Tip and Cue News

SmartSat CRC announces new suite of R&D investments totaling 7 million AUD, funding research into space technologies to support fire management and environmental monitoring in Australia.

Around 2/3 of the oil tankers in the growing global dark fleet are thought to have no insurance, compounding risk and increasing the likelihood of disaster.

The build contract for the 20-satellite Japetus constellation has been awarded to Hemeria - a company that builds small satellites for Low Earth Orbit. The constellation will have a high revisit rate and will use tip-and-cue monitoring, among other strategies, to deliver observation data from around the globe.

A new partnership between Spire and BlackSky aims to enhance maritime domain awareness for users by developing a commercially-available Maritime Custody Service (MCS) to detect, identify, and track over 270,000 vessels globally. The system will use satellites to detect RF emissions from ships for geolocation, and includes capabilities to detect dark vessels manipulating their position to carry out illicit activity.

The ESA is using Artificial Intelligence and Tip and Cue satellites to monitor parameters near the Earth's surface to better manage and mitigate environmental risks. One use-case of the mission is to detect methane emission leaks to better mitigate disasters from space.

Hawkeye 360's Cluster 7 satellites, containing high-frequency earth observation sensors, were successfully launched into orbit last month - bringing the company's constellation to 21 satellites. The satellites will improve data collection capabilities and support the possibilities for Tip and Cue use-cases.

An experiment sponsored by the Office of Naval Research demonstrated how acoustic detection buoys can detect vessel movements at sea, despite ships operating without the use of radio signals. Buoy detection technologies then tip high-resolution imaging satellites for geolocation. The experiment was able to complete geolocation of dark ships in just 30 minutes.

The US Navy recently employed Tip and Cue strategies using commercial satellites operated by Planet Federal and ICEYE to successfully identify and track drug smuggling vessels.

Kleos Space recently announced that they will be joining a virtual satellite constellation operated by Ursa Space - the largest database of optical, SAR, and RF satellite data in the world. These data are utilized by governments and private entitites for intelligence and surveillance on land and at sea.

Chinese military vessels have been spotted off the coast of Cambodia with satellite imagery in recent months. BlackSky, a geospatial intelligence company, is now investigating suspicions of China building a secret naval base using Tip and Cue satellite technologies.

Ubotica Technologies, a provider of tech for smart satellites, is partnering with Open Cosmos to launch a first of its kind autonomous satellite that can make tip and cue decisions without having to relay data through ground stations. The system will allow for faster communication between satellites, and hopefully, eliminate some of the drawbacks that exist with real-time monitoring.

Capella Space unveils next generation satellites with new capabilities to expand their space-based data delivery to customers across earth-bound domains. The new capabilities include enhanced imaging, optimized ground-range resolution, and data delivery speeds for improved latency times.

Geospatial intelligence requires all sorts of innovative tools that change by the day. This article looks at 4 ways AI and ML technologies are changing the modern earth monitoring landscape.

Planet Federal is working to upgrade and improve their space-based Tip and Cue monitoring capabilities to enhance US military defense and build on national security.

​