Satellites & Earth observation
Maxar
Earth-imaging and satellite manufacturing group whose name was retired in October 2025, when its two halves became Vantor and Lanteris Space Systems.
Maxar Technologies was formed on 5 October 2017, when MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates completed its acquisition of the Earth-imaging company DigitalGlobe and the combined group listed in New York and Toronto. Headquartered in Westminster, Colorado, it sold high-resolution satellite imagery and built large spacecraft, and employed about 2,600 people at the end of 2024. The private equity firm Advent International took Maxar private in May 2023 in a deal valued at $6.4 billion, and in September 2023 the group was reorganised into two businesses: Maxar Intelligence, the imagery arm in Colorado, and Maxar Space Systems, the satellite factory in Palo Alto, California.
The imagery business flies the WorldView satellites. Its six WorldView Legion spacecraft, built by the group's own factory and originally targeted for launch in mid-2021, reached orbit roughly three years late: Legion 1 and 2 on 2 May 2024 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Legion 3 and 4 on 15 August 2024, and Legion 5 and 6 on 4 February 2025, all on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets. Legion sells imagery at 30 cm resolution, which Via Satellite reported in May 2024 was the sharpest then available commercially, and joined four older electro-optical satellites; Maxar said the completed constellation would revisit changing areas as often as every 20 to 30 minutes. An earlier satellite, WorldView-4, was lost in January 2019, with insurance covering only about a fifth of its launch cost.
The imagery has repeatedly put the company inside political disputes. On 7 March 2025 Maxar confirmed that "The US government has decided to temporarily suspend Ukrainian accounts in GEGD", cutting Kyiv off from the Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery programme as Washington paused intelligence sharing. Two months later ThePrint reported that orders for high-resolution images of Pahalgam, in Jammu and Kashmir, ran at about double the usual volume — at least 12 of them between 2 and 22 February 2025 — months before the April 2025 attack there, while noting that the data it saw did not show which company or country placed the orders. Maxar's head of corporate communications said Business Systems International, a Karachi reseller onboarded in early 2024 whose owner had pleaded guilty in the United States to illegally exporting computer equipment to Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission, "has not placed any tasking orders with Maxar of Pahalgam or the surrounding areas this year"; the reseller disappeared from Maxar's partner page hours after that reply.
The manufacturing half traces its lineage through Space Systems/Loral back to Philco in the 1950s, and is building the Power and Propulsion Element that will supply 60 kW of electrical power and solar-electric propulsion to NASA's Gateway station in lunar orbit. Both halves dropped the Maxar name on 1 October 2025: Maxar Intelligence became Vantor and Maxar Space Systems became Lanteris Space Systems, both still owned by Advent International. Lanteris did not stay in that portfolio for long. On 13 January 2026 Intuitive Machines said it had completed an $800 million purchase of the manufacturer, $450 million in cash and $350 million in its own shares, leaving Vantor as the part of the old Maxar that Advent still holds.
What they build and operate
- WorldView Legion · Constellation · Operational
Six imaging satellites selling 30 cm-resolution pictures, launched on Falcon 9 rockets between May 2024 and February 2025 and now operated by Vantor.[2][3][7] - WorldView and GeoEye satellites · Constellation · Operational
Four older electro-optical imaging satellites still in service, which the Legion constellation was built to augment.[3][7] - Power and Propulsion Element · Spacecraft · In development
Gateway module being built in Palo Alto for NASA, supplying 60 kW of electrical power and solar-electric propulsion to the lunar station.[10][8] - Lanteris satellite platforms · Platform · Operational
Three manufacturing lines: large geostationary spacecraft, the WorldView Legion-class Lanteris 500, and the Space Development Agency-class Lanteris 300.[9] - Tensorglobe · Platform
Vantor platform that fuses imagery with data from space, air, and ground sensors into an AI-ready model of the Earth.[7][11]
Milestones
- 05 October 2017
Formed when MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates completed its acquisition of DigitalGlobe.[1] - January 2019
Lost the WorldView-4 imaging satellite, with insurance covering only about a fifth of its launch cost.[1] - May 2023
Taken private by Advent International in a deal valued at $6.4 billion.[1][9] - September 2023
Reorganised into two businesses: Maxar Intelligence in Colorado and Maxar Space Systems in California.[1] - 02 May 2024
Launched the first two WorldView Legion satellites on a Falcon 9, about three years after the original mid-2021 target.[3][2] - 04 February 2025
Completed the six-satellite WorldView Legion constellation with the launch of Legion 5 and 6.[2] - 07 March 2025
Confirmed that the US government had temporarily suspended Ukrainian accounts in the Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery programme.[4] - 10 May 2025
Denied that its Karachi reseller had ordered Pahalgam imagery after ThePrint reported a spike in such orders, and delisted the firm from its partner page.[6][5] - 01 October 2025
Retired the Maxar name: Maxar Intelligence became Vantor and Maxar Space Systems became Lanteris Space Systems.[7] - 13 January 2026
Intuitive Machines said it had completed its $800 million purchase of Lanteris Space Systems, the former Maxar Space Systems.[9]
Facilities
- Westminster headquarters · Westminster, Colorado, United States
Maxar's head office and the base of the imagery business now trading as Vantor.[1] - Palo Alto satellite factory · Palo Alto, California, United States
Spacecraft plant of Maxar Space Systems, now Lanteris, where NASA's Gateway Power and Propulsion Element is being built.[8][1]
Leadership
- Dan Smoot
Chief executive officer, Maxar Intelligence (as of 02 May 2024)[3][1] - Chris Johnson
President, Lanteris Space Systems, formerly chief executive of Maxar Space Systems (as of 13 January 2026)[9][1] - Peter Wilczynski
Chief product officer, Vantor (as of 01 October 2025)[7]
Sources
WikipediaMaxar Technologiesen.wikipedia.org
WikipediaWorldView Legionen.wikipedia.org
Via SatelliteMaxar's First 2 WorldView Legion Satellites Launch After Years of Delayssatellitetoday.com
Arab NewsUS aerospace firm Maxar disables satellite photos for Ukrainearabnews.com
ThePrintOrders for Pahalgam satellite images from US firm peaked two months before attacktheprint.in
ThePrintPahalgam satellite images: BSI Pakistan no longer on Maxar sitetheprint.in
Breaking DefenseMaxar splits into Vantor and Lanteris after acquisitionbreakingdefense.com
InnovationMapIntuitive Machines to acquire Lanteris Space Systems for $800Mhouston.innovationmap.com
Via SatelliteIntuitive Machines Completes Lanteris Space Systems Acquisitionsatellitetoday.com
NASAA Powerhouse in Deep Space: Gateway's Power and Propulsion Elementnasa.gov
VantorOfficial sitevantor.com
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