the coastal waters of nations that lack adequate resources to surveil their sovereign territory, awareness is not a simple starting point.

Nations are often at a loss to prevent piracy, stop illegal fishing, thwart human trafficking, or even simply to know who is operating in the area. While many ships of interest are supposed to maintain an active automatic identification signal (AIS) to support vessel monitoring, a New York Times investigative report highlighted how bad actors not only can turn off their AIS signal to elude detection—they also send fake location signals to misdirect attention elsewhere.

Closer to home, the issue of maritime domain awareness is of great interest and concern to the U.S. government. On July 27 the Senate voted to pass its version of the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act, which calls for the creation of the “Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative,” a defense initiative with allies and partners of the U.S. to enhance their ability to monitor the maritime environment, leverage emerging technologies and facilitate information sharing.

While the Asia Pacific is the starting point for this discussion—multinational military exercises such as Talisman Saber and Malabar were held up during the Dialogue in June as promising venues to test out maritime domain awareness interoperability amongst regional partner nations—I also heard leaders from nations ranging from North America, to Europe, to the Middle East share their concerns on this issue. Many speakers highlighted the need to improve interoperability, develop compatible platforms and establish an interwoven security architecture.

Maritime Monitoring from Space

Fortunately, the growing desire to increase maritime domain awareness in the Asia Pacific and across the globe is backed by an evolution and expansion in the technology available. Space-based surveillance sensors are now mature enough to support cost-effective, 24/7/365 surveillance of the waters of the Asia Pacific, and artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) algorithms enable rapid analysis and decision-making.

Maxar's Crow's Nest^TM maritime monitoring and security capabilities leverage space-based optical and radar imagery and advanced machine learning to deliver critical information quickly. This tipping and cueing capability empowers nations to observe human activity across the maritime domain and provides early warnings of anomalous activities and potential threats, enabling them to take proactive measures, strengthening security and mitigating risks in the maritime domain.

By utilizing commercial, unclassified electro-optical, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and radar data that can be shared in real time, Crow’s Nest facilitates information sharing, collaborative efforts, and a collective approach to strengthening regional security postures.

Crow's Nest is currently being utilized by customers and in support of military exercises that promote security in the Asia Pacific region.

A key pillar of maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region is the establishment and maintenance of a rule-based order. Geospatial data plays a pivotal role in monitoring adherence to international norms and regulations. By leveraging the capabilities of Maxar's Crow's Nest, nations can actively assess and respond to potential violations, promoting accountability and upholding the principles of a rule-based order.

To learn more about Crow’s Nest and understand how it supports maritime domain awareness, visit one of the following resources:

• Crow’s Nest Product Page
• Enhancing Maritime Domain Awareness With Maxar’s Crow’s Nest Solution
• Crow’s Nest StoryMap

Human-wildlife conflict is becoming increasingly common worldwide, often caused by growing urban footprints, community displacement and agricultural expansion. Organizations like Space for Giants, a new Maxar customer, play a critical role in monitoring these impacts, taking a data-driven approach to monitor the situation and delivering conservation solutions that ensure positive outcomes for the local communities and wildlife populations.

One of the most important tools available to these organizations is geospatial data, which can provide valuable intelligence about what’s happening on the ground in a fast, cost-effective way. To learn more about the power of this data, we spoke with Space for Giants’ Peter Trevor, Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve Manager, to hear more about the organization’s mission and how they’re using Maxar’s high-resolution satellite imagery.

Q: Can you tell us more about your work across Africa?

Peter: Space for Giants works across Africa’s iconic landscapes to unlock the full value of nature by protecting biodiversity and remaining populations of megafauna while expanding economic, cultural and social value for generations to come. We are headquartered in Kenya and work across 10 African countries. We just recently opened a new office in Gabon and plans are underway to open offices in Uganda and Mozambique. We bring the discipline of good management, conservation investment and adaptive innovation to the areas where we work to stop degradation and restore and expand landscapes through a combination of public and private management strategies. Driven by local context, we draw on the expertise of our teams to address conservation landscapes and investment, wildlife law and justice, conservation science, human-wildlife coexistence and frontline protection.

Q: How will you use Maxar’s geospatial data to support your work?

Peter: Space for Giants has in-house geographic information systems (GIS) resources. We use geospatial data for several purposes, including:

• Monitoring various conservation-related components such as human-wildlife conflict incidences, law enforcement and patrol efforts, understanding wildlife movements in space and time, fire occurrences in a landscape
• Spatial and temporal assessments of landscapes for effective conservation planning and management
• Using remote sensing to understand the carbon generation potential of a landscape

One example of how we plan to use Maxar data is for the Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve (PUWR). There are permanent settlements in the north of PUWR, Uganda, around Mt. Napak, as well as high-density settlements on the periphery. The communities located within PUWR around Mt. Napak initially settled in 2010 due to displacement driven by regional insecurity, and it is now estimated that between 1,000 and 3,000 individuals live within the reserve. The origins of these people, the duration they have lived there, and their concerns and opinions are all largely unknown. Engaging with these stakeholders will be a critical first step to understanding their land use and building community relations, especially given our desire to ensure human rights are respected.

Maxar’s high-resolution satellite imagery will help with the mapping of settlements and agriculture in PUWR. The mapping exercise will inform where these communities are and how many households exist, as well as the extent of agricultural activities. These insights will form a foundation for future socioeconomic baseline studies and community engagements.

Q: What does this geospatial data enable you to do that you couldn’t do before?

Peter: This data allows us to assess human activities in very remote, protected areas. Many of the communities we are focused on are inaccessible by road. Without satellite data, the only way to locate and map these settlements would be through an aerial survey using a chartered flight or manually on the ground, both extremely time-consuming and expensive. Using recently collected high-resolution satellite imagery allows us to map these communities remotely and save important human and financial resources. A bonus of our contract with Maxar is that we have continuous access to satellite imagery worldwide based on what is available in the archive. This subscription allows us to monitor changes in land use over a year or multiyear period, and we are very excited about this opportunity.

Q: Besides Uganda, are there other regions where you plan to use this data?

Peter: Space for Giants is involved in a number of projects aimed at managing and mitigating human-wildlife conflict, primarily focused on three countries—Kenya, Uganda and Gabon. Our multifaceted approach to solving complex human-wildlife conflict is hinged on the ability to accurately map human settlements and monitor human activities within or near close boundaries of wildlife habitats. All our projects are interconnected in that we apply learnings from one to another. For example, being able to accurately quantify and report on the human-wildlife conflict in the Laikipia landscape in Kenya has helped us refine our approach over time, and we’ve applied those same learnings to work in several protected areas in Uganda and Gabon.

Maxar delivered the Galaxy 37/Horizons-4 satellite to SpaceX’s launch base in Florida for its customer, Intelsat. The geostationary communications satellite will launch in August on a Falcon 9 rocket.

Galaxy 37/Horizons-4 will deliver two kinds of capability. It incorporates Ku-band beams on a payload jointly owned by Intelsat and JSAT International. Its C-band payload joins four previously ordered satellites from Maxar that transition Intelsat’s broadband coverage to free up spectrum for 5G terrestrial wireless services.

The Galaxy satellites Maxar built for Instelsat are based on the proven Maxar 1300™ platform, which offers the flexibility and power needed for a broad range of customer missions. The last C-band satellites that Maxar built for Intelsat were Galaxy 35 and 36, which successfully launched December 13, 2022.

Maxar has built nearly 60 spacecraft for Intelsat since the 1970s, including these satellites. The launch of Galaxy 37 will be broadcast on SpaceX’s website.

The Maxar Better World Foundation has announced five new grants, totaling $125,000, to support veterans and active-duty military and their families. These grants will go toward programs addressing career readiness, mental health support, and enriching the lives of children of wounded, ill or fallen military service members.

“These grants underscore Maxar’s commitment to those who’ve served and who continue to serve their country. Since 2022, we have awarded more than $300,000 in grants to organizations that do important work in this community,” said Liz Andora, Maxar Better World Foundation Chairwoman and Maxar’s Chief People Officer. “We are grateful that so many veterans have chosen to work at Maxar—11 percent of our team—and that many of our employees are part of a military family. We believe in the mission of these organizations and recognize the value they bring to these individuals.”

The five organizations receiving grants from the foundation include:

Since 2020, the Maxar Better World Foundation has supported organizations that improve the lives of individuals, embrace diversity and provide tools and opportunities needed to thrive. The foundation focuses its grantmaking around three core areas: advancing STEM education for underserved and diverse populations, helping veterans and active-duty military and their families, and supporting global disaster preparedness and relief.

The largest satellite Maxar has ever built, JUPITER 3, arrived at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 30 ahead of its upcoming launch from Kennedy Space Center. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch the satellite, which is also known as EchoStar XXIV.

Showcasing the high-power scalability of the Maxar 1300™ series platform, JUPITER 3 is an ultra high-density satellite that will join the Hughes JUPITER fleet.

The spacecraft completed production and testing at Maxar’s Palo Alto location. JUPITER 3 features entirely new architecture based on a broad range of technology advances, including the miniaturization of electronics, solid state amplifiers and more efficient antenna designs.

You can watch JUPITER 3’s launch on SpaceX’s YouTube channel.

Maxar has had a presence in Europe for decades, providing customers across the government and commercial sectors with advanced geospatial intelligence products and services. Over the past few years, current events across Europe—including the war in Ukraine—have driven a significant growth in the awareness of, and interest in, geospatial products. Everyone from political leaders to academic researchers have seen first-hand how these technologies can help drive transparency, monitor change and inform data-driven decision making.

To learn more about Maxar’s presence in Europe and how our work in the region has evolved over time, we caught up with our London-based colleague Katarzyna Dec, Account Services Manager in Maxar’s Earth Intelligence business segment.

Q: How long have you been at Maxar and how did you end up in the geospatial industry?

Katarzyna: I have been at Maxar for seven years. I am originally from Poland and moved to London 13 years ago after receiving my master’s degree. I earned a master’s degree in geography, and I’ve always had an interest in joining the geospatial industry. My first job in London was in the banking sector working as a personal loan adviser. After a couple of years, I decided I needed a change of direction and pursued a postgraduate geographic information system (GIS) certificate, which opened a lot of new doors. My first geospatial industry job was working as a mapping administrator making route maps. I joined Maxar a short while later.

Q: What customers do you support at Maxar?

Katarzyna: I play a key role in maintaining our relationship with European Space Imaging (EUSI), Maxar’s European distributor for satellite imagery. They distribute our data to a wide range of customers, including the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Copernicus program, which falls under the European Union’s Earth observation initiatives. This program provides Earth observation data to service providers, public authorities and other international organizations that are working to improve the quality of life for citizens around the world. The data is used to support emergency response, global food security, border control and homeland security. I also work with government customers across Eurasia and North Africa.

Q: How is the geospatial sector evolving across Europe?

Katarzyna: There is a growing awareness of the value of geospatial intelligence. Last year, Maxar’s delivery of near real-time imagery of the war in Ukraine was a big eye-opener for many people. This data has been crucial for decision making on the ground and for enabling global transparency around the conflict and its impact on security-related issues. For example, Maxar’s imagery helped provide context around the war’s impact on Ukrainian wheat crop yields, which are critical in the global food supply chain. Stakeholders across Europe followed this issue closely. The circumstances are very sad, but they gave the world an opportunity to learn more about the importance of our industry. This awareness is creating some strong growth opportunities across our entire product portfolio.

Q: How is Maxar helping to grow the industry across Europe?

Katarzyna: In the past, we’ve hosted a customer conference that has brought together over 400 senior level leaders from government and commercial organizations across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. We also engage in important local events such as the Defense and Security Equipment International and the Global Defence Geospatial Intelligence conferences. To grow the industry, we must also engage the public and youth. To that end, Maxar is a proud partner of Leicester Space Park and we also do a lot of academic outreach. One example is partnering in a back to school initiative for Sudbury Primary School in Wembley, England.

Q: What work are you most proud of?

Katarzyna: Two of the projects close to my heart include providing data to help a high-profile nonprofit organization remove plastic debris from the Pacific Ocean and some of the world’s biggest rivers, as well as helping an ecological research and consulting company leverage our data and machine learning algorithms to monitor whale populations. When I’ve had a little bit of free time, I’ve checked some of the collections we made for this customer in our SecureWatch platform, even finding a whale with my own eyes!

Africa’s space industry has been growing steadily for many years, but it is on the precipice of entering a new, accelerated phase of growth—at least that was the overarching sentiment at the recent NewSpace Africa conference held in Ivory Coast this past April.

The event, which was co-organized by the African Union Commission (AUC) for the first time, brought together industry and political leaders from across the continent to discuss how national space agencies, multilateral organizations and other partners can work together to drive innovation and broaden access to space technology and data.

As a key partner to space agencies and government organizations across Africa, Maxar had an opportunity to participate in many of these discussions, and there were a few consistent takeaways from stage talks and our own meetings.

Africa is building the foundation for long-term collaboration and investment

The AU was highly visible throughout the conference, reflecting the organization’s commitment to leading the push for pan-continental collaboration. The conference was an ideal opportunity to build on the formal establishment of the African Space Agency (AfSA), an African Union (AU) AU-led initiative that came to fruition in January 2023. Dr. Tidiane Ouattara, AUC’s Space Science Expert and Coordinator for Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa Programme, shared more about AfSA’s vision and structure, including its unique funding approach which relies on funding from the AUC as opposed to individual member states.

The event was one of the first opportunities for heads of national space agencies to meet with leaders from AUC to discuss long-term planning for AfSA, including how AfSA can support national space policies and programs and how to address the agency’s long-term funding needs. While there is still much work to do, the AUC has built a foundation for advancing the continent’s space ambitions.

Space as a driver of economic growth

The theme of the conference was “Space for Africa’s Socioeconomic Transformation,” and there was broad excitement for the potential of space-based technology in helping drive economic opportunity. Our conversations with space agency leaders focused largely on how remote sensing data could be used to help address key socioeconomic issues such as:

• Maritime monitoring: Remote sensing solutions, such as Maxar’s Crow’s News platform, can help with illegal trafficking or fishing activity in areas like the Gulf of Guinea, as well as with monitoring offshore assets such as oil platforms to ensure compliance with local regulations.
• Border security: Many countries across Africa have long land borders in remote areas, and it’s critical to be able to monitor these borders remotely to assist with security priorities.
• Economic opportunity: Satellite data can enable economic opportunities, such as digitizing land deeds as part of national land tenure programs. Maxar works with several partners across the continent to deliver on this use case, as well as others that provide similar economic benefits.
• Census mapping: Optical satellite data and radio frequency (RF) data can be used to help with human population and agriculture census mapping—it’s far cheaper than on-ground alternatives and is critical in enabling effective policy development as populations grow.
• Disaster and environmental response: Remote sensing technologies provide near real-time insights of the impacts of natural disasters, such as flooding events, and are also helping countries preserve biodiversity and natural ecosystems that serve as important national assets.

Private partnership key to capacity building

There was widespread acknowledgment that commercial industry will play a key role in helping countries achieve their space ambitions. Private companies can offer scalable solutions that help reduce the cost and increase the speed of accessing and using these technologies. For example, Maxar offers several Earth Intelligence products that provide customers with broad access to geospatial intelligence, including optical imagery, RF, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and 3D data. Customers across Africa are accessing these solutions today to help address many of their national priorities.

As a next step, it will be important for the private sector to provide additional training and related opportunities that help build local industry. One good example is the Africa Earth Observation Challenge, which empowers local entrepreneurs.

In short, it’s an exciting time for Africa’s space industry, and we can’t wait to see how the industry grows and evolves in the years to come.