Orbital Sidekick awarded $16M US Air Force STRATFI contract

Orbital Sidekick (OSK) has been awarded a $16 million multi-year contract by the Department of the Air Force's commercial investment group (AFVentures), in conjunction with the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), as part of its Strategic Financing (STRATFI) program.

This award, which is matched by private investment funds, will allow OSK to accelerate the deployment of six advanced hyperspectral imaging (HSI) satellites with edge processing capabilities as well as integrate its Spectral Intelligence Global Monitoring Application (SIGMA) platform with the USAF Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS).

SIGMA is a dual-use global persistent monitoring services platform that provides access to OSK's data archive, analytics engine (including its proprietary hyperspectral neural network), and intelligent satellite tasking system for both defense and commercial applications.

OSK's satellites leverage advanced hyperspectral capabilities, capturing more than 400 spectral bands in the visible to shortwave infrared range (VSWIR, 400 - 2500 nm) at <10m GSD. The first of these microclass satellites are targeted for a December 2021 launch. The constellation will achieve a better-than-daily target revisit rate.

"High spectral fidelity is essential for solving some of the most challenging remote sensing problems our customers face today," Dr. Katie Corcoran, Director of Operations and Government Programs, said. "This new capability will allow OSK to offer best-in-class data products to our defense and industry end-users, enabling analytical insights not currently achievable with existing space-based imaging systems, on a global scale."

"Orbital Sidekick is emerging as a leader in the commercial sector for providing objective, persistent monitoring services for critical energy infrastructure. As we broaden our market reach into the defense sector, we're honored to receive this 'big bet' by the innovative team at AFVentures," Daniel Katz, CEO and Co-Founder of OSK, said. "The opportunity to work with SMC and AFRL will further enable the rapid scaling of our capabilities."

"Orbital Sidekick leans heavily into the implementation of a Hybrid Space Architecture for tactical ISR support with its innovative hyperspectral technology and analytics platform," Charlene Jacka, AFRL HAD Program Lead, said. "The AFRL Hybrid Architecture Demonstrations (HAD) program vision is further enabled by participating with the innovative team at Orbital Sidekick."