Terran Orbital to Build ISI’s Earth Observation Microsatellite

Runner will be based on Tyvak subsidiary Terran Orbital’s microsatellite platform. Photo: Tyvak Nano Satellite Systems.

ImageSat International (ISI) has contracted Terran Orbital to develop a high-performance microsatellite, Runner, to be used for Earth Observation (EO) and imaging. According to ISI, Runner will provide ISI with wide swath multi-spectral video and imagery, with a spatial resolution better than 1 meter, high bandwidth communications, massive-capacity recording, and high throughput onboard processing capability.

Runner will complement ISI’s Eros B very high-resolution satellite and the ultra-high resolution OptSat 3000 satellites currently under procurement from Israel Aerospace Industries.

“The Runner program is an essential part of our space segment invigoration plan, where, starting with Eros C and Runner, we will deploy advanced sensor layers and couple them with our exploitation and intelligence services,” said Noam Segal, ISI Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The Runner constellation is scheduled to launch into a Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) starting in early 2019.