Formerly called Skybox Imaging Industry Information Services Website terrabella.google.com Acquisition date 2014 Parent organization Alphabet Inc. | Type Subsidiary Area served Worldwide Founded January 2009 Number of employees 125 | |
Services Satellite imagery, video, and analytics of Earth Headquarters Mountain View, California, United States | ||
Terra Bella (formerly Skybox Imaging) is a Google subsidiary providing commercial high-resolution Earth observation satellite imagery, high-definition video and analytics services. The Mountain View, California-based company was founded in 2009 by Dan Berkenstock, Julian Mann, John Fenwick, and Ching-Yu Hu. On February 3, 2017, Google announced that it would sell Terra Bella and its SkySat satellite constellation to Planet Labs and enter into a multi-year agreement to purchase SkySat imaging data.
Contents
Overview
The resolution of the SkySat satellite imagery and videos is high enough to observe objects that impact the global economy such as terrain, cars and shipping containers. Terra Bella says its satellites can capture video clips lasting up to 90 seconds at 30 frames per second. The high-definition satellite video from SkySat satellites “could help us understand our world better by analyzing movement of goods and people, providing visual data about supply chains, shipping, industrial plant activity, and even humanitarian relief efforts.”
The company's goal is to be able to provide high-resolution satellite imagery of any place on Earth multiple times a day. Skybox planned to “change the nature” of the satellite industry by building satellites with “off-the-shelf” electronics that cost under $50 million.
Satellite constellation
The SkySat satellites are based on the CubeSat concept with optimized design using inexpensive automotive grade electronics, as well as fast commercially available processors. The cameras use two-dimensional imaging sensors.
Timeline
By April 2012 Skybox Imaging had raised a total of US$91 million of private capital from Khosla Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Canaan Partners and Norwest Venture Partners.
On November 21, 2013, their first satellite, SkySat-1, was launched on a Dnepr rocket from Yasny, Russia. On July 8, 2014, Skybox's second satellite, SkySat-2, launched on a Soyuz-2/Fregat rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The company plans to eventually launch a fleet of 24 satellites.
On December 11, 2013, the first images captured by the SkySat-1 satellite, of Perth, Abu Dhabi, and the coast of Somalia, were released. On July 10, 2014, the first images captured by SkySat-2 were released within 48 hours of launch.
On February 10, 2014, SSL announced that Skybox had awarded SSL a contract to build 13 satellites based on a revised "SkySat C" design. The first of these, Skysat-3, also referred to as SkySat-C1, was launched on June 22, 2016 by ISRO on PSLV flight C34, with contract for four more satellites to launch. Arianespace was contracted to launch four Skybox Imaging satellites in 2016, using the Vega small launch vehicle, and Orbital ATK will launch six in 2017 with their Minotaur-C rocket. In April of that year, they were named no. 1 on Inc. magazine's 25 Most Audacious Companies in 2014.
On June 10, 2014, Skybox Imaging announced that it had entered into an agreement to be acquired by Google for US$500 million. The acquisition was completed on August 1, 2014.
On March 8, 2016, Google announced that Skybox Imaging had changed its name to "Terra Bella", to indicate its focus on image analytics. The new name was partially based on the Terra Bella Ave. in Mountain View, California, where the company's headquarters are located.
Four more SkySat units were launched on 16 September 2016 by the Vega rocket's seventh flight from Kourou.