Maxar launching AI-powered ‘predictive intelligence’ to spot crises before they happen

A satellite imaging company that played a key role in revealing Russian forces massing on Ukraine’s border prior to invasion launched a new product Wednesday that uses AI and satellite data to provide “predictive intelligence” on hundreds of sites around the world. 

Maxar’s new product, “Sentry”, provides a way for multiple satellite companies to collaborate and share data in order to keep more sensors on emerging developments.

Maxar described Sentry as AI-powered software that can function as its own mini intelligence agency, bringing together data from not only high-resolution imaging satellites but also other intelligence sources, potentially including synthetic aperture radar satellites that use microwave pulses to “see” through clouds or at night, electro-optical satellites that can measure things like weather patterns and vegetation. Sentry can also “orchestrate” satellite data collection—meaning task multiple satellite constellations to go and collect at a specific time and place—to ensure important developments don’t go unnoticed.

The company is already using some pieces of the Sentry system to help U.S. government agencies track things like illicit smuggling at sea and monitor key areas of interest like shipyards, airfields, and urban centers. “These capabilities enabled rapid identification of aircraft, ships, vehicles and railcars, object counts and classification—laying the groundwork for identifying trends and anomalies,” a Maxar official told Defense One in an email. 

Many satellite companies are pushing AI analysis of satellite data (and getting contracts for data and analysis.) But Maxar chief product officer Peter Wilczynski told Defense One that Sentry can make the data those companies provide more valuable by combining it with what Maxar collects and then scheduling observations over key spots. 

He likened the effect to a “neighborhood watch,” in which different participants rotate duties to make sure someone’s always on lookout in case something happens. 

That’s a fundamental change from the way satellite imaging has worked traditionally. Because of the way orbital mechanics work, low-earth orbit satellites can’t just loiter over one spot—like an airfield—permanently. One satellite can make a pass over one spot once a day. 

When the mission was mapping, that movement didn't matter. But now agencies are less and less interested in mapping, and more interested in capturing early indicators of crises, adversary movements, or other emerging events, said Wilczynski. 

On the commercial side, that might mean things like mining activity, or even, historically watching parking lots at shopping malls to predict holiday sales. For governments, a use-case might be monitoring a launch site where even the smallest activity can offer clues about what type of missile might launch and when. To achieve that persistent coverage, companies have been adding satellites, which can increase revisit rates, like buddies working a stakeout. But it's costly and imperfect. 

Rather than play against the increasingly crowded satellite data field, Sentry is Maxar’s way of bringing more players together so they can each contribute something of value and keep a persistent eye on key areas. 

“None of us can really do it alone. But if we come together it opens up this new set of missions,” he said.