NRO Renews Subscription to BlackSky’s Geospatial Imagery Services

BlackSky Technology announced that it has secured a new one-year subscription contract from the National Reconnaissance Office for high-frequency Earth imaging and analytics services. 

The subscription renewal is aligned with a task order that BlackSky received in May 2022 under the NRO’s Electro-Optical Commercial Layer ordering system, which provides a five-year base and five one-year extension options over 10 years. The contract award was the first validation of the EOCL system of sourcing services from multiple vendors, an NRO initiative launched in November 2021, BlackSky said. 

According to Brian O’Toole, BlackSky CEO, the contract extension demonstrates the NRO’s continued trust in the company as a mission partner in tapping commercial space technology to beef up national security. He conveyed BlackSky’s commitment to providing “the most advanced space-based intelligence capabilities” and expanding services to end-users. 

Under the NRO contract, the company supplies imagery from its Gen-2 satellite constellation and analytics services through artificial intelligence-based software.

BlackSky’s U.S. government customers also include the Air Force Research Laboratory, which recently awarded the company a contract with a $24 million ceiling to enhance moving target tracking solutions.