HEO Partners with Planet to Enhance Non-Earth Imaging Capabilities
Australian company HEO has signed an agreement with Planet to access the latter's high-resolution SkySat satellites for non-Earth imaging, expanding its capabilities in space object observation.
Australian company HEO has partnered with Planet to access the latter's high-resolution SkySat satellites for non-Earth imaging. This partnership will enable HEO to use Planet's SkySat satellites when they are not being used for Earth observation to take images of other space objects.
HEO will initially be able to task SkySat satellites for non-Earth imaging only for its U.S. government customers. The company's chief executive, Will Crowe, stated that the government restriction is not a major hindrance, as 90% of HEO's business comes from government customers.
The partnership will allow HEO to access more than 50 sensors in orbit, primarily from other Earth observation companies. This will increase the company's chances of having its cameras in the right place at the right time to take the right image of an object of interest.
HEO's approach to non-Earth imaging requires a diversity of sensors and a diversity of orbits. The company's chief executive, Will Crowe, noted that this approach is not limited to using huge, expensive satellites. Instead, it requires having cameras in the right place at the right time.
The SkySat NEI imagery will initially be limited to U.S. government customers due to licensing issues. However, HEO's chief executive, Will Crowe, expects to eventually be able to offer those images to commercial customers.
HEO is seeing growing commercial interest in non-Earth imaging, with examples including the use of such imagery to help identify satellites deployed in clusters on rideshare launches and to study a malfunctioning SpaceX Starlink satellite.
HEO has also acquired its first satellite, Continuum-1, which was built by Satellogic and launched three years earlier as NewSat-34. The company is planning to use Continuum-1 to demonstrate rendezvous and proximity operations by maneuvering the spacecraft to within tens of kilometers of a defunct rocket body in low Earth orbit.
HEO's Non-Earth Imaging Capabilities
HEO's partnership with Planet will significantly enhance its non-Earth imaging capabilities. The company will have access to more than 50 sensors in orbit, primarily from other Earth observation companies.
| Sensor Type | Number of Sensors |
|---|---|
| SkySat | 50+ |
| Pelican | - |
| Dove | - |
HEO's chief executive, Will Crowe, noted that the company's approach to non-Earth imaging requires a diversity of sensors and a diversity of orbits. This will increase the company's chances of having its cameras in the right place at the right time to take the right image of an object of interest.
HEO's Future Plans
HEO is planning to use Continuum-1 to demonstrate rendezvous and proximity operations by maneuvering the spacecraft to within tens of kilometers of a defunct rocket body in low Earth orbit. If successful, this would show how such maneuvers could enable more continuous imagery of objects of interest.
HEO's chief executive, Will Crowe, stated that the company is seeing growing commercial interest in non-Earth imaging. He noted that companies are starting to wake up to the importance of non-Earth imaging, but it is still early days on the adoption curve for commercial customers.
HEO's partnership with Planet will enable the company to offer high-resolution SkySat NEI imagery to its customers. This will significantly enhance the company's non-Earth imaging capabilities and enable it to provide more value to its customers.
