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.