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Vantor (company)
American space technology company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Vantor Holdings, Inc. (doing business as Vantor, formerly Maxar Intelligence) is an American software company based in Westminster, Colorado, specializing in spatial intelligence, Earth observation, and related software and services.
Vantor's technology is used across the defense, intelligence, and commercial sectors for applications such as mapping, threat monitoring, and autonomous navigation. The company was formed after Maxar Technologies split Maxar Intelligence and Maxar Space Systems into two independent companies.
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History
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1992–2017: Origins as DigitalGlobe
What is now known as Vantor was started when DigitalGlobe was founded in 1992 by Walter Scott in Oakland, California.
2017–2022: Acquisition by MDA and formation of Maxar
In 2017, DigitalGlobe was acquired by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), who renamed the merged company Maxar.[1] The headquarters of the combined entity was then established in Westminster, Colorado. The company was dual-listed on the TSX and NYSE.[2][3]
In July 2020, Maxar completed its acquisition of Vricon for $140 million. Vricon is a global leader in satellite-derived 3D data for defense and intelligence markets[4]
In February 2022, Maxar published several satellite images that showed a Russian military convoy during its invasion of Ukraine.[5][6][7] Maxar's satellite data was used by Ukraine as part of its defense against Russia's invasion of its territory.[8]
2022–2023: Advent acquisition and restructuring
In December 2022, private equity firm Advent International acquired Maxar in a cash deal worth $6.4 billion.[9][10] The acquisition was completed in May 2023.[11]
In September 2023, Maxar was broken into two business units, Maxar Space Systems (based in California, led by CEO Chris Johnson) and Maxar Intelligence (based in Colorado, led by CEO Dan Smoot).[12]
2024: Launch of WorldView Legion
In 2024, Maxar Intelligence launched WorldView Legion a fleet of six high-performing satellites that dramatically expanded the ability to revisit the most rapidly changing areas on Earth, enabling more near-time insights.[13]
In October 2025, Maxar Intelligence and Maxar Space Systems rebranded to become Vantor and Lanteris respectively.[14]
February – June 2025: Launch of Raptor & Sentry
In February 2025, the company launched Raptor, a software suite that integrates Vantor's 3D terrain data with a drone's camera to allow autonomous drone systems to navigate and extract target ground coordinates without GPS and GNSS.
Four months later, in June 2025, the company launched Sentry, a geospatial monitoring system that automates the detection of physical changes on Earth's surface. The software integrates imagery collected from multiple satellite constellations and other sensors to track activity across large geographic areas, such as new construction, movement of equipment, or environmental changes.
October 2025: Rebrand to Vantor & launch of Tensorglobe
In October 2025, Maxar Intelligence officially rebranded as Vantor, marking the company's transition from a satellite imagery provider to a software-driven spatial intelligence company. In tandem, Vantor launched Tensorglobe, an AI-powered spatial intelligence platform that combines sensor data across satellites, drones, and ground assets into a living 3D replica of Earth.
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Products and services
Vantor provides spatial intelligence and earth observation products and services for various industries such as commercial mapping, defense, government, and system integrators.
Drone vision and monitoring
Raptor is a vision-based software suite that used a drone's native camera and 3D terrain data without GPS dependencies, Sentry is a monitoring platform for intelligence.
Mapping
Vivid is a mapping software suite consisting of Mosaic (seamless map tiles), Terrain (digital terrain data), and Features (vector tiles).
Satellite imaging
WorldView is a satellite imaging software suite consisting of 2D (high-resolution satellite imagery), Radar (radar imagery), and Space (spacecraft imagery).
Spatial intelligence
Tensorglobe is a spatial intelligence software suite consisting of Cortex (constellation orchestration software), Forge (platform to produce a digital twin of earth), and Nexus (hosting and API).
Vantor Hub is a cloud-based environment built around Tensorglobe.
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Vantor Constellation
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Vantor operates Vantor Constellation, a fleet of satellites consisting of GeoEye-1, WorldView-1, WorldView-2, WorldView-3, and WorldView Legion.[15]
GeoEye-1
The GeoEye-1 satellite collects images at 0.41 m (1 ft 4 in) panchromatic (black-and-white) and 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) multispectral resolution. The satellite can collect up to 350,000 km2 (140,000 sq mi) of multispectral imagery per day. This is used for large-scale mapping projects. GeoEye-1 can revisit any point on Earth once every three days or sooner.
WorldView satellites
WorldView-1
Ball Aerospace built WorldView-1.[16] It was launched on 18 September 2007 from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a Delta II 7920-10C. Launch services were provided by United Launch Alliance (ULA). The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is expected to be a major customer of WorldView-1 imagery.[17] It included a panchromatic only camera with a 50 cm (20 in) maximum resolution.
WorldView-2
Ball Aerospace built WorldView-2. It was launched on 8 October 2009. DigitalGlobe partnered with Boeing commercial launch services to deliver WorldView-2 into a Sun-synchronous orbit.[18][19] The satellite includes a panchromatic sensor with a 46 cm (18 in) maximum resolution and a multispectral sensor of 184 cm (72 in)[20]
WorldView-3
Ball Aerospace built WorldView-3. It was launched on 13 August 2014. It has a maximum resolution of 25 cm (9.8 in). WorldView-3 operates at an altitude of 617 km (383 mi), where it has an average revisit time of less than once per day. Over the course of a day it is able to collect imagery of up to 680,000 km2 (260,000 sq mi).[21]
Previously, DigitalGlobe was only licensed to sell images with a higher resolution than 50 cm (20 in) to the U.S. military.[22] However, DigitalGlobe obtained permission, in June 2014, from the United States Department of Commerce, to allow the company to more widely exploit its commercial satellite imagery. The company was permitted to offer customers the highest resolution imagery available from their constellation. Additionally, the updated approvals allowed the sale of imagery to customers at up to 25 cm (9.8 in) panchromatic and 100 cm (39 in) multispectral ground sample distance (GSD), beginning six months after WorldView-3 became operational. WorldView-3 was launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle in the 401 configuration on 13 August 2014, at 18:30 UTC from Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 3 (SLC-3E) at Vandenberg Air Force base.[23]
WorldView-3 is the industry's first multi-payload, super-spectral, high-resolution commercial satellite.[24]
WorldView Legion
Built by Lanteris Space Systems (then sibling company Maxar Space Systems), WorldView Legion is Vantor's next generation of Earth observation satellites. WorldView Legion comprises six satellites planned to launch between 2024 and 2026[25] into a mix of Sun-synchronous and mid-latitude orbits.[26][27] These satellites will replace imaging capability currently provided by WorldView-1, WorldView-2 and GeoEye-1 Earth observation satellites.[28]
The six WorldView Legion satellites were contracted to launch on three flight-proven SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicles.[29]
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Customers and competitors
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Vantor's customers range from urban planners, to conservation organizations like the Amazon Conservation Team,[30] to the U.S. federal agencies, including NASA[31] and the United States Department of Defense's National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).[32] Much of Google Earth and Google Maps high resolution-imagery is provided by Vantor (formerly DigitalGlobe).[33]
GEGD: Vantor has a multi-year contract with the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to provide the software backbone for the U.S. government's Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery (G-EGD) program.
One World Terrain: Vantor was awarded a contract for Phase 4 of the U.S. Army's One World Terrain (OWT) prototype. The OWT program delivers 3D global terrain capability and associated information services that support a fvirtual representation of the physical Earth through the Army network.
Saab: Vantor and Saab have a partnership to jointly develop next-generation multi-domain battlespace solutions, with a specific focus on advanced space-based C5ISR systems (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) for the digital battlefield and GPS resilience for autonomous drone systems.
AIDC: Vantor has a partnership with Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) to deploy the Raptor software suite across Taiwan's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry.
Anduril: Vantor supplies the spatial software and foundational spatial intelligence that underpins a next-generation mixed-reality command-and-control (C2) system Anduril is developing for the U.S. Army. T
NGA Luno Program: Vantor was awarded Delivery Order 01 under the Luno A program by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The company delivers commercial analytic services, and automated AI/ML-generated object detection.
Lockheed Martin: Vantor has a long-term agreement [34]with Lockheed Martin to streamline the procurement and delivery of its spatial intelligence products for the F-35 Full Mission Simulator (FMS) flight simulation and training system.
Vantor's main competitor in satellite fleet services is Airbus with Spot and Pleiades satellites. Vantor's competitors in geospatial software and services including Intermap Technologies, NV5 Geospatial Solutions, Planet Labs, and Vexcel.
Controversies
BSI partnership and Pahalgam imagery orders (2025)
In May 2025, what was then Maxar Intelligence faced scrutiny following reports that it had received an unusual spike in orders for high-resolution satellite images of Pahalgam, a region in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Between February 2 and 22, 2025, at least 12 such orders were placed, which was double the usual number.[35] This surge occurred shortly after Maxar partnered with Business Systems International Pvt Ltd (BSI), a Pakistani geospatial firm.
BSI is owned by Obaidullah Syed, a Pakistani-American businessman who was convicted in 2021 for illegally exporting high-performance computing equipment and software to Pakistan's nuclear research agency. Despite this conviction, BSI was listed as a Maxar partner in 2023.[36] Following the revelations about the satellite imagery orders, Maxar removed BSI from its list of partners on its website.[37]
Maxar stated that BSI had not placed any orders for imagery of Pahalgam or its surrounding areas in 2025 and had not accessed any such imagery from its archives. However, the timing of the imagery orders and BSI's partnership raised concerns among defense analysts and experts.[38]
In May 2025, it was further reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had earlier complained that BSI had sold satellite imagery to an arm of the Pakistani government. This raised additional concerns about the firm's access to sensitive geospatial data and its ties to Maxar Intelligence.[39]
Ukraine access to satellite imagery
In early March 2025, the Trump administration.[8] temporarily restricted Ukraine's access to U.S. intelligence, which impacted one U.S. government program managed by Maxar Intelligence. Access was restored within a few days.[8]
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References
External links
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