Astronomy Prints 🌌: Editor's Choice: The emergence of non-Earth imaging

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Editor's Choice: The emergence of non-Earth imaging

10/29/2025

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By Mike Gruss

One of the most interesting stories this year has been the emergence - or at least the public emergence - of non-earth imaging, which is, more simply, photos of satellites in space from space.

Sure, this technology isn't entirely new. But the final product didn't have such widespread distribution or the level of granularity we're seeing today.

Exhibit A: one of our most-read stories this week.

SpaceNews' China correspondent Andrew Jones reported how Australian company HEO has imaged and modeled a mystery Chinese satellite. In the process, they revealed some previously unknown details about the spacecraft, including key features such as a synthetic aperture radar antenna.

Through repeated observations they learned the spacecraft had to rotate its entire body due to fixed solar arrays for power generation.

The company told Jones: "We also completed a few simultaneous imaging missions—where two satellites in our network imaged XJY-7 at the same time—that provided additional behavioural intelligence as we saw almost the entire satellite at a snapshot in time over certain geographies."

As a result, HEO was able to build a high-fidelity 3D model of the spacecraft through multiple 2D observations across different angles and geographies, revealing the satellite's configuration and behavior.

HEO works with several Earth imaging companies, partnering with them to access those satellites when they are not being used, such as when passing over oceans. The company says it has conducted 4,000 "missions," which is what the company calls a flyby by an imaging satellite with a target of interest. Those missions have imaged more than 800 spacecraft.

Advances in imaging technologies and techniques, including cameras HEO developed, have resulted in dramatic improvements in quality.

Non-Earth imaging had a moment this summer when the company formerly known as Maxar released an image of Shijian-26, an experimental spacecraft thought to be a test of a new generation of Chinese remote sensing satellite.

China then matched the effort and shared an image of the Maxar satellite.

SIGNIFICANT DIGIT

1000

The number of times stronger Iridium says its location signal is than GPS signals. Iridium's service, known as Iridium PNT ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit), also works indoors in places GPS satellite signals do not reach.

Vantor, the commercial Earth intelligence firm formerly known as Maxar Intelligence, has begun providing high-resolution space-to-space imagery to the U.S. Space Force, filling a gap in military surveillance of low Earth orbit. Under a contract with the Space Force's Joint Commercial Operations cell, located in Colorado, Vantor is delivering tracking data and imaging of satellites and other orbital objects that pass through "blind spots" in space that are not visible to ground sensor networks. Credit: Vantor

A BROMO-ANCE

Three of Europe's largest aerospace companies have agreed to combine their space businesses into a new joint venture, known internally as Project Bromo.

Airbus, Leonardo and Thales announced Oct. 23 they had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to create a joint venture that will merge many of their space activities into a single company. The company will include the Space Systems and Space Digital businesses from Airbus Defence and Space; the Space Division of Leonardo, including its shares in Telespazio and Thales Alenia Space; and Thales' shares in Thales Alenia Space, Telespazio and optics company Thales SESO.

The combination would bring together about 25,000 employees across Europe working on satellites and space services and is projected to generate 6.5 billion euros ($7.5 billion) in annual revenue.

Trending This Week

ESA is finalizing its ministerial package. More on that in coming weeks in our new Europe newsletter.

Japan launched the first of a new generation of cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station.

A Pentagon nominee says the U.S. should consider streamlining the management of national security space programs, potentially through tighter integration between the National Reconnaissance Office and the U.S. Space Force.

An industry executive warned that preparations for NASA's Artemis 2 launch could grind to a halt if the government shutdown continues.

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