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Capella Space

US

Capella Space is an American space technology company and the first U.S. company to commercialize Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology. They design, manufacture, and operate a constellation of SAR satellites to provide high-resolution, all-weather Earth observation imagery and geospatial solutions for government and commercial customers. Capella's key products include SAR imagery with industry-leading resolution, and they partner with organizations like NASA, SkyWatch, LiveEO and Floodbase to deliver advanced analytics and data.

commercialFounded 2016
San Francisco, California, United States
www.capellaspace.com
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All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.

NASA expanded its Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition Program in October 2023 by awarding contracts to seven companies for earth observation data and services.

RelationshipsPlanValue 4.0May 6, 2026Satellite Earth Observation Market on Track to Nearly Double by 2032

Mega-constellations from ICEYE and Capella Space offer revisit times of less than one hour.

CapabilityValue 4.0Apr 15, 2026The Rise of Grey Zone Satellites: Ambiguity as a Tactical Advantage

Transporter-16 includes payloads from K2 Space, Momentus, Varda, AAC Clyde Space, Space Norway, NuSat, Muon Space, Capella Space, Satlantis, Spire, PeakSat, and ICEYE.

RelationshipsGeneralValue 4.0Mar 29, 2026Here are all the payloads labeled (except a few cubesats) for Transporter-16. A total of 119 satellites are onboard, making this SpaceX' 3rd largest rideshare mission. The biggest payload, K2 Space's ~2,000kg Gravitas satellite sits on top of the stack as a "cake-topper". pic.

ICEYE, Capella Space, Umbra, and Synspective have deployed high-revisit constellations of SAR small satellites.

CapabilityGeneralValue 4.0Mar 10, 2026Synthetic Aperture Radar as the Modern Backbone of Maritime Domain Awareness

ICEYE and Capella Space operate SAR satellites that create high-resolution ocean surface images regardless of light or weather conditions.

CapabilityGeneralValue 4.0Mar 2, 2026Kpler Marine Leverages Real-Time AIS Data to Map “Dark Fleet” Movements Amid U.S.-Iran Conflict

IonQ acquired Capella Space, a U.S. company with synthetic aperture radar assets.

RelationshipsCapabilityValue 4.6Feb 23, 202610 Hottest Companies in Satellite for 2026

Capella Space was sold to IonQ.

RelationshipsValue 4.0Feb 11, 2026The Space Tourist Is Dead. Long Live the Orbital Industrialist.

IonQ acquired Capella Space last year and plans to acquire optical communications company Skyloom Global.

RelationshipsValue 4.3Jan 14, 2026Latest News

Frank Backes is CEO of Capella Space.

GovernanceValue 3.0Dec 16, 2025Momentum building for Singapore Space Summit 2026

PacGeo has partnerships with several imagery providers, including Airbus, Vantor, Planet, Capella Space, Satellogic, Pixxel, and Canada’s Wyvern.

RelationshipsValue 4.0Dec 3, 2025Pacific Geomatics adds another AI imagery analysis tool in SuperX

IonQ acquired synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite company Capella Space earlier this year to integrate space into its quantum security offerings.

RelationshipsCapabilityGeneralValue 4.0Nov 17, 2025Latest News

The UAE is in negotiations with Capella Space to supply synthetic aperture radar satellites for national use.

RelationshipsPlanValue 3.8Jun 9, 2025Middle East Space Roundup: 2 to 8 June 2025

Capella Space lost six satellites in 2023 due to reentry occurring earlier than planned.

CapabilityGeneralValue 2.8Apr 21, 2025Space weather and spaceflight

The higher solar activity during the current solar cycle increased atmospheric drag on Capella's satellites, shortening their lifetimes.

CapabilityGeneralValue 3.4Apr 21, 2025Space weather and spaceflight

Capella Space's Whitney series of radar imaging satellites were designed based on underestimated SWPC predictions about solar activity.

CapabilityGeneralValue 3.4Apr 21, 2025Space weather and spaceflight

Capella Space CEO Frank Backes expects the administration will not direct all business to SpaceX and will use SpaceX as a model for disrupting traditional programs.

GeneralValue 2.0Nov 25, 2024Space firms see government contracting shakeup in second Trump term

The 19 HALO pool members are Airbus U.S. Space & Defense (Arlington, Virginia); Apex Technology, Inc. (Culver City, California); AST Space Mobile USA LLC (Midland, Texas); Astro Digital, U.S. Inc. (San Jose, California); Capella Space Corp. (San Francisco); CesiumAstro Inc. (Austin, Texas); Firefly Aerospace, Inc. (Cedar Park, Texas); Geneva Technologies Inc. (Monument, Colorado); Impulse Space, Inc. (Redondo Beach, California); Kepler Communications U.S. Inc. (Wilmington, Delaware); Kuiper Government Solutions (KGS) LLC (Arlington, Virginia); LeoStella LLC (Tukwila, Washington); Momentus Space (San Jose, California); Muon Space, Inc. (Mountain View, California); NovaWurks Inc. (Los Alamitos, California); Space Exploration Technologies Corps. (SpaceX) (Hawthorne, California); Turion Space Corp. (Irvine, California); Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc. (Irvine, California); and York Space Systems LLC (Denver).

RelationshipsValue 4.0Oct 23, 2024SDA selects initial HALO pool for future prototype demos

Capella Space’s current satellites provide 600 MHz resolution and the company plans to upgrade to 1,200 MHz resolution.

CapabilityPlanValue 4.0Oct 23, 2024U.S. eases export rules for space tech, but high-resolution radar satellites remain under tight control

The Space Development Agency signed a similar agreement in 2021 with Capella Space, another commercial synthetic aperture radar satellite operator.

RelationshipsValue 4.0Oct 22, 2024Space Development Agency taps Umbra for satellite integration study

The mission will deploy Capella Space’s Acadia-3 satellite to a mid-inclination 615 km circular Earth orbit.

PlanCapabilityValue 4.4Aug 7, 2024Rocket Lab Schedules Next Electron Launch Just Eight Days After Previous Mission
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