Ball Aerospace's Operational Land Imager for the Landsat 8 mission. (Credit: Ball Aerospace)

Data analytics and imaging company OmniEarth is partnering with Ball Aerospace on a planned constellation of 18 imaging satellites, which is set to be fully deployed by 2018.

The 18 satellites will be about the size of a dishwasher, OmniEarth CEO Lars Dyrud told me. Were focused on small, low-cost satellites. Something that wasnt even conveivable 5 or 10 years ago.

The past few years have seen a number of new satellite imaging companies like Planet Labs, which builds low-orbit, inexpensive satellites only about a foot long, begin to compete with older companies such as Digital Globe, which builds satellites that are larger and more expensive but also with more capabilities). OmniEarths planned satellites are something of a middle ground in both size.

One key thing that OmniEarth seeks to use to differentiate themselves is the quality of the planned instruments. Thats where Ball comes in. The company has manufactured imaging systems for a number of satellites in the past, most famously the Hubble Space Telescope. Recently they also produced the instruments NASAs Landsat 8 satellite, which is used to image the Earth for a number of research projects.

Landslide in Washington as seen by Landsat-8. (Credit: NASA)

The Landsat science community is giddy at the results theyre seeing from the latest Landsat instrument, Balls Operational Space VP and General Manager Cary Ludtke told me. Its that much better than the last one. And this is really an unhappy group of scientists.

Dyrud concurred with that sentiment. Were looking to leverage that scientific and commercial understanding of Landsat, he told me.

The instrument on the OmniEarth satellites wont be precisely the same as in Landsat-8, Ludtke told me. But the technology is largely the same.

Lars and his guys have a need and requirement for scientific quality data to enable their success in the marketplace, Ludtke continued. Our experience on programs such as Landsat is directly applicable. Weve spent many years developing those kinds of products and capabilities.

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OmniEarth Partners With Ball Aerospace For 'Scientific Quality' Satellite Imaging