Alphabet Inc-A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) will launch and operate a constellation of Earth observation satellites for next-generation mapping and geospatial applications. Skybox Imaging, a subsidiary providing commercial high-resolution Earth observation satellite imagery, high-definition video, and analytics services, was re-branded as Terra Bella and announced new, ambitious plans.
Founded in 2009, Skybox Imaging was acquired by Google in 2014 for $500 million after having raised a total of U.S. $91 million of private capital. The company launched its first satellite, SkySat-1, in November 2013, followed by SkySat-2 in July 2014.
“Seven years ago, we started Skybox Imaging with the vision of a new era in space technology,” say the company’s founders Dan Berkenstock, John Fenwick, and Ching-Yu Hu. “As Google revolutionized search for the online world, we have set our eyes on pioneering the search for patterns of change in the physical world. There is an incredible opportunity for geospatial information to transform our ability to meet the economic, societal, and humanitarian challenges of the 21st century.”
Terra Bella is still a part of Google and not yet an independent subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet. It seems plausible that Terra Bella could become a stand-alone Alphabet company after a period of incubation under Google.
The resolution of its SkySat satellite imagery and videos is less than one meter, high enough to observe objects that impact the global economy like terrain, cars and shipping containers. According to the company, SkySat satellites can also capture video clips lasting up to 90 seconds at 30 frames per second.
“We are building an entirely new class of imaging satellites,” notes the brand new Terra Bella website. “We’ve developed a high-resolution, small satellite platform capable of rapid response, high-resolution imagery at a fraction of the cost of traditional imaging satellites. We also use a two-dimensional sensor array with a proprietary image filter to capture a higher quality image by taking multiple frames per second and stitching them on the ground. This also gives us the ability to capture the first-ever commercial high-resolution video of Earth from a satellite.”
