Just to confirm, does SAR in this thread is an acronym for Search And Rescue?
The second iQPS small SAR satellite “IZANAMI” to launch on Spaceflight’s SXRS-3 rideshare mission no earlier than December 2020iQPS Inc., led by its CEO Shunsuke Onishi, with the mission to “expand the possibilities in space and make our earth a better place,” announces the launch of the second small SAR satellite called IZANAMI, which is developed with the space cluster of more than 20 local companies in Northern part of Kyushu.Under a rideshare launch contract with Spaceflight Inc., the leading satellite rideshare and mission management provider, IZANAMI is scheduled to launch from a SpaceX Falcon 9 no earlier than December 2020. The mission, called SXRS-3 by Spaceflight, is a fully dedicated rideshare mission. Additional information about IZANAMI and its launch will be provided as it becomes available.iQPS Inc. is aiming to establish a near real-time data provision service by 2025 with 36-satellite constellation which can observe almost any point in the world in approximately 10 minutes, and conduct fixed-point observations at particular areas once every 10 minutes. The first satellite IZANAGI and the second IZANAMI have a mission as the prototype to demonstrate various experimental devices and technology in space for the future iQPS constellation.“In December 2019, iQPS successfully launched IZANAGI from Satish Dawn Space Centre and established contact with ground stations on the following day.” says Shunsuke Onishi, CEO of iQPS Inc. “The continuous healthy operation of IZANAGI is providing us an accumulation of knowledge to improve IZANAMI and to develop the following satellites faster and with more confidence. And now we, with all iQPS members including the Northern Kyushu space cluster, are excited for the upcoming launch of our 2nd satellite. We look forward to our launch with Spaceflight aboard the Falcon 9.”
https://www.rocketlabusa.com/news/updates/rocket-lab-to-launch-dedicated-mission-for-japanese-space-industry-start-up-company-synspective/Synspective booked a late 2020 launch on Rocket Lab
As described in the transfer of control application, Meta, a Delaware limited liability company, acquired an indirect 61.75% equity interest in R2 Space, Inc. (“R2 Space”) on March 25, 2021. In connection with this transaction, R2 Space was converted from an S-corporation to a limited liability company and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of R2 Space Holdco, Inc. (“R2 Holdco”). Meta holds its interest in R2 Space through 100% ownership of Meta Aerospace Holdings 3 LLC, which holds 61.75% of the membership shares of R2 Space. The remaining shares of R2 Space are held by R2 Holdco, which is in turn held equally by the original 50% co-owners of R2 Space, Reuben Sorensen and Ryan Farris. Based on their interest in R2 Holdco, each continues to hold 19.125% of R2 Space. Meta is controlled by Defense Services Investment Partners II, L.P. (“DSIP II”), a Delaware limited partnership, which holds 77.22% of Meta. The remaining 22.78% of Meta is held by DSIP Co-Invest A, L.P. (“DSIP A”). Both DSIP II and DSIP A are ultimately managed and controlled by Oaktree Capital I, L.P. (“OCI”), also a Delaware limited partnership. OCI is an indirect subsidiary of Oaktree Capital Group, LLC (“Oaktree Capital”), a well-established U.S.-based investment management company headquartered in Los Angeles. The majority equity interest in Oaktree Capital is held by Brookfield Asset Management, Inc., a Canadian corporation based in Toronto, which holds a 61.8% economic interest. Voting control of Oaktree Capital, however, remains with the upstream ownership chain ultimately controlled by Oaktree Capital Group Holdings GP, LLC.
Our antenna successfully deployed in space.
Japanese SAR company Synspective has raised $100 million in a Series B round, brining its total raised to date to $200 million. It will use the new funding for building more satellites, data products and global expansion.
Maxar has signed a contract with satellite imagery startup Umbra to get dedicated access to the company’s radar imaging constellation, the companies announced Feb. 14.The partnership will allow Maxar to directly task Umbra’s satellites and integrate synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data into its portfolio of Earth intelligence products and services, Tony Frazier, head of Maxar’s public sector Earth intelligence, told SpaceNews.
Big day. One of the biggest of my career. Some thoughts in the thread below...Everybody knows Maxar, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that they are one of the leading experts on SAR in the world (their Ypsilanti office is descended from Willow Run Laboratories/ERIM, the group that more or less invented SAR).In the preview of the article above that you can see some of our data for the first time ever (exciting in its own right). That’s only a 50cm image, not even close to the highest resolution we are capable of. Even still…looks great next to an optical image. More to come.The combination of our very high resolution SAR with Maxar’s VHR optical and the fact Maxar customers will be able to acquire them together through existing products is a big deal. Our data goes together like peanut butter and jelly - each enhances the other.Not to mention Maxar has one of the biggest analytics and professional services branches in the game, which means they’ll be able to offer combined “multi-source” products that use our data under the hood to power seemingly magical user experiences.Maxar knows some things about us that the rest of the world will find out about soon (mainly what kind of data we are capable of producing and how much of it). They decided to bet big on it. I can’t wait to see what we can do together starting this year.As for the rest of the market…you may notice some things on our new website. A new brand! Sample data coming soon! Pricing! An explainer of our licensing approach! Hang tight - gonna be a fun few months. https://umbra.space
