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The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is interested in getting a closer look at ships from satellites in very low Earth orbit (VLEO) and has issued a contract to DeepSat to develop a prototype.
The Small Business Innovation Research contract is intended to fast-track VLEO satellite development for a 2027 demonstration, which would include using onboard artificial intelligence to detect vessels and other moving objects, DeepSat said on Aug. 25.
DeepSat says its satellites orbit at about 250 km (155 mi.), roughly two times closer to Earth than low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. The company says that means “two times better resolution and faster revisit rates than in traditional LEO.”
VLEO is typically classified as about 90-250 km (56-155 mi.) in altitude, a region that often creates enough atmospheric drag on spacecraft that additional propulsion is needed. Spacecraft operating at that altitude also must contend with atomic oxygen erosion.
The VLEO satellite startup says its spacecraft are to be built using commercial off-the-shelf components, including GPUs and sensors. Satellites would use onboard edge computing capacity to detect and track objects before sending down data, DeepSat says.
DeepSat says its ambition is to create a dual-use, commercial-military satellite constellation called Orion’s Belt. In addition to military missions, such a constellation could be used to monitor energy infrastructure, wildfires, natural disasters and illegal fishing, the company says.
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