thedownlink, Author at The Enterprise Orbit

BlackSky deal underscores growing importance of small sats & big data in space

The Space Alliance has entered into a new partnership with Spaceflight Industries to accelerate the development of BlackSky, the geospatial imagery and multi-media intelligence platform. The announcement, which Spaceflight Industries CEO has dubbed a “major breakthrough,” is the latest development in the burgeoning analytics-driven Earth observation sector that’s increasingly relying on small satellites, higher resolution imagery, short revisit rates and data analytics to power the emergence of the so-called “insights

NSS optimistic about Pence’s call for constant LEO presence

National Space Society, a nonprofit organization that promotes (among other things) space settlement, has happily endorsed a few key pieces of U.S. vice president Mike Pence’s recent July 6 speech at Kennedy Space Center. The group is particularly hopeful about Pence’s call for constant human presence in low Earth orbit, which the group sees as a key milestone in future space settlement. “To the best of my recollection, this is

Commercial space could play a bigger role in new space council

In a much-anticipated signing ceremony, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on 30 June reauthorizing the National Space Council, an advisory body that, though a driving force behind many of that country’s most significant forays in space exploration, has been defunct for 24 years. The council will work closely with several federal agencies to foster cooperation “in order to provide a coordinated process for developing and monitoring the