Our world is witnessing a troubling rise in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, driven by an increasingly volatile climate. These events are growing more severe in both scale and impact, underscoring an urgent need for proactive, coordinated action. In the face of such global challenges, collaboration is not just ideal—it is essential. Together, we must strive to build a more resilient and sustainable future for all.

It is in this spirit that I’m proud to announce a new strategic collaboration for Vantor: our support for a landmark Joint Declaration between the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Commonwealth. This partnership aims to harness the transformative power of space to advance sustainable development, with a particular focus on bolstering the resilience of the world’s most vulnerable nations.

Spatial intelligence has extraordinary potential—not only to expedite disaster response but also to combat human trafficking, enhance food security, support marine sustainability, and address coastal vulnerabilities.

This partnership will enable Commonwealth nations to access satellite imagery and analytics, build capacity in space technologies and governance, and apply digital innovation to address complex local and regional challenges. The Joint Declaration reflects a shared commitment to mobilize resources in support of resilience, environmental stewardship, and inclusive socio-economic growth.

Supporting Disaster Preparedness

As Vantor's first contribution to this new partnership, we worked with UNOOSA to build a digital twin and flood simulation model for Ghana. Ultra-high-resolution 3D digital models of urban environments and flood simulation model the real-time impacts of climate events and street-level flooding.

This will help enhance disaster mission planning, resilience, and near-real-time emergency response in areas exposed to rising sea levels, climate change, flash flooding, and ocean warming.

Vantor has a longstanding heritage in disaster response, pioneering satellite-enabled disaster recovery support with our Open Data program. This provides satellite imagery at no cost to support front line effectiveness in times of sudden onset major crisis events, accelerating humanitarian response. In particular, we are proud of our decade-long work with UNOOSA in this area through the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER). Our joint work here includes supporting recovery efforts for the severe flooding events in recent months in Nigeria, South Africa and Myanmar.

Advancing Humanitarian Impact

Food security remains a critical concern for many vulnerable nations. Vantor is working alongside the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to address food insecurity in Somalia.

Leveraging 15 cm-resolution imagery from our WorldView Legion satellites, we apply advanced analytics—including oblique 45-degree imaging—for precision agricultural monitoring and infrastructure assessment.

Migration is another pressing humanitarian challenge. In partnership with EUSI and the Copernicus program, Vantor has supported efforts to monitor and understand migration patterns into Europe, including through key transit points such as the Lampedusa islands.

We can identify likely area of activity and map patterns of change at scale. We can also identify specific trafficking routes, checkpoints and patterns of operational activity. We are able to combine multiple sources of data—cell phone activity, our high-resolution satellite imagery, our historical data archive and Precision3D—with Maxar's own AI/ML vehicle detection models. This provides actionable insights to stop illicit activity and save lives.

Driving Environmental Resilience

Our change detection insights are also changing the landscape of conservation. The increased near-real-time capabilities will be particularly important in monitoring for future climate events.

We have worked with our European partner EUSI and its research partners to support many groundbreaking research projects. A good example for maritime monitoring is our work with the British Antarctic Survey: counting whale calves from space, to monitor whale populations. The data helps scientists assess whether whale populations are increasing or if ship strikes, pollution and climate change are diminishing their numbers.

We also support maritime monitoring through partnerships with the UK’s Marine Management Organisation and OceanMind. By combining satellite data with Automatic Identification System [AIS] and Vessel Monitoring System [VMS] data, we help enforce regulations in Marine Protected Areas [MPAs] and identify illegal activities such as unregulated fishing.

Building a resilient future

This collaboration reflects the immense potential of space-based technologies to improve life on Earth. Harnessing the power of space in this collaboration will enable nations to plan smarter, act faster and build stronger to help mitigate the effects of rising sea levels, extreme weather, and environmental degradation.

We look forward to working together to turn space-based insights into ground-level impact—for a safer, more resilient, and more sustainable future.