Spaceflight Industries Signs On to ‘Breakthrough’ Partnership

Spaceflight Industries has entered into a new strategic partnership with the Space Alliance, the company announced.

Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries, an honoree at the upcoming 2017 Seattle Business magazine Tech Impact Awards, called it a major breakthrough.

Today in Paris, France, the Space Alliance, formed by Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio, signed a partnership with Spaceflight that spokeswoman Christie Melby says will further enable the creation of next generation space systems and global intelligence software, and will accelerate BlackSkys business plan by funding the constellation of high-resolution small observation satellites, minimizing production risks and reducing the time to market in key market segments.

See the full release below:

Thales Alenia Space, Telespazio and Spaceflight Industries Partner to Accelerate the BlackSky Geospatial Platform and High Revisit Rate Constellation

Parties Create World-Class Small Satellite Production Company to Build BlackSky Constellation

Paris, September 15, 2017 The Space Alliance, formed by Thales Alenia Space (Thales 67%, Leonardo 33%) and Telespazio (Leonardo 67%, Thales 33%), today signed a partnership with the U.S.-based company Spaceflight Industries which includes the following elements:

• A minority investment in Spaceflight Industries, which through its BlackSky business, has developed a geospatial platform and plans to build and operate a constellation of 60 small high-resolution observation satellites featuring very short revisit times;
• The creation of an industrial Joint Venture in the United States between Thales Alenia Space and Spaceflight Industries specialized in the production of small satellites;
• The implementation of a Joint Cooperation and Marketing Agreement between Telespazio and BlackSky enhancing their respective product and analytics portfolios on the market.

This partnership reflects the new space transformation strategy being implemented by Thales Alenia Space, with the ultimate aim of becoming a major manufacturer of small observation satellites constellations featuring short revisit times, both in Europe and the United States, said Jean-Loic Galle, President and Chief Executive Officer of Thales Alenia Space. This joint cooperation and marketing agreement gives both Telespazio and BlackSky a strong market boost to access leading markets in the geoinformation domain with highly innovative products, added Luigi Pasquali, Chief Executive Officer of Telespazio.

This partnership with two leaders in the European space industry accelerates our BlackSky business plan by funding our constellation, minimizing our constellation production risk, and reducing our time to market within key market segments, said Jason Andrews, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Spaceflight Industries.

The Earth observation market is undergoing constant changes, with an increasing focus on requirements that combine high resolution and much shorter revisit times. Thales Alenia Space, Spaceflight Industries and Telespazio are combining their strengths to offer a constellation of small satellites that will be deployed in conjunction with a smart ground segment to offer services at very competitive prices by calling on massive and automated data/image processing. The result is a disruptive product, designed not only for traditional customers in the commercial observation market, but also to support the development of new vertical B2B markets, such as mining, energy, transport, finance, agriculture, industry and environment, and even B2C.

The agreement will be finalized pending all required regulatory authorizations.