Space · Sunday, 20 September 2026

Satellogic is switching from selling satellite pictures to watching places and reporting what changed

10 stories 11 sources

Signals on this beat

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing, and the arrow is where it is heading.

Military money buying satellites High↑

The US Space Force handed SpaceX the design of a $2.3bn network in low orbit. [3]
Ten allied countries agreed to pay $302m towards one American military communications satellite. [4]
The US Navy's research office expanded its Satellogic order to six satellites. [2]

Europe paying for studies Building↑

The European Space Agency signed 18 contracts with nearly 80 companies to study Europe's next secure network. [5]
The same agency gave its innovation award to a Swiss firm making a material that mends its own cracks. [9]

One rocket carrying the traffic High→

SpaceX was set to fly its 81st batch of Starlink satellites this year on 19 September. [7]
Satellogic's next three satellites ride a Falcon 9, and its chief executive says matching that price is hard. [2]

Small satellites piling up Building↑

Rocket Lab launched the twelfth radar satellite of Japan's Strix network and has fifteen more booked. [6]
Satellogic will add six camera satellites for the US Navy over 18 months. [2]

The stories

10 stories on this beat today.

Every story told the same way: what happened, who is involved, why it matters, how it works, the truth and the good news.

01
Satellogic is switching from selling satellite pictures to watching places and reporting what changed

6

Satellogic satellites ordered by the US Navy's research office

They go up over the next 18 months for Slingshot, which watches shipping. [2]

50cm

the smallest thing a Mark VI satellite can pick out on the ground

The NextGen design now being built is meant to reach 30 centimetres. [2]

$2.3bn

the US military satellite network SpaceX has been left to design itself

The Space Force set what it must do, not how many satellites to use. [3]

$302m

put in by ten US allies towards one American military communications satellite

Their money covers the launch, the ground stations and the running costs. [4]
What happened
- Satellogic, a Barcelona-based company that photographs the Earth from orbit, has expanded the work it does for the US Navy's research office. [1][2]
- It will put six NewSat Mark VI satellites into orbit over the next 18 months for a programme called Slingshot, which uses commercial satellites to keep track of shipping. [2]
- Innovative Defense Technologies holds the main contract for the Slingshot tests, and Satellogic works under it. [2]
- The Mark VI satellites carry links that pass information straight to each other in orbit, so a change spotted on one pass does not have to wait for a ground station. [1][2]
- Satellogic's older business was selling a picture of a place when a customer asked for one. [1]
- Its satellites photograph the ground as they pass anyway, so it now offers to watch a list of sites and tell the customer when something is different. [1]
- Three satellites are due to fly on a Falcon 9 next month: two more Mark VIs, and one Mark V that Satellogic means to sell and hand over while it is already in orbit. [1][2]
- A satellite called Merlin, built to photograph the ground constantly at one-metre detail, was announced for October, and the company would not say whether it shares that launch. [1]
- Chief executive Emiliano Kargieman said the aim is “complete awareness of the theater that you're operating in”, and that the same service could later be sold to ordinary industry. [1]
- A sharper design called NextGen, picking out things 30 centimetres across, is being built and should be ready in late 2027 or early 2028. [2]
Before: pictures on requestone picture
Now: alerts on your sitesmany places
Satellogic's satellites photograph the ground on every pass. The company used to sell one picture of one place when asked; now it watches a customer's list of sites and sells an alert when something changes.
Who is involved
- Satellogic a Barcelona-based company that photographs the Earth from orbit; it is switching from selling single pictures to selling constant watching
- The US Office of Naval Research the American navy's research arm; it expanded the contract and runs the Slingshot ship-watching tests
- Emiliano Kargieman Satellogic's chief executive; he set out the shift and says defence and intelligence buyers want it first
- Innovative Defense Technologies the American firm holding the main contract for the Slingshot test series, with Satellogic working underneath it
How it unfolded
1. This week the US Navy's research office expands its Satellogic contract [1][2]
2. Next month three Satellogic satellites fly on a Falcon 9 [1][2]
3. October the first Merlin satellite is due [1]
4. 2027-2028 six Mark VI satellites run the Navy's tests in orbit [1]
5. Late 2027 or early 2028 the sharper NextGen satellite should be ready [2]
Why it matters

Watch whether the Mark V is really handed over to a buyer after next month's launch; that transfer, not the launch, is what would show the new business works.
The truth
- Who gains Satellogic — The US Navy's research office expanded its contract to six satellites, and the company now sells watching rather than one picture at a time. [1][2]
- Who pays Anyone watched from orbit without knowing it — Satellogic's satellites photograph on every pass and can flag changes at sites a customer has picked out. [1]
- Who pays Launch buyers who need an alternative to SpaceX — Satellogic has slots booked to 2029 and says matching the price of a Falcon 9 is a challenge. [2]
- Nobody knows yet
  Who is buying the Mark V satellite Satellogic intends to hand over in orbit.
  
  Satellogic named the programme the sale sits under and did not name the customer. [1]
- Nobody knows yet
  Whether Satellogic's first Merlin satellite shares next month's Falcon 9 launch.
  
  The company confirmed three other satellites on that flight and would not say whether Merlin joins them. [1]

02
SpaceX left to design a $2.3bn military network
What happened
- The US Space Force is letting SpaceX decide how to build one of its new satellite networks in low Earth orbit, a job worth $2.3bn. [3]
- It has written down what the network must be able to do, instead of prescribing how many spacecraft there should be or how they should be arranged. [3]
- Low Earth orbit is the band a few hundred kilometres up, where a satellite circles the whole planet in about an hour and a half.
Why it matters

The supplier that picks the design also decides what the finished network can and cannot do, and the US Space Force will live with that choice for as long as the satellites fly.
How it works
Three ways to buy something nobody has built yet

Nobody knows whether a new satellite design will work until it flies. A buyer can pay to find out, let the seller decide, or buy into something already being built.

The twist

A buyer who names a result instead of a design gets bids that cannot be compared. Each supplier answers with its own machine.

The picture

20m eurosESA: pays to find out first
$2.3bnSpace Force: names the goal
$302mTen allies: a fixed design
Three deals in one week, bought three ways. The sums are not comparable: the first buys studies, the others buy hardware and the running of it.
Step by step
1. Nobody knows if a new design will work
2. The buyer can pay for studies and tests first
3. Or name the result and let the seller pick the design
4. Or buy into something already being built
5. Each choice costs time, control or choice
The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.
- ESA pays 80 companies to plan Europe's next secure network
  
  ESA is paying to find out first: 20 million euros buys studies and comparisons, and no satellite is ordered until the answers come back
- SpaceX left to design a $2.3bn military network
  
  the Space Force names the result and lets the seller pick the design, saying what the network must do rather than how many satellites to use
- Ten allies pay $302m for one US military satellite
  
  the ten countries buy into a design already fixed, paying for the launch and the running of a spacecraft they did not help draw
Where you've seen this

A council building a school

it can pay an architect to draw options first, or hand one firm a fixed sum and a date and let them work out the building

Buying a used car

you pay a mechanic to look it over, or you take the dealer's warranty and let them carry the risk

Hiring someone

a trial month is paying to find out; hiring on a recommendation is buying something already proven

The catch

Paying to find out only helps if the answer arrives before the need does. A study that finishes after the decision is made changes nothing.

And the whole of it

Most people buy the third way without thinking about it. You buy a phone that already works, and somebody else paid to find out which designs did not. From where you are standing, that earlier cost is invisible, and so are the designs that never reached a shop.
The truth
- What is really going on The US Space Force is paying $2.3bn for a satellite network and letting SpaceX decide what it looks like. [3]
- Who gains SpaceX — It gets $2.3bn and the freedom to choose the design, so the network can be built around what SpaceX already makes. [3]
- Who pays Other bidders for the US military network — A buyer that names a result rather than a design leaves rivals with no common specification to bid against. [3]
- Nobody knows yet
  How many satellites SpaceX will actually build for the $2.3bn military network.
  
  The US Space Force set what the network must do and deliberately did not prescribe the number or the arrangement of spacecraft. [3]

03
Ten allies pay $302m for one US military satellite
What happened
- Ten countries allied to the United States have agreed to put $302m towards the next Wideband Global SATCOM satellite, WGS-12. [4]
- Their money covers the launch, upgrades to the ground stations and the cost of running it, not the building of the spacecraft itself, which Boeing does. [4]
- Wideband Global SATCOM is a set of US military communications satellites, and this deal extends a cost-sharing arrangement with allied countries that has run for years. [4]
- The $302m completes the funding plan for WGS-12. [4]
10Allied countries paying
$302mWhat they put in
Ten countries share the cost of launching, connecting and running one American military satellite.
Why it matters

Countries that cannot afford a military communications satellite of their own buy a share of someone else's, and this one was designed before they were asked to pay.

How it works

the ten countries buy into a design already fixed, paying for the launch and the running of a spacecraft they did not help draw
The idea, in story 02: Three ways to buy something nobody has built yet →
The truth
- Who gains Boeing — Ten allied countries covering $302m of launch, ground and running costs completes the funding for a satellite Boeing builds. [4]
- Who pays Taxpayers in the ten allied countries — Their $302m buys the use of a satellite whose design was settled before they were asked to pay for it. [4]
- Nobody knows yet
  Which ten countries are paying for WGS-12.
  
  The report gives the total of $302m and the number of countries, and names none of them. [4]
04
ESA pays 80 companies to plan Europe's next secure network
What happened
- The European Space Agency signed 18 contracts on 17 September in Madrid, bringing nearly 80 companies together to study new secure communications services. [5]
- The work is worth 20 million euros and is meant to shape what comes after IRIS2, the European Union's planned network for communications governments can rely on. [5]
- The firms will look at uses such as secure government broadband, shipping, aviation and relaying data, and will compare different designs. [5]
- ESA says the shape of the deal is also meant to give smaller firms a way in. [5]
18Contracts signed
nearly 80Companies taking part
20m eurosTotal value
ESA split the study money across eighteen contracts and almost eighty companies.
Why it matters

Europe is paying to find out what to ask for before it orders any hardware.
The US Space Force, in the same week, named the result it wanted and left the design to its supplier.

How it works

ESA is paying to find out first: 20 million euros buys studies and comparisons, and no satellite is ordered until the answers come back
The idea, in story 02: Three ways to buy something nobody has built yet →
The truth
- What is really going on In the same week the European Space Agency spent 20 million euros on 18 contracts simply to work out what Europe should order. [5]
- Why it works on people A large number in a contract sounds like a settled plan, but ESA's 20 million euros buys studies and comparisons rather than a single satellite. [5]
- Who gains Small and mid-sized European suppliers — ESA split 20 million euros across 18 contracts and nearly 80 companies, and says the shape was picked to let smaller firms in. [5]
- Who pays European firms outside the 18 contracts — Nearly 80 companies are inside the study phase that will shape what Europe orders next, and everyone else is not. [5]
- Nobody knows yet
  What ESA's 18 study contracts will recommend, and whether any of it gets built.
  
  ESA says the results could support an evolution of IRIS2 only if they mature and if future programme decisions go that way. [5]
05
Rocket Lab launches Japan's twelfth radar satellite
What happened
- Rocket Lab sent an Electron rocket up from New Zealand late on 18 September carrying one radar satellite for Synspective, a Tokyo company. [6]
- Radar satellites bounce their own radio waves off the ground and read what comes back, so they can see at night and through cloud, which ordinary cameras cannot. [6]
- The satellite was due to be released about 53 minutes after lift-off, 572 kilometres up. [6]
- It is the twelfth Synspective satellite Rocket Lab has launched, with fifteen more booked, and the firm's seventeenth flight of 2026. [6]
12 of 27
Synspective radar satellites launched by Rocket Lab
Twelve have flown. Fifteen more are booked. The empty ones are not up yet.
Why it matters

Japan is buying a network that can look at the same ground whatever the weather, and one small rocket company is launching all of it.
The truth
- Who gains Rocket Lab — It remains the only launch provider Synspective uses, with fifteen more flights booked after the one on 18 September. [6]
- Nobody knows yet
  Whether Rocket Lab's 18 September launch reached orbit.
  
  Our source was published before lift-off and describes the plan, not the outcome. [6]
06
A small satellite aims to give hours of storm warning
What happened
- Researchers at Imperial College London have set out a small satellite called HENON, carrying a magnetometer named MAGIC that measures the Sun's magnetic field. [8]
- Warnings of solar storms now come from spacecraft parked 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, which gives between 15 and 60 minutes of notice. [8]
- HENON would sit about 15 million kilometres out, ten times further, so a storm reaches it well before it reaches us. [8]
- The team says the work leads towards a larger European mission called SHIELD. [8]
Why it matters

A solar storm can black out radio, damage satellites and disturb power grids, and a warning only helps if it arrives before the storm does.
The truth
- Nobody knows yet
  How much warning the HENON satellite would really give.
  
  The report says today's warning is 15 to 60 minutes and that HENON would stretch it to about three hours, but it also prints a figure of 15 hours, and the two cannot both be right. [8]
07
SpaceX flies its 81st Starlink batch of the year
What happened
- A Falcon 9 was set to lift off from Vandenberg in California on the evening of 19 September carrying 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites. [7]
- It was the 81st launch of Starlink satellites this year alone. [7]
- The booster, B1093, was making its seventeenth flight and was due to land on a ship in the Pacific, which would be the 662nd Falcon booster landing. [7]
- The satellites were to be let go a little over an hour after lift-off. [7]
Why it matters

Almost every other story here rests on a rocket being cheap and available, and one company is flying most of them.
The truth
- Nobody knows yet
  Whether the Starlink flight on 19 September actually flew.
  
  The coverage we have was written ahead of the launch window and states what was scheduled. [7]
08
ESA's innovation prize goes to a self-repairing material
What happened
- The European Space Agency gave its innovation award to CompPair Technologies, a Swiss firm making a composite material that mends itself. [9]
- Sensors inside the material watch for cracks, and a printed aluminium grid then heats the damaged patch, which sets off a healing agent in the composite. [9]
- Two excellence awards also went out: to Surrey Satellite Technology in Britain, for delivering two HydroGNSS satellites to schedule after their ride to orbit changed, and to Sener in Spain, for instrument work on Europe's next weather satellites. [9]
Why it matters

Rockets and spacecraft are only cheap to reuse if the structure survives being used again, and small cracks are what ends that.
Good news
- A Swiss company called CompPair won the European Space Agency's innovation award for a composite material that finds its own cracks. Sensors inside it spot the damage and a printed aluminium grid heats that patch until the material seals itself.
- Surrey Satellite Technology in Britain delivered two HydroGNSS satellites on schedule after their ride to orbit changed late on, and ESA gave it an excellence award for it.
09
Astronauts solder a circuit board and practise a Moon landing
What happened
- On the International Space Station, NASA's Anil Menon finished the last run of an experiment soldering electronics without lead in weightlessness, working in the Harmony module. [10]
- The board comes back to Earth to be compared with identical ones soldered on the ground. [10]
- Commander Jessica Meir practised a lunar descent from the cupola, the station's dome of windows, steering with hand controllers. [10]
- The study looks at how weightlessness affects thinking, and whether it can leave a pilot disoriented at the controls. [10]
- Menon and Jack Hathaway also cleaned the cupola's seven windows. [10]
Why it matters

Nobody can post a broken circuit board home from the Moon, so repairing electronics in orbit has to be shown to work first.
Good news
- On the space station, Anil Menon finished soldering a circuit board without lead, in weightlessness. The board is coming home to be compared with identical ones soldered on the ground.
10
NASA opens the press list for October's cargo run
What happened
- NASA opened media accreditation for the 35th SpaceX cargo flight to the International Space Station, which will carry science equipment and supplies. [11]
- A Dragon capsule will ride a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, no earlier than October. [11]
- Applications close at the end of 1 October and are open to American media only. [11]
Why it matters

Everything the crew eats, wears and experiments on arrives on flights like this one, so the date sets what they can do next.

Satellogic is switching from selling satellite pictures to watching places and reporting what changed

10 stories on this beat today.

Three ways to buy something nobody has built yet