Military satellite imagery to be obtained from competitive commercial market
Capitalism in space: The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is shifting how it gets the government’s military satellite surveillance imagery so that instead of having a long term contract with one company, multiple satellite companies will compete to provide the data.
Under this new imagery procurement, the NRO plans to buy products from multiple vendors and move beyond the current single-supplier arrangement that the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency signed more than a decade ago with DigitalGlobe, which is now Maxar Technologies. The NGA in 2017 turned over responsibilities for commercial imagery procurement to the NRO, while the NGA remains the primary buyer of commercial geospatial data analytics.
The NRO is expected to select at least three U.S. suppliers and structure the program with onramps for new providers. The agency also will require vendors to sign “end user license agreements” so imagery can be shared across government agencies without additional licensing fees.
This change illustrates how other government agencies are following NASA’s lead and shifting from controlling everything to buying the needed product from the open market. While NRO was getting imagery before from a commercial company, Maxar, depending on a single vendor limited competition and innovation while raising costs.
Buying the data from multiple companies means that NRO will get more choice for less cost.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Capitalism in space: The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is shifting how it gets the government’s military satellite surveillance imagery so that instead of having a long term contract with one company, multiple satellite companies will compete to provide the data.
Under this new imagery procurement, the NRO plans to buy products from multiple vendors and move beyond the current single-supplier arrangement that the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency signed more than a decade ago with DigitalGlobe, which is now Maxar Technologies. The NGA in 2017 turned over responsibilities for commercial imagery procurement to the NRO, while the NGA remains the primary buyer of commercial geospatial data analytics.
The NRO is expected to select at least three U.S. suppliers and structure the program with onramps for new providers. The agency also will require vendors to sign “end user license agreements” so imagery can be shared across government agencies without additional licensing fees.
This change illustrates how other government agencies are following NASA’s lead and shifting from controlling everything to buying the needed product from the open market. While NRO was getting imagery before from a commercial company, Maxar, depending on a single vendor limited competition and innovation while raising costs.
Buying the data from multiple companies means that NRO will get more choice for less cost.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
It’s a positive story for commercial space, but in terms of national security, it seems like moving the deck chairs on the Titanic.
This summer’s Afghanistan withdrawal was proof positive that the Global American Empire that bestrode the world since 1945 is dead and buried.
We used to have foreign policy elites in this country that were well educated, intelligent, and historically literate. It’s civilian foreign policy elites that are supposed to set direction for our nation’s military strategy. What we have now in the realms of foreign policy and military strategy is a complete clown show.
Well – at least we have the consolation prize that commercial space is getting fed at the trough.
I wonder how NRO will be sure that deep in the bowels of the image processing machine at commercial company B (owned by the CCP behind 8 cutouts or employing a cell of CCP computer specialists at the company), pixel manipulations are NOT done to prevent NRO from seeing something is there.
I guess you fly multiple companies assets over the same spot to check? Or have some check sum algorithm to show deep faking?
Seems like there is some risk here.
Doubting Thomas – your scenario could become a made for TV Streaming series ‘based on true events’. Consider these 2 news items – the highest grossing movie last weekend was not the James Bond movie; rather it was a Chinese war film celebrating a victory against the US in the Korean war. And according to the Daily Mail UK, the CIA just admitted that its informants were executed by Iran and China after a communications system was breached.
The situation of Americans in their COVIDSTAN bubble and disconnected from world events reminds me of a scene starring Captain Barbossa who was a main character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. In the scene he corners Keira Knightley, and he blows up her understanding of reality with his line: “You best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner… you’re in one!!!” Then she mentally falls down a ghostly rabbit hole.
We have need for many such Captains to shake us up so that we understand the reality we’re in now. To paraphrase the hauntingly good Captain Barbossa, to us today he should say : : “you best start believing in conspiracy theories, YOU’RE LIVIN IN ONE!!!!”
So instead of the eye of Big Brother, we are also under the gaze of innumerable little brothers. I feel SO safe…
Doubting Thomas,
Another less difficult but valuable leak would be the tasking information. What exactly is the US focusing on?
Back in the 1970’s they launched the Earth Resources Techology Sattlite (ERTS)so i guess it did like Space Lab and was burned up afterwards