EarthDaily Secures US$3 Mln NASA Task Order For Land Imaging

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 (Bernama) -- EarthDaily has received a US$3 million task order from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to provide its constellation data and technical support for NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) for evaluating how commercial imagery could be used in US federal land imaging programmes. (US$1 = RM4.08)

The task order supports the Sustainable Land Imaging (SLI) commercial transition initiative, a joint NASA-USGS effort to assess how commercial Earth observation data can complement government systems such as Landsat, which has recorded changes to the planet’s surface for more than 50 years.

Under the contract, NASA and USGS will evaluate EarthDaily Constellation data against Landsat standards and requirements, including data quality, calibration, stability, radiometric and geometric performance, harmonisability, and fitness for purpose.

According to EarthDaily in a statement, the work will also examine how commercial observations can support the development of artificial intelligence (AI)-ready Earth observation products for modern data processing and machine-learning workflows.

“This work gives us the opportunity to collaborate with NASA and USGS to demonstrate how science-grade, AI-ready commercial observations can complement the Landsat record and help extend trusted measurement into the future,” said EarthDaily Chief Executive Officer, Don Osborne.

Designed to measure changes consistently over time, the EarthDaily Constellation has eight of its 10 satellites in orbit and covers 100 per cent of Earth’s landmass every two days. At full operational capacity, the constellation is expected to image about 92 per cent of Earth’s landmass daily, excluding Antarctica.

The evaluation will assess how these capabilities could complement Landsat by providing more frequent observations for users who require consistent measurements of changes between acquisitions.

EarthDaily said meeting Landsat-aligned performance standards would be a first step towards hybrid missions combining government and commercial satellites.

-- BERNAMA