Satellite imaging startup Albedo is preparing for its close-up debut.
Albedo's first satellite is scheduled to enter orbit next spring as the company looks to upend the commercial Earth observation industry with its new approach and ultra-high-resolution cameras.
The satellite, called Clarity, will hitch a ride to very low Earth orbit (VLEO) via SpaceX's Transporter-13 ridesharing mission. The mission is currently scheduled to launch no later than February 2025, so Albedo will have its first satellite operational in orbit around this time next year.
Albedo announced seven more customers who have booked some of Clarity's imaging work, including satellite imagery broker SkyFi and German energy company Open Grid Europe.
“This is an aggressive schedule,” said Albedo CEO Topher Haddad. “This is the first time we have published a satellite model publicly. Many people probably think we are closer to small satellites. But it is a very complex robotic system with a large aperture telescope and very powerful capabilities. “Much of that timeline has been largely driven by the custom technologies we have been developing to fly high-resolution systems in VLEO.”
The startup is developing the first spacecraft capable of capturing ultra-high-resolution images operating in very low Earth orbit. The company claims the images are so clear that they have historically been the exclusive purview of the U.S. Department of Defense and National Defense. Information organization.
The company says its unique and significantly larger satellite bus will allow it to sell 10-centimeter-per-pixel images to commercial and government customers at unprecedentedly low prices. (A 10-centimeter resolution image means that each pixel covers a ground area measuring 10 centimeters by 10 centimeters. Today's largest optical image providers collect images at 30 centimeter resolution, which is improved through algorithms to 15 centimeters. )
Satellites that collect 10 cm resolution tend to operate at higher orbital altitudes, such as low Earth orbit, and cost billions of dollars each to manufacture and launch, according to some estimates. Low-Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbital band at an altitude of approximately 2,000 km, while VLEO is between 250 and 450 km.
Albedo's satellite will eventually be the size of a refrigerator, much larger than many other commercial Earth observation satellites currently operating much further away from Earth. Making satellites too heavy seems counterintuitive. You might think that making satellites as light as possible is essential to counter increased atmospheric drag, but Haddad said in a recent interview that the company can counteract this drag. It uses special design decisions, such as highly efficient electric propulsion and solar panels mounted on the spacecraft rather than placed on two wings.
“You typically place (solar panels) because you can produce more power that way, but we had to minimize the cross-sectional area so that the mass and electric propulsion can come into play and provide a counter to the drag force.” explained.
As the company moves toward getting its hardware back on track, it has added Kathryn Tobey as its first independent director to its now six-member board. Tobey had a 34-year career at Lockheed Martin where she eventually became Vice President of the company's $3 billion Space, Special Programs division. (Before founding Albedo, Haddad spent his career working on some of these same systems at Lockheed Martin.) The department did high-tech national security work, including classified projects. This is the customer group that Albedo is targeting on the government side.
“She brings both a deep technical understanding of the unique niche of satellites, as well as high-performance imaging satellites, and an understanding of national security customer relationships and their missions, both superpowers that I think are very rare. well.” Haddad said.
