GEOINT 2026 | Scot Currie & Jim Zinter - Blacksky

Speed and resolution define the new baseline for tactical earth observation. At the GEOINT 2026 Symposium in Denver, Project Geospatial caught up with former intelligence veterans Scot Currie and Jim Zinter to explore how BlackSky is altering the current landscape of commercial remote sensing.

In this blog post, we look at the rapid expansion of BlackSky's satellite network, highlighting the transition from 1-meter resolution to their striking new 35cm Gen 3 satellites—the exact spatial sweet spot demanded by federal analysts. We also explore the unique geospatial utility of extreme 30-to-60 degree off-nadir (oblique) imagery for building dense 3D models, how in-house AI algorithms automate the counting of tactical objects, and how their user-facing Spectra platform enables rapid satellite tasking in just three simple clicks.