US gives Indian company access to advanced grade satellite imagery

A Gurugram based company is among the initial seven clients who have bought access to satellite imageries that will be clicked by first of its kind satellite capable of capturing extremely high-resolution imagery, operating in very low earth orbit—images so sharp, insiders claim, that historically have been the exclusive purview of American defence and intelligence organisations.
It is pertinent to mention that use of such satellite images was provided to Indian strategists by the US during the Galwan standoff with China. In the same context, Washington during the Kargil war, had refused to share satellite images that were sought by Delhi to identify the locations of the Pakistani intruders that led to more casualties on the Indian side which could have been avoided.
The said commercial satellite, called Clarity, will be placed at a very low earth orbit (VLEO) on SpaceX’s Transporter-13 ride-share mission, which is set to launch in February 2025. The satellite is being launched by a Denver, United States, based satellite imagery startup, Albedo. Very low earth orbit is a range of orbital altitudes below 400 km (250 miles). Albedo is the first company to offer aerial-quality imagery from space. The company was founded in 2020 by Ayjay Lasater, Topher Haddad, and Winston Tri.
The images provided by this satellite, industry insiders said, are likely being sought by various government agencies, either directly or through its private arms, for intelligence purposes, including in India. However, some of the images clicked by this satellite will first have to be vetted by US defence and intelligence agencies before being shared by Albedo with its clients.
Albedo has claimed that it will be able to generate and sell 10-centimeter-per-pixel images to commercial and government customers at unprecedentedly low prices because of its unique—and quite large—satellite bus. (A 10-centimeter resolution image means that each pixel covers an area on the ground the size of 10 centimeters by 10 centimeters. As of today, the providers collect images at a 30-centimeter resolution, which is then improved to 15 centimeters).
Among the initial seven clients that the company has tied up with is the Indian company, “AiDash”, which works in the field of infrastructure industries to make them climate resilient and sustainable.
The other six clients are Japan Space Imaging (JSI), a Japan-based company providing satellite imagery and geospatial solutions; Open Grid Europe (OGE), Germany’s largest gas transmission grid operator; PhotoSat that provides geospatial solutions for the mining and geology industries; ScaleAI, a US-based artificial intelligence company; SkyFi, a startup based in Austin, Texas that provides access to earth observation data and analytics and an unnamed major multi-strategy hedge fund which will use the images provided by Albedo to assess events across the globe in a timely manner.
Industry leaders say that Clarity will be able to collect visible and thermal imagery at the highest resolution commercially available and will provide imagery-as-a-service to industries including agriculture, insurance, energy, mapping, utilities, and defence. Winston Tri, co-founder of Albedo “politely declined” to comment on which governments the company was working with, while adding that Albedo would operate “within the terms and restrictions outlined in our NOAA license”.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a US government department which comes under the Commerce Department. Under the National and Commercial Space Programs Act (NCSPA or Act) of the US, responsibilities regarding vetting of images clicked by commercial private satellites have been delegated to the Assistant Administrator for NOAA Satellite and Information Services (NOAA/NESDIS).
As per the rules, imagery of sensitive government sites must be preapproved before being sold. Albedo’s licence, as per US laws, has been categorized under “Tier 3,” which covers completely new sensing capabilities.
Under the said licence, the sale of commercial imagery can be temporarily limited, if requested by the Pentagon or US intelligence community. Recently, the US Commerce Department had placed new restrictions on how frequently US-operated commercial remote sensing satellites can click images of any one spot on the earth. This happened after the Defence Department and the intelligence community raised concerns over the potential impacts of repeated captures of key US national security facilities.
Among the restrictions that were put in place includes stopping imaging of a list of areas where sensitive national security operations are taking place unless the operator fulfills certain conditions, including notifying NOAA 48 hours in advance to get a waiver. Also, there are restrictions on the duration of time imaging can be conducted on any one terrestrial “target.” Restrictions have also been placed on the ability of the satellite to take repeat images of the same terrestrial location. This has been done over concern that high resolution rapid revisit imagery will reveal changes in activity patterns, known as change detection, at secret facilities or, for example, troop movements during conflicts.
In 2016, in the wake of the Pathankot terror attack, the Indian government had sought to bring a bill to impose similar restrictions through the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016 which was introduced in Parliament of India. However, because of resistance from elements of society, it could not become a law. In February 2021, the Department of Science & Technology released “guidelines” to govern the collection of satellite imageries.