Orbital Sidekick

Orbital Sidekick is a San Francisco-based space company that builds and operates satellites carrying hyperspectral sensors and sells the resulting analytics to energy, government and defense customers. Its constellation, GHOSt (Global Hyperspectral Observation Satellite), consists of roughly 100-kilogram ESPA-class spacecraft that image in more than 500 contiguous spectral bands from visible through shortwave infrared, at a stated resolution of eight meters per pixel. Data from the satellites feeds SIGMA (Spectral Intelligence Global Monitoring Application), the company's analytics platform, which flags methane and liquid hydrocarbon leaks, contamination, and third-party intrusion events such as construction activity along pipeline corridors.

The company positions hyperspectral sensing as a way to identify not just that an asset has changed but what substance is present: because the majority of pipelines are buried, SIGMA looks for secondary spectral indicators in soil, vegetation and water that a subsurface leak produces. Beyond oil and gas pipelines, the company has described plans to extend monitoring to oil wells and offshore facilities and to explore verification of carbon credits. It also develops capabilities for defense customers, including chemical detection and multi-sensor battlefield awareness.

Orbital Sidekick's hardware progression ran from a breadbox-sized hyperspectral camera hosted on the NanoRacks External Platform outside the International Space Station, to a hosted sensor on Loft Orbital's YAM-2 spacecraft and the 30-kilogram Aurora demonstration satellite launched in June 2021, to the operational GHOSt satellites launched on SpaceX Transporter rideshare missions beginning in April 2023. Management has stated an intent to grow the constellation to at least 14 satellites.

Founding story

Dan Katz and Tushar Prabhakar founded the company in 2016 in Katz's San Francisco garage. The two met while working at Space Systems/Loral, the satellite manufacturer acquired by Maxar in 2012. Katz has an academic background in physics and astrophysics and Prabhakar had worked at energy technology companies; together they concluded that hyperspectral imaging deployed on low-cost small satellites could meet unserved demand in oil and gas and other sectors.

Business model

The company operates its own satellites and sells processed intelligence rather than raw imagery, describing itself as an intelligence company rather than a satellite company and pursuing vertical integration across data acquisition, processing and analytics. It has also generated revenue from aerial hyperspectral survey programs flown at roughly 1,000 feet altitude, though management characterized aerial collection as unscalable for millions of miles of pipeline relative to satellite collection.

Subscription-style monitoring and analytics delivered through the SIGMA platform to energy operators and government users, supplemented historically by aerial survey programs and by non-dilutive U.S. government contracts.

Traction

By the January 2023 funding announcement, customers had used SIGMA to monitor more than 12,000 miles of pipelines, flagging roughly 100 suspected methane leaks, 200 suspected liquid hydrocarbon leaks and more than 300 intrusive events tied to construction activity. Two customers, Williams and ONEOK, invested in the company, and Energy Transfer, which operates more than 120,000 miles of pipeline, contracted for Permian Basin monitoring.

Latest developments

Following the January 2023 round, the company launched GHOSt-1 and GHOSt-2 on SpaceX Transporter-7 in April 2023, GHOSt-3 on Transporter-8 in June 2023, and GHOSt-4 and GHOSt-5 on Transporter-10 in March 2024, working toward a six-satellite constellation and a stated longer-term target of at least 14 satellites.