BlackSky Selected by National Reconnaissance Office to Explore Commercial Hyperspectral Imagery Capabilities

BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY) was selected by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to explore commercial hyperspectral image capabilities under a multi-stage Strategic Commercial Enhancements Broad Agency Announcement Framework study contract.

“This contract further expands BlackSky’s long term relationship with the U.S. government as an innovation partner for leveraging advanced commercial capabilities to meet emerging intelligence challenges,” said Brian E. O’Toole, BlackSky CEO.

During the initial stage of the contract BlackSky will demonstrate technical capabilities via modeling and simulation and validate business and cybersecurity concepts of operation.

“Next-generation hyperspectral imagery coupled with BlackSky’s unique low-latency, high-frequency monitoring can expand real-time mission intelligence capabilities beyond the visible range,” O’Toole added. “Today our multi-intelligence software platform combines electro-optical, SAR (synthetic aperture radar), and radio frequency data and analytics. Hyperspectral capabilities are a natural extension of our agile space architecture.”

Hyperspectral sensors help mission planners characterize objects based on material makeup. For example, these sensors can identify artificial versus real vegetation, decoy equipment, and hazardous materials. Rapid-revisit, low-latency hyperspectral capabilities can significantly increase the ability to identify and maintain custody of objects of interest, penetrate enemy obfuscation techniques, and develop detailed pattern-of-life analyses in highly dynamic environments.