The U.S. Air Force has awarded Albedo, an Earth-observation startup, a Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) contract potentially worth $12 million. This contract, announced on March 3, fuels Albedo's mission to deploy satellites into very low Earth orbit (VLEO) for capturing visible and thermal imagery.
Albedo CEO Topher Haddad stated, “VLEO represents a fundamental paradigm shift in space architecture, breaking the traditional tradeoff between exquisite capability and proliferated architectures. As counterspace threats grow and [low-Earth orbit] becomes increasingly congested, Albedo’s VLEO approach delivers the optimal economics for exquisite capabilities – high performance at costs that enable constellation resilience.”
Albedo's initial satellite, the Clarity-1 (phone-booth sized), is poised for launch in the coming days via the SpaceX Transporter-13 rideshare mission. Clarity-1 is engineered to acquire 10-centimeter resolution visible imagery and thermal infrared imagery with a resolution of two meters per pixel. Government and commercial entities are actively developing VLEO satellites to acquire high-resolution imagery, circumvent congested low-Earth orbit regions, and accelerate communications with ground and airborne systems.
Haddad added, “We’re honored to pioneer this untapped orbital regime and help establish U.S. dominance in this strategic domain.”
Under the Air Force Research Laboratory's STRATFI contract, Albedo will share data and operational analysis of VLEO to aid in developing future missions and payloads beyond its optical sensors. This includes data on GNSS telemetry, on-orbit performance metrics, satellite drag, atmospheric density, atomic-oxygen sensor readings, and image-quality, pointing performance, and spacecraft agility assessments.
Albedo's Precision satellite bus is designed specifically for VLEO, featuring autonomous protection against solar events, efficient electric propulsion, and advanced guidance, navigation, and control systems. The modular design supports various payloads. The STRATFI program aligns government and private funding, typically providing $3 million to $15 million in government support. These agreements aim to assist small businesses in transitioning technologies from R&D to production.