Photo: Array Labs

Silicon Valley’s Array Labs — a four-year-old startup that aims to field a constellation of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) three dimensional, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) cube satellites with 20 centimeter x 20 centimeter x 5 centimeter resolutions — has teamed with Umbra Space, and RTX‘s Raytheon business “to accelerate the development and deployment of advanced 3D Earth observation capabilities” for commercial, military, intelligence and other government uses, Array Labs said this week.

Array said that its goal is to launch its first 3D cube satellites early next year.

“Raytheon’s precise 3D processing algorithms, developed over two decades of working with electro-optical imagery, are now being adapted in collaboration with Array Labs for SAR applications,” Erich Hernandez-Baquero, Raytheon’s vice president of space intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance, said in a statement by the companies. “This opens exciting new opportunities in commercial SAR and allows us to achieve accurate results, unrestricted by cloud coverage.”

Last year, Array announced that it had won three contracts from the Air Force Research Laboratory’s AFWERX innovation arm: in October, a contract to develop high powered antennas for small satellites; in June, a contract to demonstrate high-bandwidth cube satellite communications; and, in January, a contract to demonstrate protective coatings on satellites to extend their lives and enhance their movement through the prevention of atomic oxygen erosion.

Site3D, the “flagship product” of the new Array Labs/Raytheon/Umbra Space teaming, includes SAR and “advanced mapping algorithms to create three-dimensional models of the Earth’s surface,” the companies said. “These SAR point clouds can also be used to generate digital surface models and facilitate automated volumetric estimation and change detection.”

“The Site3D product is designed for high-value landscapes and facilities, offering customizable tasking with support for regular revisits, monitoring use cases, and change detection capabilities,” according to Array Labs, Raytheon and Umbra Space. “Slated for commercial release in the coming months, Site3D represents a novel approach to market entry, bridging the gap between concept and full-scale deployment in the new space industry… Together, the team looks forward to rapidly evolving Site3D, in support of commercial, defense, intelligence, and civilian geospatial applications.”

This story was first published by Defense Daily