BlackSky Successfully Commissions Gen-3 in Less Than One Week Opening Gen-3 General Availability for Global Customer Base

HERNDON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 12, 2026--

BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY) has successfully commissioned the fourth Gen-3 satellite in less than one week following launch, opening general availability for its advanced, next-generation Gen-3 capabilities to all global customers. This industry-leading achievement makes daily service for best-in-class 35-centimeter imagery and AI-enabled analytics available to customers through BlackSky Spectra.

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“With immediate additional capacity integrated into live operations, customers experience a pivotal qualitative increase in how they see, understand, and anticipate changes at the tactical edge,” said Brian O’Toole, BlackSky CEO. "Commissioning our latest Gen-3 in just days gets critical capability into our customers’ hands quickly, increases each satellite’s operational lifespan and ultimately expands the total ROI of our on-orbit assets.”

Gen-3 general availability opens opportunities for BlackSky’s global customer base to directly task daytime, twilight, and nighttime collections to support persistent monitoring and rapid response to emerging events. BlackSky’s proprietary AI-enabled analytics give customers the ability to detect and classify vehicles, vessels and aircraft of strategic interest and observe critical pattern-of-life changes over time. The combined value of daily Gen-3 and hourly Gen-2 monitoring capabilities gives customers an immensely powerful high-cadence, time-diverse view of the operational landscape.

“BlackSky is delivering trustworthy on-orbit capability now to the most demanding military and intelligence organizations in the world at disruptive scale and economics. Our ability to develop, build and deploy Gen-3 at a rapid pace fulfills our commitment to accelerate real-world decision workflows in real time,” said O’Toole.

BlackSky’s rapid commissioning process includes establishing communications and quickly verifying system functionality for propulsion, positioning and power. The process also includes calibrating the imagery sensor payload, onboard processing systems and testing automated operations, a process that traditionally may take many months to accomplish.

The entire Gen-3 constellation has consistently delivered initial images with remarkable clarity and uniform quality, detailing vehicles, maritime vessels, and aircraft of various sizes, as well as individual people and their shadows. Sharper imagery reduces ambiguity and contributes to better analytics development with stronger insights for end users.

About BlackSky

BlackSky is a real-time, space-based intelligence company that delivers on-demand, high frequency imagery, analytics, and high-frequency monitoring of the most critical and strategic locations, economic assets, and events in the world. BlackSky owns and operates one of the industry’s most advanced, purpose-built commercial, real-time intelligence systems that combines the power of the BlackSky Spectra® tasking and analytics software platform and our proprietary low earth orbit satellite constellation.

With BlackSky, customers can see, understand and anticipate changes for a decisive strategic advantage at the tactical edge, and act not just fast, but first. BlackSky is trusted by some of the most demanding U.S. and international government agencies, commercial businesses, and organizations around the world. BlackSky is headquartered in Herndon, VA, and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange as BKSY. To learn more, visit www.blacksky.com and follow us on X.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws with respect to BlackSky. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “project,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “strategy,” “future,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections, and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this document. If any of these risks materialize or underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect our expectations, plans, or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this communication. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause their assessments to change. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date, and we do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Additional risks and uncertainties are identified and discussed in BlackSky’s disclosure materials filed from time to time with the SEC which are available at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov or on BlackSky’s Investor Relations website at https://ir.blacksky.com.

A Gen-3, unit four, very high-resolution image captured just days following launch displays the remarkable clarity and quality of the company’s best-in-class 35-centimeter imagery. Sharper imagery reduces ambiguity and contributes to better AI analytics development with stronger insights for end users. The BlackSky image details morning maritime port and railyard operations at Gqeberha, South Africa, on March 9, 2026 at 9:44 a.m.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — René Redzepi, founder and celebrity chef at the iconic Danish restaurant Noma that won three Michelin stars and other international accolades for its innovative “New Nordic” cuisine, has stepped down from his post following allegations of abuse and assault at the Copenhagen landmark.

Redzepi has been dogged for years by reports of mistreatment of his staff as well as his yearslong use of unpaid interns to staff the pricy restaurant, which was ranked first on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List five times. But the criticism recently came to a head on social media, and an article in the New York Times detailed former employees' accounts of abuse just days ahead of the opening of a Noma pop-up in Los Angeles.

Sponsors have since pulled their funding for the Southern California residency, which opened Wednesday to a small gathering of protesters and where a meal will cost diners $1,500. Redzepi announced his resignation on Instagram with a tearful video soon after.

“I have worked to be a better leader and Noma has taken big steps to transform the culture over many years,” he wrote in the post's caption Thursday. “I recognize these changes do not repair the past. An apology is not enough; I take responsibility for my own actions.”

Jason Ignacio White, a former head of Noma’s fermentation lab, collected anonymous testimonies of alleged abuse at the restaurant and posted them to his Instagram page. The accounts, which range from verbal abuse to physical assault at the hands of Redzepi and his deputies, have gone viral.

“I got punched in the face during service there,” one unnamed person wrote to White.

Another said: “Noma destroyed my passion for the industry. I struggled with intense anxiety, bad enough to give me panic attacks in the middle of the night. The trauma, abuse and idea that nothing would ever change all led me to walk away from the career.”

Redzepi has publicly addressed his aggression over the last decade. In response to Saturday's New York Times article, which included interviews with 35 former employees who worked at Noma between 2009 and 2017, the chef apologized on Instagram and said he has worked to change his behavior.

He was knighted in 2016 to Denmark's Order of Dannebrog by then-Queen Margrethe II.

Noma, Redzepi and the Danish royal family's press department did not immediately return requests for comment Thursday.

Kristoffer Dahy Ernst, editor in chief of Danish food magazine Gastro, said Redzepi had to step down for the restaurant to have a chance of survival.

“René Redzepi is the face of Noma, he is Noma,” Dahy Ernst told The Associated Press on Thursday. “If you want to solve the huge problem that Noma has right now, you have to remove the source of the problem.”

Still, Dahy Ernst said it's not clear whether Noma can continue without its visionary founder, who brought international acclaim to Denmark.

The Scandinavian country can trace a change in its gastro-tourism before and after the restaurant's 2003 opening. With its dedication to hospitality, flawless execution and culture of foraging from the nearby land and sea, Noma made Copenhagen a top dining destination for foodies worldwide.

Dazio reported from Berlin.

A staff member polishes the glass doors outside a Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, Tuesday, May 1, 2012. (Keld Navntoft/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Noma's chef René Redzepi smells a citrus fruit in Copenhagen, Nov. 24, 2024. (Soeren Bidstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Noma's chef René Redzepi prepares a vegetarian burger in a restaurant, in Copenhagen, Nov. 24, 2024. (Soeren Bidstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)