The best earth observation space startups
33 earth observation companies in the directory, ranked by disclosed funding ($733.1M raised between them), spanning 12 countries.
Satellites that watch the planet: optical, thermal, hyperspectral and radar. Earth observation has quietly become one of the most commercially proven corners of the space economy, selling data to agriculture, insurance, energy and defense.
Updated 27 September 2026 · 11 milestones in the last 90 days · Follow by RSS
State of the sector
As of 27 September 2026
Earth observation is the directory's second-biggest sector, and none of its companies has shut down. They differ mostly in what their satellites sense. Planet and Chang Guang Satellite run large optical constellations. Iceye, Capella Space, Synspective and iQPS fly radar, which sees through cloud and darkness. GHGSat and AIRMO measure methane, SatVu and Hydrosat measure heat, and Pixxel and Kuva Space build hyperspectral satellites.
Muon Space put its first three FireSat wildfire satellites in orbit in July 2026 and won a NOAA contract for a microwave sounder the next month. SatVu's HotSat-2 entered commercial service in June 2026, and Hawkeye 360 listed on the New York Stock Exchange in May. Albedo stopped selling imagery in October 2025 to sell its very low orbit satellite bus instead, and in January 2026 it reported Clarity-1 lost after nine months in orbit.
Four companies here were bought, among them Capella Space, which went to the quantum-computing company IonQ in 2025. HEO Robotics points its cameras at other spacecraft rather than the ground. In September 2026 it photographed a spent Long March 2C rocket stage from about 40 km away, at 8 cm per pixel.
Latest milestones
Every dated event from the companies below, newest first, each with its source.
Pixxel: Raises a $100M Series C led by Temasek and Seraphim to fund the Honeybee constellation and satellite production in India and the US
HEO Robotics: Continuum-1, a satellite bought from Satellogic, holds station near a spent Long March 2C stage and images it from about 40 km at 8 cm per pixel, HEO's first rendezvous and proximity operation
Diffraqtion: Adds more than $5M to the pre-seed from Lockheed Martin Ventures, Presidio Ventures and others, taking the total past $10M, to fly a hosted payload
Muon Space: Wins an $11M NOAA TMATE award to build, launch and operate a microwave sounder within 24 months
Spire: Wins a $28M NOAA contract under TMATE to build and qualify a hyperspectral microwave sounder satellite
Hydrosat: Selected for SpaceWERX's 2026 STRATFI cycle for its thermal-infrared satellites, pairing Space Force money with matched private capitalMuon Space: Selected for SpaceWERX's 2026 STRATFI cycle for its satellite constellations, pairing Space Force money with matched private capitalMuon Space: Raises a $250M Series C led by Eclipse, with Google, Salesforce Ventures and Woven Capital among the new investors, to scale its satellite production
GalaxEye: Acquires StarOps, a Bengaluru maker of satellite busesMuon Space: First three operational FireSat satellites reach orbitShow 40 earlier milestones
Kuva Space: Selected for NASA Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition on-ramp
Chang Guang Satellite: Raises about 5B yuan led by state funds and restarts its IPO, with 161 Jilin-1 satellites launched across 30 launches
SatVu: HotSat-2 enters commercial service
SatSure: Wins a ₹24.6 crore grant from IN-SPACe's Technology Adoption Fund to build Dhaarini, AI models for Indian Earth observation data
iQPS: An Electron launch carrying its Mikura-I satellite aborts at ignition; the satellite flies that August
PierSight: Launches Vidura, a drone-mounted radar that sees through foliage, for ground defence operationsPixxel: Wins a National Reconnaissance Office contract to show what commercial hyperspectral imagery can do for US analystsGalaxEye: Drishti, its first satellite and the largest Earth observation satellite built by a private Indian company, launches on a SpaceX Falcon 9
Hawkeye 360: Lists on the NYSE as HAWK, raising $416MSatVu: HotSat-2 returns first light imagery of three energy sitesSpire: Opens a Munich factory it says can build up to 100 satellites a year
Spacety: Raises 1.3B yuan from mostly state-linked funds to scale radar manufacturing, with an IPO in preparationHydrosat: Signs a multi-year water monitoring contract with Madera County
AIRMO: Raises a €5M seed led by Ananda Impact Ventures to fund its first satellite missionMuon Space: Three Vindler 2.0 satellites launched for SNC on Transporter-16SatVu: HotSat-2 launched on Falcon 9 Transporter-16SatVu: Closes £30 million round backed by NATO Innovation Fund
ConstellR: Closes a €37 million Series A led by Alpine Space VenturesAIRMO: Picks EnduroSat to host its methane sensors for a twelve-satellite constellation from 2027HEO Robotics: Wins one of the NRO’s first three commercial non-Earth imaging contracts
Albedo: Reports Clarity-1 lost after nine months in orbit when a radio memory fault blocked reboots; the bus data supports a five-year life at 275 kmPierSight: Signs, as part of the Pixxel-led consortium, IN-SPACe's agreement for a national constellation of 12 Earth observation satellitesPixxel: Signs the agreement with IN-SPACe to build, own and operate India's national Earth observation constellation of 12 satellites, leading a consortium with Dhruva Space, PierSight and SatSureSatSure: Signs, with Pixxel, Dhruva Space and PierSight, the agreement with IN-SPACe to build and operate a 12-satellite national Earth observation systemHydrosat: Raises a $60 million Series B to expand the constellationDiffraqtion: Emerges from stealth with a $4.2M pre-seed led by QDNL Participations and a $1.5M DARPA contract for space domain awarenessiQPS: Wins a share of Japan’s Ministry of Defense satellite constellation tenderDiffraqtion: Wins the Slush 100 competition and its $1.1M equity prize from Cherry Ventures and General Catalyst
GHGSat: Launches Teodor and Laila on Transporter-15, timed to coincide with COP30HEO Robotics: Holmes Mk2 flies on Impulse’s Mira, the first NOAA-licensed non-Earth imaging payload cleared above 800 kmAlbedo: Shuts its commercial imagery business and lays off staff to sell the VLEO bus itself to other payload operatorsHydrosat: The Luxembourg Future Fund takes a stake in HydrosatSpire: NOAA awards $11.2M for GNSS radio occultation weather dataPixxel: Three more Fireflies launch on SpaceX's NAOS mission, bringing the constellation to six
Axelspace: Axelspace Holdings lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market under code 402ASpire: Receives an NYSE non-compliance notice after restating two years of financials
Capella Space: IonQ completes the acquisition of Capella Space
Sensar: Itility Group acquires a majority stake, folding Sensar into its Earth observation hubConstellR: SkyBee-2 launched on Falcon 9 Transporter-14Hydrosat: VanZyl-2 launched with four times the capacityNew in earth observation
SatSure Satellite data analytics for banks and farms
GalaxEye Radar and optical imaging on one satellite
PierSight Radar satellites for tracking ships
Diffraqtion Quantum cameras for satellites
Chang Guang Satellite The world's biggest sub-meter constellation
Spacety Small radar satellites at high cadence
All 33 earth observation companies
Ranked by disclosed funding.
Pixxel Hyperspectral imaging satellites
Planet GraduatedImaging services
Spire GraduatedSpace to cloud analytics
GHGSat Monitoring greenhouse gases
Capella Space AcquiredGathering information from space
SatSure Satellite data analytics for banks and farms
GalaxEye Radar and optical imaging on one satellite
FluroSat AcquiredCrop monitoring and analytics
PierSight Radar satellites for tracking ships
Earthcube AcquiredMonitoring solutions powered by automation
Sensar AcquiredSatellite monitoring for infrastructure
AIRMO Methane monitoring from orbit
Albedo Satellites for very low Earth orbit
Array Labs 3D radar maps of the whole planet
Axelspace GraduatedOptical microsatellites
Chang Guang Satellite The world's biggest sub-meter constellation
ConstellR Surface temperature monitoring
Diffraqtion Quantum cameras for satellites
Hawkeye 360 GraduatedGlobal intelligence network
HEO Robotics Space object inspection
Hydrosat Plant health monitored by satellites
Iceye Timely and reliable satellite imagery
iQPS GraduatedAll-weather SAR imagery
Kuva Space Hyperspectral Earth observation
Muon Space Constellations as a service
Orbital Lasers Lasers for debris removal
Picterra Artificial intelligence for Earth imaging
RoGo Fire Fighting wildfires with intelligence
SatVu Thermal imaging from space
SkyWatch Earth observation data
Spacety Small radar satellites at high cadence
Synspective GraduatedThe StriX SAR constellation
Tropical Weather Analytics, Inc. Hurricane and weather forecasting
How many earth observation space startups are there in 2026?
Space Bandits tracks 33 earth observation companies, 23 of them active, with $733.1M in disclosed funding between them.
What is the latest news from earth observation startups?
The most recent milestone on record is from Pixxel, dated 6 September 2026: "Raises a $100M Series C led by Temasek and Seraphim to fund the Honeybee constellation and satellite production in India and the US."
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