Scout Space Inc. has unveiled their Owl product line of advanced, modular, long-range SDA sensors, designed as a scalable solution, bringing purpose-built capabilities to a broad array of operators.
The Scout Owl product line development is supported by an AFWERX Phase 2 SBIR awarded on Dec. 13, 2023 in the amount of $1.8 million as a dual-use sensor payload to enable tactically responsive space (TacRS) payload modularity, integration, and capability for the Department of the Air Force (DAF).
Building upon the operational success of the TRL-7 Sparrow (formerly known as Scout-Vision) hardware and software, the Owl system offers visible spectrum sensing and insights to host vehicles.
Philip Hover-Smoot, CEO of Scout, said, “Owl’s independent tasking capability significantly expands the range and quality of products we can offer to both commercial and government customers. It sets new benchmarks for achievable SDA outcomes across all orbital domains, marking a major milestone for Scout as a leading SDA provider.”
Scout holds the
Established® 2021 Startup of the Year® title.
Key Features of the Owl Vision Payload System:
- On-board long-range object detection and orbit estimation
- Autonomous or tasked operation modes
- Hemispherical field of view scanning capability enables by its dual-axis gimbal
Josiah Gruber, Scout’s Vice President of Engineering, highlighted the significance of the Owl system and said, “A modular and interoperable Owl system is a foundational element for the future space architecture, fostering resilience, self-reliance and multi-functionality. Integrating Owl into tactically-responsive frameworks underscores the U.S.’s commitment to enhancing safety in space operations for multiple orbital regimes.”
Owl Capabilities & Services Offered
Owl is a gimbaled, long-range, space domain awareness vision payload system designed to augment missions for added in-space capabilities and services which include:
- Tracking & Catalog Maintenance: Survey the space domain around its host and collect photometric or orbital data on nearby objects.
- Neighborhood Watch: Perform hemispherical surveys and identify untracked objects outside the domain of traditional sensors.
- Self Protect: Gimbal flexibility helps identify, and track Resident Space Objects (RSOs) through flyby or rendezvous scenarios and tip its host to take evasive action.
Sparrow Flight Proven Capabilities
The baseline Sparrow (the production version of Scout’s Scout-Vision system), including the stereoscopic sensor suite and software, demonstrated its core capabilities onboard the Orbit Fab TANKER-001 mission in 2021 producing commercial, non-Earth imagery and space data products. The initial Sparrow payload was decommissioned in November of 2023, but Scout recently launched an updated version on the SpaceX Transporter-10 mission.
About Scout Space
Scout Space was founded in 2019 with the mission to enable a new era of space safety and transparency. Scout’s in-space products and services, first launched in 2021, allow spacecraft to see and understand things around them. The orbital distributed sensor network developed by Scout will significantly improve Space Domain Awareness (SDA) and ensure responsible use of the space environment. The company is a Techstars, MassChallenge, and venture-backed startup with ongoing government and commercial contracts
