Synthetic Aperture Radar for Government Operations (SARGO)

Capella Space Corp. (Capella) is the first 100% U.S. owned and operated information services company providing on-demand very high-resolution X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Earth observation imagery. Through a constellation of small satellites, Capella provides access to frequent, timely, and flexible information affecting governments and industries worldwide. Capella’s commercial SAR satellite constellation features a small satellite design to enable on-demand observations of near-global coverage in all weather and lighting conditions. Capella has been in commercial operations since Jan 1, 2021. In 2023, Capella launched its first Acadia satellite – the third generation Capella SAR satellite to enter operations.   Automation is a key innovation of the Capella architecture. Capella’s tasking, collection, processing, exploitation, and delivery (TCPED) pipeline is fully automated. This is accessible through a scalable application programming interface (API) that enables tip and cue through machine-to machine interfaces. Security and scalability are critical to assuring reliable commercial space capabilities. To this end, Capella has implemented key security controls and leverages Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud and ground stations.   Capella completed a Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) project under Contract# FA8808-20-C-0017. Under the Phase II SBIR, Capella utilized it’s commercial SAR constellation to demonstrate operationally relevant capabilities.   Capella understands that the key to realizing the benefit of a hybrid space architecture is to continue to innovate on theTCPED process to deliver in timelines that are relevant to modern peer competition that’s characterized by very rapidObserve, Orient, Decide, Act (OODA) loops. To this end, Capella proposes innovative advancements to scale and improve Capella’s existing constellation capabilities through latency reduction; polarization for advanced imaging capabilities; and movement intelligence (MOVINT) derived from changes identified in a single collect.