Maxar Technologies, an operator of high-resolution Earth imaging satellites, has received regulatory approval to use its satellites to monitor the space environment and sell that data commercially. Having a license to offer non-Earth imagery allows commercial remote sensing satellites to observe objects such as other satellites and orbital debris. Maxar is looking to use this capability to fill growing commercial and government demand for debris monitoring and space domain awareness data, the company’s CEO Daniel Jablonsky told SpaceNews Sept. 20 at the Air, Space & Cyber conference. Maxar’s four imaging satellites currently in orbit have always had the capability to watch the space environment but the new remote-sensing license modification approved recently by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) “allows us to do that commercially,” said Jablonsky.
