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BlackSky 1, ..., 60

BlackSky Global [Spaceflight Services]

The BlackSky constellation of 1 m resolution earth observation microsatellites will be deployed by BlackSky Global.

The satellites feature the SpaceView-24 imaging system built by Harris Corp.'s Exelis with an aperture of 24 cm It has a ground resolution of 0.9 - 1.1 m from an orbital height of 500 km. They have a onboard propulsion for a 3 year orbital life. The satellites are built by Spaceflight Services based on their SCOUT bus.

The operational Block 2 satellites feature some improvements over the Block 1 Pathfinder satellites. They have increased solar arrays and can image in in four bands and panchromatic mode. Each can produce 1000 images per day, both in stills or video mode.

The first four satellites named BlackSky 1 to 4 followed in 2018 and 2019 on four seperate launches, a PSLV, a Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) and two Electron KS rockets, to form the backbone of the operational constellation.

A full constellation of 60 satellites is planned for 2019 that will be replaced every three years. The first six satellites have been funded by September 2015. In September 2017 it was announced, that a joint venture with Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio will operate a constellation of 60 fast-revisit, high-resolution Earth-observation satellites. The satellites are built by LeoStella LLC, a joint venture between Spaceflight Industries and Thales Alenia Space, which established a new smallsat manufacturing facility in the United States. LeoStella is under contract to deliver 20 satellites to establish and maintain an initial constellation of 16 satellites.

Note: As long as the individual serial numbers are not published, the satellites are designated on this website with placeholder designations like "x1". When the proper designations are known, the placeholders will be replaced.

Nation: USA
Type / Application: Earth Observation
Operator: BlackSky Global
Contractors: Spaceflight Services (prime); Exelis (Imager) (#1-4); LeoStella LLC (#5-24)
Equipment: SpaceView-24 imager
Configuration: SCOUT bus
Propulsion: ?
Power: Solar cells, batteries
Lifetime: 3 years
Mass: 56 kg
Orbit: 478 km × 499 km, 97.48° (#1); 577 km × 591 km, 97.77° (#2); 450 km × 461 km, 45.01° (#3)
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
BlackSky 1 (BlackSky Global 1) 2018-096M 29.11.2018 Sr FLP PSLV-CA with HySIS, Flock-3r 1, ..., 16, Lemur-2 84, ..., 87, CICERO 8, Hiber 1, HSAT 1, CASE, Centauri 2, FACSAT 1, InnoSat 2, Reaktor Hello World, 3Cat 1
BlackSky 2 (BlackSky Global 2) 2018-099BG 03.12.2018 Va SLC-4E Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with SkySat 14, 15, Eu:CROPIS, STPSat 5, FalconSat 6, NEXTSat 1, KazSTSAT, eXCITe, SeeMe, ICEYE X2, ESEO, Hawk A, B, C, Capella 1, AISTECHSAT 2, CSIM-FD, Hiber 2, ITASAT 1, Landmapper-BC 4, ORS 7A, 7B, Al-Farabi 2, Astrocast 0.1, Audacy 0, BRIO, Centauri 1, Eaglet 1, Enoch, Flock-3s 1, 2, 3, K2SAT, KazSciSat 1, MinXSS 2, Orbital Reflector, RAAF M1, SeaHawk 1, SNUSAT 2, THEA, VESTA, PW-Sat 2, SNUGLITE, VisionCube, RANGE A, B, Elysium-Star 2, ExseedSat 1, Fox 1C, Irvine 02, JY1-Sat, KNACKSAT, MOVE 2, SpaceBEE 5, 6, 7, Suomi-100, WeissSat 1, Sirion Pathfinder 2, OrbWeaver 1, 2, SPAWAR-CAL O, OR, R
BlackSky 3 (BlackSky Global 3) 2019-037C 29.06.2019 OnS LC-1A Electron KS with Painani 1, Prometheus 2.7, Prometheus 2.9, ACRUX 1, SpaceBEE 8, 9
BlackSky 4 (BlackSky Global 4) 2019-054E 19.08.2019 OnS LC-1A Electron KS with BRO 1, Pearl White 1, Pearl White 2
BlackSky 5 (BlackSky Global 7) 2020-055BP 07.08.2020 CCK LC-39A Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with Starlink v1.0 L9-1, ..., L9-57, BlackSky 6
BlackSky 6 (BlackSky Global 8) 2020-055BQ 07.08.2020 CCK LC-39A Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with Starlink v1.0 L9-1, ..., L9-57, BlackSky 5
BlackSky 7 (BlackSky Global 9) 2021-023G 22.03.2021 OnS LC-1A Electron Photon-LEO with Centauri 3, Myriota 7, RAAF-M2 A, RAAF-M2 B, Gunsmoke-J 3, Veery Hatchling, Pathstone
BlackSky 8 (BlackSky Global 10) 2021-F02 15.05.2021 OnS LC-1A Electron KS (R) with BlackSky 9 / failed
BlackSky 9 (BlackSky Global 11) 2021-F02 15.05.2021 OnS LC-1A Electron KS (R) with BlackSky 8 / failed
BlackSky 10 (BlackSky Global 14) 2021-106A 18.11.2021 OnS LC-1A Electron KS (R) with BlackSky 11
BlackSky 11 (BlackSky Global 15) 2021-106B 18.11.2021 OnS LC-1A Electron KS (R) with BlackSky 10
BlackSky 12 (BlackSky Global 12) 2021-115BA 02.12.2021 CC SLC-40 Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with Starlink v1.5 G4-3-1, ..., G4-3-48, BlackSky 13
BlackSky 13 (BlackSky Global 13) 2021-115BB 02.12.2021 CC SLC-40 Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with Starlink v1.5 G4-3-1, ..., G4-3-48, BlackSky 12
BlackSky 14 (BlackSky Global 16) 2021-120B 09.12.2021 OnS LC-1A Electron KS with BlackSky 15
BlackSky 15 (BlackSky Global 17) 2021-120A 09.12.2021 OnS LC-1A Electron KS with BlackSky 14
BlackSky 16 (BlackSky Global 18) 2022-034B 02.04.2022 OnS LC-1A Electron KS with BlackSky 17
BlackSky 17 (BlackSky Global 20) 2022-034C 02.04.2022 OnS LC-1A Electron KS with BlackSky 16
BlackSky 18 (BlackSky Global 19) 2023-041B 24.03.2023 OnS LC-1B Electron KS (R) with BlackSky 19
BlackSky 19 (BlackSky Global 5) 2023-041C 24.03.2023 OnS LC-1B Electron KS (R) with BlackSky 18
BlackSky Global 6 - 202x with ?
BlackSky Global 21 - 202x with ?
BlackSky Global 22 - 202x with ?
BlackSky Global 23 - 202x with ?
BlackSky Global 24 - 202x with ?
BlackSky Global 25 - Option with ?
BlackSky Global 26 - Option with ?
BlackSky Global 27 - Option with ?
BlackSky Global 28 - Option with ?
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BlackSky Global 56 - Option with ?
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BlackSky Global 59 - Option with ?
BlackSky Global 60 - Option with ?

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