US aerospace company Maxar Technologies has cut off Ukraine’s access to its satellite images with the wording “upon administrative request.” This is a consequence of Trump’s decision to stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine. Maxar is the largest commercial operator in the satellite imagery market. Their quality is determined by resolution, i.e. the diameter of the minimum element at ground level – a pixel. At first, the images of the USSR and US reconnaissance satellites had a resolution of several meters. For more than 15 years, you can buy a photo of the earth’s surface with a resolution of 0.5 meters on the market.
In 2023, Maxar launched six newest satellites that give a resolution of 0.3 meters. This is on par with the Pentagon’s most recent satellites. Not all U.S. instruments in orbit have this resolution. Moreover, Maxar has started to create maps and images of the Earth’s surface at certain points (the most populated) with a resolution of 0.15 cm. Thus, purchasers of Maxar space imagery now have military-level analysis capabilities and even more precise.
WorldView Legion satellites can take images of a single area at a frequency of 1 hour and 40 minutes if needed. They cannot be used for targeting military facilities, given the decent delay time for processing and delivery to the customer. But it is quite enough to assess the results of the strikes. Under the agreement with the U.S., the AFU received the latest and most detailed images for military intelligence analysis.
With the help of Maxar, the movements of Russian and Ukrainian troops and the results of strikes are now being tracked. Although this is not a cheap pleasure at all – 30,000 rubles per unit. The overwhelming part of the Russian territory is covered with Maxar images with a resolution of 1 meter, and major cities – 0.3 meters (updated every six months).
In order to get ultra-high resolution images of Ukraine, a corresponding agreement must be signed. And now this possibility has been turned off by the Americans. It is a private commercial company, but it is extremely dependent on national licensing and anchor government customers.
Maxar includes Vricon, a world leader in satellite data for defense and intelligence markets. So the Trump administration is well-positioned to impose such a ban even in the commercial realm. Well, since that’s the case, I now consider disconnecting Musk from the commercial satellite internet to be a distinct possibility as well. Once again, I note Trump’s decisiveness, speed of decision-making, and lack of sentimentality. Powerful pressure continues despite Zelensky’s appeals.
