How national security swallowed the Earth observation industry

Turmoil on Earth is remaking the business of watching it from above, as geopolitical conflict has the sector taking a page from Palantir, blending satellite images with AI and other data to deliver near-real time intelligence.

If you’ve seen a bird’s-eye view of Earth over the past decade, chances are it came from Colorado-based Maxar Intelligence. From some 280 miles up, its powerful imaging satellites have created an atlas of modern problems: the impacts of extreme weather, the build-up of Russian tanks near the Ukrainian border, the ruination of Khartoum and the decimation of Gaza, even the not-so-total destruction of Iranian nuclear facilities by U.S. bombers.