Umbra
Umbra is a commercial space company operating an advanced synthetic aperture radar satellite constellation delivering the highest resolution SAR imagery commercially available.
- Founded
- 2015
- Headquarters
- Santa Barbara, United States
- Ownership
- Private
- Last round
- Undisclosed round · $32.4M2020-10
Quick Facts
About Umbra
Umbra is a commercial space company operating an advanced synthetic aperture radar satellite constellation delivering the highest resolution SAR imagery commercially available. Founded in 2015 and vertically integrated from their 50,000 square-foot California manufacturing facility, Umbra provides all-weather, day-and-night Earth observation for defense, intelligence, and commercial customers.
In August 2024, Umbra launched satellites Umbra-09 and Umbra-10 aboard SpaceX Transporter-11, expanding the constellation to ten satellites. Operating in strategic pairs, the constellation demonstrated industry-leading bistatic SAR capabilities with the tandem pair Umbra-07 and Umbra-08 launched in November 2023, providing unique imaging phenomenology and operational resilience.
Umbra's SAR technology delivers 1,200 MHz bandwidth enabling resolution licensed down to 13 centimeters, seeing through clouds, smoke, and total darkness. The radars operate in spotlight, stripmap, and other modes for diverse application requirements. DARPA selected Umbra for its Distributed Radar Image Formation Technology program, accelerating development of automated formation flying and multistatic data processing.
Maxar Intelligence secured dedicated access to Umbra's SAR constellation in 2024, creating a combined electro-optical and radar intelligence solution. Umbra expanded into satellite hardware sales through a new Space Systems unit, offering SAR satellite platforms to customers building their own constellations. The company plans to deploy the remaining satellites in its licensed 32-satellite constellation, continuing advancement of commercial SAR capabilities for global Earth observation.
Products and product lines
| Product | Line | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Space Systems hardware catalog | Spacecraft components (commercial hardware sales) | Nine flight-proven components sold to outside operators - battery module, solar array, power package, magnetometer/sun-sensor package, reaction wheel, magnetorquer, network switch, S-band radio and a synchronized four-point separation system - through the Space Systems unit launched August 2025. |
| Radar Commercial Augmentation (RCA) | NRO tasking service | Sole-source NRO contract (awarded August 2026) providing assured, global SAR tasking capacity with rapid revisit and low latency, delivered through the agency's Commercial Systems Program Office. |
| STRATFI next-generation SAR constellation | DoD R&D program | Strategic Funding Increase award of up to $60 million (April 2025) to design and launch a next-generation constellation demonstrating wide-area, formation-flying and multistatic SAR coverage for Indo-Pacific maritime search and target detection. |
| NGA CRADA | Government R&D partnership | Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (signed March 2025) to jointly prototype new SAR and RF collection modes with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. |
| e-GEOS geospatial intelligence partnership | International data partnership | Multi-year agreement (announced December 2025) combining Umbra's SAR constellation with e-GEOS's COSMO-SkyMed data and AI analytics; e-GEOS leads sales in Europe/South America while Umbra leads North America, Asia and other markets. |
| Reflex Aerospace SAR payload | International manufacturing partnership | Agreement (announced April 2025) for Umbra to design custom SAR payloads for integration onto Reflex Aerospace's satellite bus, built in Germany, targeting a 2027 launch to serve European customers. |
Timeline
- 2024 Umbra is selected for Stage III of the NRO's Strategic Commercial Enhancements initiative (announced December 4), a Commercial Radar Capabilities contract to scale SAR data delivery for U.S. government needs including disaster response and crisis management. [source]
- 2025 Umbra is selected for the Air Force's STRATFI program (announced April 8), with up to $60 million in matching funds to design and launch a next-generation SAR constellation demonstrating wide-area maritime search and moving-target detection for the Indo-Pacific. [source]
- 2025 Umbra and Germany's Reflex Aerospace announce plans (April 23) to jointly offer SAR capabilities to European customers, with Umbra building custom SAR payloads for Reflex's satellite bus and integration occurring in Germany, targeting a 2027 launch. [source]
- 2025 Umbra opens a new 50,000-sq-ft manufacturing facility in Santa Barbara (announced June 25), quadrupling satellite production capacity and enabling apertures four times larger than previously possible, while also doubling its Arlington, Virginia R&D office space. [source]
- 2025 Umbra launches a Space Systems business unit (announced August 11) selling nine flight-proven spacecraft components - power, attitude-control, communications and separation hardware tested on its own SAR constellation - to outside operators and integrators. [source]
- 2025 Umbra and Italy's e-GEOS announce a multi-year strategic partnership (December 10) combining Umbra's SAR constellation with e-GEOS's COSMO-SkyMed data and AI capabilities, with e-GEOS leading Europe/South America sales and Umbra leading North America, Asia and other regions. [source]
- 2026 Umbra wins a sole-source contract from the National Reconnaissance Office (announced August 5) for Radar Commercial Augmentation services through the agency's Commercial Systems Program Office, providing assured global SAR tasking capacity. [source]
David Langan (CEO, Co-founder)
Funding history
1 event| Date | Round | Amount | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-10-23 | Undisclosed round | $32.4M | —Form D filed 2021-01-07 by Umbra Lab, Inc.: $32.4M sold of a $32.4M offering (first sale 2020-10-23). | sec.gov |
Team
- David LanganCEO · source
Signals
- Verification
- Verified 2026-09-09
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Frequently asked about Umbra
Quick answers to the questions readers most often search for.
- When was Umbra founded?
- Umbra was founded in 2015 in United States.
- Where is Umbra headquartered?
- Umbra is headquartered in Santa Barbara, United States.
- What does Umbra do?
- Umbra is a commercial space company operating an advanced synthetic aperture radar satellite constellation delivering the highest resolution SAR imagery commercially available. Founded in 2015 and vertically integrated from their 50,000 square-foot California manufacturing facility, Umbra provides all-weather, day-and-…
- Is Umbra a public or private company?
- Umbra is a privately held company and is not listed on any stock exchange.
- What sector does Umbra operate in?
- Umbra works in earth observation and Radar imaging.
Sources
The structured fields on this page (founding year, location, sector, status, listing) and the profile text are drawn from the sources below. How profiles are drafted and checked is described in our methodology.
- Official website (umbra.space)
- Company LinkedIn page
- SEC Form D · retrieved 2026-09-04
- GLEIF LEI record · retrieved 2026-09-05
- Wikidata / Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-09-05
- Umbra: Selected for NRO Strategic Commercial Enhancements Stage III (4 Dec 2024) · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Umbra: Selected as Participant in STRATFI Program (8 Apr 2025) · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Umbra: Reflex Aerospace and Umbra Announce Plans for European SAR Market (23 Apr 2025) · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Umbra: Expands U.S. Production Capacity with New 50,000 Sq Ft Facility (25 Jun 2025) · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Umbra: Launches New Space Systems Business Unit (11 Aug 2025) · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Umbra and e-GEOS Team Up to Deliver Geospatial Intelligence Solutions (10 Dec 2025) · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Umbra: Wins Sole-Source NRO Radar Commercial Augmentation Contract (5 Aug 2026) · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Umbra: About (founders and leadership) · retrieved 2026-09-09
Data Accuracy Notice: Information about Umbra is compiled from publicly available sources including company websites, press releases, regulatory filings, and industry reports. Data is reviewed periodically but may not reflect the most recent developments.