La crisis ha puesto de manifiesto\u00a0las capacidades de empresas como Maxar Technologies y BlackSky, cuyas im\u00e1genes satelitales de alta resoluci\u00f3n se han difundido durante las \u00faltimas semanas a medida que se intensificaba el conflicto.<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2013 Images collected by commercial satellites have\u00a0chronicled the buildup<\/a>\u00a0of Russian forces on Ukraine\u2019s borders and the ongoing invasion, providing intelligence previously only available from government sources \u2014 and seldom released to the public.<\/p>\n The crisis has\u00a0showcased<\/a>\u00a0the capabilities of companies like\u00a0Maxar Technologies<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0BlackSky<\/a>, whose high-resolution satellite images have been ubiquitous for the past several weeks as the conflict intensified.<\/p>\n Last week, Daniel Jablonsky, Maxar\u2019s president and CEO, told Wall Street analysts that the company is \u201cworking to increase global transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n An organization within the company, called\u00a0Maxar News Bureau<\/a>, has created a partnership program with \u201crespected and trusted media organizations, and our team is in regular contact with hundreds of journalists, both here in the U.S. and abroad,\u201d said Jablonsky.<\/p>\n The company also provides pro bono access to satellite imagery to environmental and humanitarian groups through a \u201cSecureWatch\u201d platform.<\/p>\n Jablonsky in a Feb. 28 statement to\u00a0SpaceNews<\/em>\u00a0said Maxar \u201chas made much of this imagery available to news organizations to support global transparency and combat the spread of disinformation. We are proud of our contributions to the public discourse around this situation and hopeful for a peaceful resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n Increased awareness of the value of space data is a welcome development for the commercial geospatial business \u2014 a $9 billion industry\u00a0projected to grow to $37 billion<\/a>\u00a0by 2026 \u2014 where many new venture-funded firms are rushing to deploy constellations and data analytics services.<\/p>\n \u201cThe conflict in Ukraine and its global implications create an opportunity for the new Earth observation space companies to demonstrate their capabilities,\u201d said Scott Herman, CEO of Cognitive Space\u00a0and a geospatial data expert who works with commercial satellite operators.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t get a better\u00a0opportunity\u00a0than this to show\u00a0how remote sensing can support media storytelling and help with the general public\u2019s understanding of a crisis like Ukraine,\u201d\u00a0he said. \u201cThe coverage by the major media, much of it is\u00a0derived\u00a0from geospatial data from\u00a0a variety of commercial and open sources.\u201d<\/p>\n But while companies like Maxar are financially able to provide imagery to the news media and nonprofits at no cost, it\u2019s more difficult for emerging companies that need paying customers, Herman noted.<\/p>\n One of the challenges for new Earth-observation companies is that they need to drive sufficient revenue, he said, and public service and media exposure may not be enough to satisfy investors. \u201cEverybody wants to\u00a0contribute and\u00a0see their work out there, but you\u2019re diverting resources, and you\u2019re not getting any revenue out of it. So\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0always been kind of a tug-of-war within these companies\u00a0around crisis support for the media.\u201d<\/p>\n Other forms of space intelligence\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Optical imaging satellites use visible, near-infrared and short-wave infrared sensors to produce photographic images, but the downside is that they can\u2019t see through clouds.\u00a0And Ukraine in winter has notoriously overcast skies.<\/p>\n Synthetic aperture radar<\/a>\u00a0(SAR) sensor satellites can penetrate cloud cover and shoot pictures at night, but \u201ca bunch of radar blobs don\u2019t necessarily make a newsworthy picture,\u201d Herman noted. \u201cIt may require some enhancement or interpretation for the general public.\u201d<\/p>\n Another challenge for satellite companies is knowing exactly where to point their sensors to get a newsworthy picture, he said. Many of the newer satellite operators have limited capabilities to gather sufficient intelligence of what\u2019s happening on the ground in order to task their satellites effectively. They may depend on their customers to point them in the right direction to get a newsworthy shot.<\/p>\n Other space data companies like Spire use nano-satellites with ADS-B receivers that track aviation traffic. Aircraft carry ADS-B transponders, short for Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). Herman said this is another form of open-source intelligence that \u201cpeople are paying a lot of attention to\u201d for clues about Ukraine developments.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of interesting information out there right now about all the flight diversions,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of people tracking that ADS-B data are doing it both in terms of what\u2019s happening with commercial flights, but they\u2019re also tracking a lot of the military activities as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s overhead imagery, geo-located tweets and videos, ship tracking and air tracking data, Herman said, \u201cthe media can now do a lot of source confirmation in ways that they couldn\u2019t do before. And a lot of that has been enabled by the rise in geospatial analytics that\u2019s happened over the last several years.\u201d<\/p>\n Government support of commercial imagery<\/b><\/p>\n Maxar\u2019s primary customer for its satellite imagery is the U.S. government. But as a commercial provider, Maxar can also publicly release images of the Ukraine conflict.<\/p>\n The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office<\/a>\u00a0pays Maxar about $300 million a year to access the company\u2019s four high-resolution\u00a0imagery satellites<\/a>\u00a0and image archives. This gives the government \u201cpreemption rights\u201d for tasking satellites, said Chris Quilty of the market research firm Quilty Analytics.<\/p>\n \u201cThe U.S. government can step to the front of the line and get control of the camera to take a picture,\u201d he said. \u201cThe premium that the government is paying for access to imagery allows them to dictate what targets the camera shoots at over certain areas of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n But for the most part, all the pictures Maxar shoots for the government are publicly released, Quilty said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government has priority, but once the imagery goes into the image library, then Maxar can go ahead and offer it to other customers,\u201d he said. The U.S. government likes that arrangement because it allows valuable intelligence to be shared, given that the NRO cannot release any images from its satellites, which are classified.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat they love about commercial providers is that the images are freely shareable,\u201d he said. This is important during a conflict because U.S. allies worldwide who wouldn\u2019t have access to the NRO\u2019s data can get unclassified images.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the commercial imagery from Maxar, it helps us to collaborate better,\u201d Quilty said. Another benefit is that the media can use commercial imagery to corroborate government claims.<\/p>\n \u201cIf commercial imagery didn\u2019t exist, you would have had the U.S. administration waving their hands about the Russians massing troops around Ukraine\u201d and not being able to prove it, Quilty said.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople on the ground with their cell phone cameras might have gotten some pictures of tanks,\u201d he said, but only satellites could get overhead images of troops massing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe couldn\u2019t send a spy plane, or the Russians could shoot it down,\u201d Quilty added, \u201cso yes, it\u2019s hugely beneficial to have a commercial provider that has unclassified imagery that can be shared.\u201d<\/p>\n