Muon Space, a LEO satellite constellation company revolutionizing the way Earth is monitored from space, has been awarded a contract by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to provide commercial electro-optical (EO) capabilities at both the sensor and constellation level for assessment and potential contribution to the NRO mission. This award falls under the NRO Strategic Commercial Enhancements (SCE) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Framework, commercial electro-optical capabilities Focus Area.
Muon Space will provide multispectral electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) data collected by the company’s climate monitoring constellation for NRO assessment. The planned full constellation, which will be deployed at regular intervals, is designed to provide global coverage with rapid revisits for a persistent understanding of global thermal activity.
“We are thrilled to be included in the NRO evaluation of emerging commercial EO providers and excited to explore the dual application of our data to climate and national security missions. We believe deeply in both of these missions and look forward to building a lasting partnership with the NRO.” said Jonny Dyer, CEO of Muon Space.
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In just two years from inception, Muon Space designed and built a satellite platform optimized for remote sensing payloads and successfully launched its first satellite MuSat-1 in June 2023. Muon Space was awarded a contract by Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s (AFLMC)’s Weather Systems Branch and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to evaluate GNSS-R ocean wind speed, soil moisture products, and ionospheric data on their MuSat-2 satellite mission. Muon Space has also been awarded a contract from Hydrosat for its Constellation-as-a-Service (CaaS) spacecraft that will integrate Hydrosat’s imaging instruments.
Former Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense and member of Muon Space’s board, Christine Fox said, “I’m excited to see Muon Space take this next step in applying their capabilities to solve National Security problems. I’m encouraged by the NRO’s continued push to integrate emerging commercial capabilities at the speed and scale needed to address critical National Security needs. Muon Space’s capabilities will provide important insights and understanding to the NRO at an unclassified level, which can be easily shared with global partners.”
SOURCE : PRNewswire