High Earth Orbit Robotics
HEO Robotics provides commercial Non-Earth Imaging and Space Domain Awareness services using proprietary cameras and the HEO Inspect software platform, serving defence agencies, satellite operators, and civil governments across Australia, USA, UK, and Japan.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersSydney, Australia
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What High Earth Orbit Robotics does
High Earth Orbit Robotics (HEO) is a Sydney-headquartered space technology company founded in 2016 that delivers commercial Non-Earth Imaging (NEI) services for Space Domain Awareness. The company captures imagery of satellites, rocket bodies, and asteroids from sensors deployed on Earth-orbiting satellites and applies computer vision and analytics to identify, characterise, monitor, and attribute anomalies in space objects. HEO sells its proprietary compact NEI cameras and licenses a sovereign capability module (Tessera) alongside its HEO Inspect 3.0 web app and API platform, which serves as the unified control layer for tasking missions and pulling imagery at scale.
The business model blends three revenue streams: recurring/usage-based data services via HEO Inspect 3.0, hardware sales of flight-proven NEI cameras to allied governments and commercial partners, and Tessera licensing for sovereign NEI capability. HEO serves defence and intelligence agencies, LEO and GEO satellite operators, and civil governments through direct enterprise sales supported by regional offices in Sydney (HQ), Arlington VA, London, and Tokyo, plus channel partnerships with Astroscale, Satellogic, SATLANTIS, Sidus Space, BlackSky, and the Optus-led Australian sovereign satellite consortium. Wholly-owned subsidiaries in the UK and USA support regional market access and defence procurement positioning.
HEO has secured approximately $7.96M in disclosed funding across a 2018 pre-seed, 2021 seed (including Y Combinator), and a 2023 Series A led by Airtree Ventures with In-Q-Tel (IQT), Salus Ventures, and Y Combinator. The company is at an early commercial stage with multiple enterprise channel partnerships, a growing sovereign-defence footprint, and a forward product pipeline that includes the 20cm Adler Imager telescope (planned 2028 launch aboard the Optus LEO satellite) and the Apophis asteroid photography mission targeted for 2029.
High Earth Orbit Robotics firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- High Earth Orbit Robotics
- Legal name
- High Earth Orbit Robotics Pty Ltd
- Website
- https://heo-robotics.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- HEO Robotics provides commercial Non-Earth Imaging and Space Domain Awareness services using proprietary cameras and the HEO Inspect software platform, serving defence agencies, satellite operators, and civil governments across Australia, USA, UK, and Japan.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
High Earth Orbit Robotics industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Space Domain Awareness
- NAICS
- Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing (334511)
- SIC
- Search, Detection, Navagation, Guidance, Aeronautical Sys (3812)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Space Payloads & Instruments (Sensors, Comms, EO/IR) (IMABACAD)
Keywords
Where High Earth Orbit Robotics is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Sydney
- HQ country
- Australia
- HQ region
- Oceania
Offices4 records
Markets served
High Earth Orbit Robotics business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Non-Earth Imaging Data and Insights Services: HEO provides on-demand NEI data and insights services to satellite operators, defence agencies, and civil governments through its HEO Inspect 3.0 platform. Customers can task missions, initiate captures, and receive imagery and insights at scale, likely through subscription or usage-based contracts.
- NEI Camera Hardware Sales: HEO builds and sells compact, flight-proven Non-Earth Imaging cameras to government and commercial partners. These cameras enable partners to make their missions NEI capable, providing a hardware sales revenue stream with sovereign capability benefits for allied governments.
- Sovereign NEI Capability Licensing (Tessera): Tessera enables governments to turn on their sovereign NEI capability, likely through licensing arrangements that provide exclusive or dedicated access to NEI technology for national security and space domain awareness purposes.
Go-to-market motion4 records
Distribution channels7 records
Marketing channels8 records
High Earth Orbit Robotics product offering
Product offeringCore offering
High Earth Orbit Robotics (HEO) provides commercial non-Earth imaging (NEI) and analytics on space objects using cameras mounted on Earth-orbiting satellites. Through its HEO Inspect 3.0 software platform, the company delivers on-demand imagery, identification and characterisation, satellite pattern-of-life monitoring, and anomaly detection and attribution for defence agencies, satellite operators, and civil governments. The company also sells flight-proven NEI cameras as hardware and offers Tessera for sovereign NEI capability turn-on.
Product overview
HEO (High Earth Orbit Robotics) offers a unified non-Earth imaging (NEI) platform with three core products: HEO Inspect 3.0 (the software gateway and API interface), Non-Earth Imaging Cameras (compact, flight-proven hardware), and Tessera (sovereign NEI capability module). These are supported by three solution verticals for Defence & Intelligence, Satellite Operators, and Civil Governments. The platform enables identification, characterisation, monitoring, and anomaly detection of space objects through high-volume imagery capture and analytics.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- HEO Inspect 3.0: Web app and API interface to HEO's core non-Earth imaging and insights platform - a unified control layer that connects in-orbit sensors for real-time data feasibility assessment, mission tasking, and imagery acquisition.
- HEO Non-Earth Imaging Cameras
- Tessera
Products and services
- HEO Inspect 3.0 Web app and API interface to HEO's core non-Earth imaging and insights platform. Acts as a unified control layer connecting in-orbit sensors, allowing users to assess data feasibility in real time, task missions, initiate captures, and pull imagery and insights at scale for satellite identification, monitoring, and anomaly detection.
- Non-Earth Imaging Cameras Compact, high-performing, flight-proven hardware cameras that capture non-Earth imagery of satellites, rocket bodies, and other space objects. Sold to allied governments for sovereign NEI capability and to commercial partners to make their satellite missions NEI capable.
- Tessera Configurable sovereign space monitoring offering that enables governments to turn on their own independent NEI capability for national security and space domain awareness purposes.
Quantifiable outcome
- HEO delivers non-Earth imaging at scale across key low-Earth orbit satellites today
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use High Earth Orbit Robotics
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
High Earth Orbit Robotics technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability3 records
Feature6 records
High Earth Orbit Robotics partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.
- AstroscalecoreThree-year MOU between Astroscale and HEO to advance space monitoring capabilities for allied nations. The partnership combines HEO's Non-Earth Imaging (NEI) capabilities with Astroscale's satellite servicing and Space Situational Awareness (SSA) expertise to deliver comprehensive Space Domain Awareness (SDA) solutions to government customers.
- SatellogiccoreExpanded agreement with exclusive access to Non-Earth Imagery for Space Domain Awareness. The partnership provides HEO with access to Satellogic's satellite constellation capabilities for delivering NEI-based SDA services, building on the initial partnership announced in January 2025.
- OptusmajorHEO participates in Optus-led $50 million sovereign Australian LEO satellite project as part of a consortium including UniSQ, Inovor Technologies, and Australian Department of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Group. HEO's 20cm Adler Imager telescope will be carried on the satellite planned for launch in early 2028, built by Inovor Technologies in Adelaide and operated by Optus from Sydney.
- Sidus SpacecoreHEO USA's payload aboard Sidus Space's Multi-Mission LizzieSat-3 achieved an on-orbit imagery milestone, demonstrating HEO's NEI capability deployed on a commercial satellite platform.
- SATLANTIScoreHEO and SATLANTIS signed MoU to deliver sovereign Space Domain Awareness capabilities to governments, combining HEO's NEI expertise with SATLANTIS's technology for government customers seeking independent SDA solutions.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights7 records
High Earth Orbit Robotics competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- LeoLabs: LeoLabs is a direct competitor in commercial Space Situational Awareness and Space Domain Awareness, operating a global radar-based tracking network. Like HEO, LeoLabs sells tracking and monitoring data to governments and satellite operators, but uses ground-based radar rather than space-based NEI sensors.
- Slingshot Aerospace: Slingshot Aerospace provides AI-powered space domain awareness, space traffic management, and satellite tracking analytics to governments and commercial operators. It is a direct peer in SDA software, analytics, and pattern-of-life monitoring, with overlapping government and commercial customer bases.
- ExoAnalytic Solutions: ExoAnalytic Solutions is a direct peer in deep-space Space Domain Awareness, operating a global optical tracking network for GEO and cislunar objects. Like HEO, it serves US and allied defence and intelligence customers with high-fidelity space object tracking and characterization data.
- Numerica Corporation: Numerica provides Space Domain Awareness data and analytics, including optical tracking and threat assessment, to the US Department of Defense and intelligence community. It is a direct peer in SSA/SDA data services with similar government customer focus and advanced optical sensor capabilities.
- NorthStar Earth & Space: NorthStar Earth & Space provides Space Situational Awareness services through a dedicated satellite constellation tracking space debris and objects. It is a direct peer in commercial SSA, with a similar sovereign-government and commercial satellite operator customer base and subscription-based data model.
Emerging players
- Astroscale: Astroscale is both a strategic partner (three-year MoU) and an emerging player in adjacent space situational awareness and on-orbit servicing. While Astroscale's focus is active debris removal and satellite servicing rather than imagery, the partnership with HEO shows significant overlap in SDA customer relationships and allied government markets.
Broad incumbents
- Maxar Technologies: Maxar is a broad incumbent in space-based Earth observation and satellite imagery, with established US government and defence relationships. Although focused on Earth imaging rather than non-Earth imaging, Maxar overlaps with HEO on government space customers and the broader space-based imagery analytics market.
- BlackSky: BlackSky is a broad incumbent in satellite imagery and analytics, and is also a host-satellite partner for HEO (HEO captures NEI imagery using BlackSky satellites). The companies have a complementary relationship but BlackSky's constellation and analytics platform also overlaps with HEO's satellite monitoring use cases for enterprise and government customers.
- Planet Labs: Planet Labs is a broad incumbent in commercial Earth observation with a very large LEO constellation and government/defence analytics offerings. While Planet focuses on Earth imaging, its scale, government customer base, and analytics platform make it a comparable broad incumbent in adjacent space-based monitoring markets.
- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions: Kratos is a broad incumbent in space domain awareness, satellite command-and-control, and RF signal monitoring for the US Department of Defense. It is comparable to HEO as a major SDA vendor to defence and intelligence customers, though it operates at significantly larger scale and across a broader defence technology portfolio.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
High Earth Orbit Robotics social profiles
Digital presenceHigh Earth Orbit Robotics financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
High Earth Orbit Robotics leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
High Earth Orbit Robotics subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
High Earth Orbit Robotics funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors6 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
High Earth Orbit Robotics M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about High Earth Orbit Robotics
What does High Earth Orbit Robotics do?
High Earth Orbit Robotics (HEO) provides commercial non-Earth imaging (NEI) and analytics on space objects using cameras mounted on Earth-orbiting satellites. Through its HEO Inspect 3.0 software platform, the company delivers on-demand imagery, identification and characterisation, satellite pattern-of-life monitoring, and anomaly detection and attribution for defence agencies, satellite operators, and civil governments. The company also sells flight-proven NEI cameras as hardware and offers Tessera for sovereign NEI capability turn-on.
Is High Earth Orbit Robotics a public or private company?
High Earth Orbit Robotics is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was High Earth Orbit Robotics founded?
High Earth Orbit Robotics was founded in 2016. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is High Earth Orbit Robotics based?
High Earth Orbit Robotics is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, in the Oceania region.
How does High Earth Orbit Robotics make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Non-Earth Imaging Data and Insights Services are the primary driver. The others are NEI Camera Hardware Sales and sovereign NEI Capability Licensing (Tessera).
Who are High Earth Orbit Robotics's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are LeoLabs, Slingshot Aerospace, ExoAnalytic Solutions, Numerica Corporation and NorthStar Earth & Space. Astroscale is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are Maxar Technologies, BlackSky, Planet Labs and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions.
Does High Earth Orbit Robotics have an API?
No public API is recorded for High Earth Orbit Robotics.
What industry is High Earth Orbit Robotics in?
High Earth Orbit Robotics's product category is Space Domain Awareness. Its primary akta.pro industry code is IMABACAD, Space Payloads & Instruments (Sensors, Comms, EO/IR). Its NAICS code is 334511 and its SIC code is 3812.