BlackSky Global 1, ..., 30

BlackSky Global [Spaceflight Services]

The BlackSky constellation of 1 m resolution earth observation microsatellites was deployed by BlackSky Global.

The satellites feature the SpaceView-24 imaging system built by Harris Corp.'s Exelis with an aperture of 24 cm It has a ground resolution of 0.9 - 1.1 m from an orbital height of 500 km. They have a onboard propulsion for a 3 year orbital life. The satellites are built by Spaceflight Services based on their SCOUT bus.

The operational Block 2 satellites feature some improvements over the Block 1 Pathfinder satellites. They have increased solar arrays and can image in in four bands and panchromatic mode. Each can produce 1000 images per day, both in stills or video mode.

The first four satellites named BlackSky 1 to 4 followed in 2018 and 2019 on four seperate launches, a PSLV, a Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) and two Electron KS rockets, to form the backbone of the operational constellation.

A full constellation of 60 satellites is planned for 2019 that will be replaced every three years. The first six satellites have been funded by September 2015. In September 2017 it was announced, that a joint venture with Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio will operate a constellation of 60 fast-revisit, high-resolution Earth-observation satellites. The satellites are built by LeoStella LLC, a joint venture between Spaceflight Industries and Thales Alenia Space, which established a new smallsat manufacturing facility in the United States. LeoStella is under contract to deliver 20 satellites to establish and maintain an initial constellation of 16 satellites.

19 of the 24 satellites 2nd generation built were launched, then the improved 3rd generation BlackSky Global satellites took over.