Albedo Secures Air Force Contract for Thermal Infrared Imaging at Night

Albedo, a startup that is developing an ultra-high resolution, low-flying satellite network, has been awarded a $1.25 million government contract to assist the National Air and Space Intelligence Centre (NASIC). The Direct to Phase 2 (D2P2) SBIR contract, awarded by AFWERX, the Department of the Air Force’s innovation arm, will test and evaluate Albedo’s commercial-leading, 2 metre GSD (Ground Sample Distance) Thermal Infrared (TIR) imaging for nighttime circumstances for the United States Government.

In the visible (10 cm GSD) and thermal infrared (2 m GSD) spectrums, Albedo will natively co-collect the highest-resolution commercial satellite imagery available. This is Albedo’s second D2P2 contract through AFWERX in less than a year, bringing the company’s total government contract value to $2.5 million. The previously awarded endeavour involves analysing how Albedo’s NIIRS 7 visible imagery and co-collected TIR imagery supports various government use cases by gaining a better understanding of system performance, mission effectiveness, and how to best connect their task-oriented constellation with government systems.

Albedo will characterise its night-time TIR imaging capabilities under this contract. This includes performing in-depth lab characterization of the flight sensor, validating end-to-end radiometric and picture quality predictions, and creating high-fidelity simulated imagery using new high-resolution aerial photography captured with the flight sensor. Albedo will also investigate the potential of constellations to supply this images, synthesising all data to determine the most viable US Government use cases.