Albedo raises $35 million for commercial very low Earth orbit constellation
SAN FRANCISCO – Albedo raised $35 million to build and launch its first high-resolution Earth-imagery satellite.
The Series A-1 investment round, led by Standard Investments, brings the Earth-observation startup’s total funding to $97 million.
The investments announced Jan. 23 will accelerate deployment of Albedo’s very low Earth orbit (VLEO) constellation. Albedo aims to “ultimately prove out and proliferate the world’s first high-resolution VLEO platform,” Albedo CEO Topher Haddad told SpaceNews by email.
10 centimeter resolution
Since Albedo was founded in 2020, the company has developed a platform to collect optical imagery with a native resolution of 10 centimeters per pixel and two-meter thermal imagery. Similar resolution is obtained by aircraft and classified reconnaissance satellites.
Albedo aims to provide commercial and defense customers with on-demand, high frequency coverage.
“As geopolitical tensions rise and we approach an irreversible climate change tipping point, the need for innovative dual-use technologies is crucial in sustaining a safe global environment,” Haddad said in a statement.
VLEO “will open up a wide variety of exciting opportunities around enhanced imagery and data collection, which is a key unmet challenge in modernizing industry and infrastructure,” Ben Sampson, Standard Investments managing director, said in a statement. In connection with the investment, Sampson is joining Albedo’s board of directors.
New and existing investors
New Albedo investors include Booz Allen Ventures, Cubit Capital and Bill Perkins. Existing investors contributing to the round include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Shield Capital, Initialized Capital, Y Combinator, Giant Step Capital and Republic Capital.
Albedo is one of five commercial startups working with the National Reconnaissance Office. Under an agreement announced in December, the NRO will examine Albedo’s technical, business and cybersecurity plans. Once Albedo begins collecting space data, the NRO will evaluate its data products.
In preparation for launching its first satellite in 2025, Albedo expanded its staff. The company also established a facility in Broomfield, Colorado, large enough to build three or four satellites simultaneously.
Albedo has won two Small Business Innovation Research contracts valued at a $1.25 million apiece.
Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She... More by Debra Werner
Alarming New Satellite Can Spy on Individual People:
"We should definitely be worried."
As surveillance tools advance in both function and ubiquity, an up-and-coming satellite venture company raises an important question: how much of our privacy are we willing to trade for the promise of safety?
A startup called Albedo Space https://albedo.com/ is building low-orbit satellites that are able to zoom in on individual humans down on Earth, The New York Times reports. The venture's cofounders say the satellites won't be equipped with identification-ready facial recognition technology, but they will be able to image people — a massive step forward in satellite-abetted surveillance that could seemingly realize some long-held privacy fears. After all, as far as technological Eyes of Saurons could go, a fleet of all-seeing orbital cameras — which according to the NYT have already inked multiple US defense contracts and garnered over $100 million in funding — feels pretty on the nose.
"This is a giant camera in the sky for any government to use at any time without our knowledge," Jennifer Lynch, general counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the NYT. "We should definitely be worried."
Weighing Costs
As the NYT notes, Albedo's founders have paid lip service to the privacy concerns for some time now. In a February 2021 post to the forum Hacker News, for instance, Albedo co-founder and CEO Topher Haddad told a concerned netizen that "we are acutely aware of the privacy implications and potential for abuse/misuse."
This seems to be the company line, given that Haddad told the NYT for its 2024 report that "we're acutely aware of the privacy implications." So, acute awareness: check!
Speaking to the NYT, Albedo seemingly took the "but we're saving lives!" line of reasoning, emphasizing that its satellites — which are due to orbit as low as 100 miles off Earth's surface — could be used for purposes like helping authorities map disaster zones. Albedo's website also lists infrastructure monitoring and urban planning as possible applications for the tech, in addition — of course — to a few "defense [and] intelligence" use cases.
While some experts, according to the NYT, agree that the satellites could feasibly be helpful in some scenarios, the privacy concerns are palpable nonetheless. The thought of a tool like this in the hands of a government keen on moral policing, for example, or authorities seeking to crack down on protests, is frightening.
In spite of any benefits, surveillance technology almost always comes at a cost. Per the NYT, Albedo plans to launch its first satellite in 2025, and ultimately hopes to host a fleet of over 20 individual crafts. If and when Albedo's vision comes to pass, the public may well find out just how high its price is.
"It's taking us one step closer," Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told the NYT, "to a Big-Brother-is-watching kind of world."
More on surveillance: The NYPD Says It's Going to Spy on Labor Day Parties Using Drones
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