OSC announces conditional USD150 million loan in LeoLabs space tracking capabilities

LeoLabs' first operational Seeker UHF planar direct radiating array radar at a site in Arizona (LeoLabs)

The Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) has announced a USD150 million “conditional loan commitment” with LeoLabs, a provider of space domain awareness and space traffic management services, the Department of Defense said in a 4 November statement.

The company operates a “proliferated, multi-mission radar network [and] real-time orbital data catalogue” and provides artificial intelligence (AI)-powered analytics to support space operations, a LeoLabs spokesperson told Janes on 6 November.

This enables “military space commands, civil government agencies, and commercial operators to confidently detect, track, characterise, and respond to threats in space”, the spokesperson said.

Orbital tracking helps satellite operators assess collision risks, locate newly launched spacecraft, and recognise potentially concerning orbital activity, the spokesperson noted.

“As the only commercially available provider of ground-based radar space domain awareness in the United States, LeoLabs is uniquely positioned to deliver this critical infrastructure and enhance space monitoring capabilities,” the DoD statement claimed.

“LeoLabs' globally distributed radar network allows for rapid, continuous cloud-based data updates and unclassified information sharing,” the DoD statement added.

Capabilities

The company's capabilities include “fixed-site Seeker and Ranger radars, as well as its transportable Scout-S radar, optimised for space domain awareness, and Scout-X radar, optimised for missile warning and tracking”, LeoLabs said in a 5 November statement.. Scout-X is still in development, with release planned for mid-2027, according to the LeoLabs website.

The in-service systems make up LeoLabs' global radar network and are available for US and allied customers, the spokesperson added.

The company also maintains an orbital object catalogue that provides “precise information about satellites and debris in low Earth orbit”, the spokesperson said.