PredaSAR: Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellites

Here’s a new company to track: PredaSAR. The company, which is based in Boca Raton, FL, builds synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites. It has just received a contract from DARPA to develop a prototype SAR satellite, and it is also preparing to begin launching a constellation of 96 commercial SAR satellites. The constellation, which is expected to be completed by 2026, will consist of small satellites weighing between 350 and 400 kilograms. The first of the PredaSAR satellites is expected to be launched in October.

Capella Space of San Francisco, CA currently has a constellation of seven SAR satellites in orbit. The first satellite was launched in 2022 and the last one earlier this year. The goal is to eventually have in place a constellation of 30 satellites. Capella has recently completed raising $97 million in investment capital to help finance the construction and launch of additional satellites for its system.

There are other SAR satellite constellations under development and proposed. Seems like the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the continuing war that country has helped fuel a significant additional market demand for real-time satellite imagery which is being (or will be) filled by commercial satellite operators like Capella and PredaSAR. Much of that commercial imagery will be purchased by the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which is already buying gobs of imagery from American commercial satellite operators like Capella, Blacksky, Maxar Technologies and Planet.

 War is indeed hell, as they say. But it can also be a godsend for some businesses, and that is precisely what appears to be happening in the world of commercial satellite imagery.