earth-observation
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DigitalGlobe lost two satellites. Then it sold the world a closer look.
Before it became part of Maxar, DigitalGlobe turned orbital photography into a business worth billions. Its legacy, now carried forward by Vantor, shows why the real product was never just a picture.
AxionOrbital Space
AxionOrbital Space is a San Francisco startup building foundation models that turn radar satellite data into analysis-ready optical imagery in real time. Its flagship model, ORION, translates Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) backscatter into photorealistic images so customers can see through clouds, smoke, and darkness - the roughly 70% of the time when conventional optical satellites go blind. A Y Combinator Winter 2026 company, it targets defense, commodities trading, and disaster response.
Near Space Labs
Near Space Labs is a Brooklyn-based earth-imaging company that flies small autonomous robots called Swift into the stratosphere on helium balloons to capture 7-centimeter-resolution imagery of the ground below. Founded in 2017, it delivers frequent, analysis-ready aerial data to property and casualty insurers, governments, utilities and environmental groups at a fraction of the cost of traditional planes or satellites, positioning balloon-borne imaging as a scalable, low-emission alternative for monitoring cities, infrastructure and disasters.
SkyFi
SkyFi is an Austin, Texas-based Earth intelligence company that runs a self-service marketplace for satellite imagery and analytics. Through a single web platform, mobile app and API, customers can search archives, task satellites and buy optical, SAR, hyperspectral and aerial imagery from more than 50 commercial providers - then run built-in AI analytics on it. Founded in 2021 by Luke Fischer and Bill Perkins, SkyFi aims to make geospatial data as easy to order as a rideshare, serving defense, government, finance, energy, agriculture, insurance and infrastructure customers worldwide.
Array Labs
Array Labs designs, builds, and operates radar satellites that fly in coordinated clusters to image the same place on Earth from many angles at once. By distributing the radar across many small, mass-manufacturable satellites instead of one large bespoke spacecraft, the company aims to produce continuously refreshed, high-resolution 3D maps of the planet - a form of space-based radar it likens to what SpaceX did for launch. Founded in 2021 and based in Redwood City, California, Array Labs raised a $20M Series A in January 2026 to scale radar manufacturing and prepare to launch the world's first formation-flying radar satellite cluster.
SpaceKnow Inc.
SpaceKnow is a geospatial intelligence company that turns satellite imagery into near-real-time answers about the physical world. Its AI-powered platform, SpaceKnow Guardian, fuses optical and radar data from many satellite providers and applies proprietary machine-learning algorithms to detect objects, track change, and generate economic indices for defense, finance, construction, and environmental customers. Founded in 2013 by Pavel Machalek and Jerry Javornicky, the company is best known for economic nowcasting products like its China Satellite Manufacturing Index, which has appeared on Bloomberg Terminals.
Diffraqtion
Diffraqtion is a Somerville, Massachusetts deeptech company building what it calls the first quantum camera for satellites and telescopes. Spun out of research at MIT and the University of Maryland, its photon-counting sensors paired with AI aim to extract far more information from incoming light than conventional CMOS or CCD sensors, letting smaller, cheaper optics see beyond the diffraction limit. The company targets space domain awareness, defense, and Earth observation, and raised $4.2M in pre-seed funding in January 2026 alongside a DARPA SBIR contract.
Atlas AI
Atlas AI is a Palo Alto-based Public Benefit Corporation building GeoAI software that turns planetary-scale satellite imagery, ground-truth surveys, and predictive models into decision-support tools for enterprises, governments, and development institutions investing in emerging markets.
Matter Intelligence
Matter Intelligence is a remote sensing and AI company building the world's first sub-meter hyperspectral and thermal satellite sensors paired with a foundational 'Large World Model' that lets machines understand the physical world at a molecular level. Founded by former NASA JPL engineers, the El Segundo startup emerged from stealth in October 2024 with $12M in seed funding to deploy sensors across satellites, drones, and aircraft for agriculture, defense, energy, and environmental monitoring.
Muon Space
Muon Space is a Mountain View-based end-to-end space systems company that designs, builds, and operates mission-optimized satellite constellations for climate, defense, and Earth intelligence customers. Its Halo platform pairs the modular MuSat spacecraft bus with MuOS middleware and the MuSim digital twin, anchoring high-profile programs like Google's FireSat wildfire constellation and a $44.6M U.S. Space Force environmental monitoring agreement.
Astro Digital
Astro Digital designs, builds and operates small-satellite systems delivered as turn-key 'Mission-as-a-Service' offerings - covering spacecraft bus, payload integration, launch, ground network and mission operations - for earth observation, communications, science and in-orbit demonstration customers from LEO to GEO.