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Private company

RapidEye AG

Logo: RapidEye AG, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons3

German geospatial information provider

RapidEye AG was a German geospatial information provider focused on assisting in management decision-making through services based on their own Earth-observation imagery. The company operated a five-satellite constellation producing 5-meter resolution imagery that was designed and implemented by MacDonald Dettwiler (now MDA) of Richmond, Canada. Today, RapidEye refers to the constellation of 5 Earth-observation satellites owned by Planet Labs.2 It ceased to exist in 2013.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Dec 1998Founded1
  • HeadquartersBrandenburg an der Havel1
  • Legal formAktiengesellschaft1

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RapidEye AG was a German geospatial information provider focused on assisting in management decision-making through services based on their own Earth-observation imagery. The company operated a five-satellite constellation producing 5-meter resolution imagery that was designed and implemented by MacDonald Dettwiler (now MDA) of Richmond, Canada.2

The story

1996: The RapidEye business concept was designed by Kayser-Threde GmbH, based on a call for ideas from the DLR (German Aerospace Agency), on how to commercialize remote sensing in Germany.

1998: RapidEye was established as an independent company in Munich with seed financing from a few private investors and Vereinigte Hagelversicherung, a German agricultural insurance provider.

2004: In 2004, funding was secured for the RapidEye satellite constellation and ground segment with the help of the European Union, the State of Brandenburg (Germany), a banking consortium consisting of Commerzbank, EDC (Export Development Canada) and KfW Banking Group.

Through a contract with the CCC (Canadian Commercial Corporation) MDA was awarded the contract as the prime contractor to build RapidEye's satellite system.

Originally located in Munich, the company relocated 60 km southwest of Berlin to Brandenburg an der Havel in 2004.

2008: RapidEye earned ISO 9001:2000 certification in April from TÜV Nord. On 29 August 2008, a Dnepr rocket (a refurbished ICBM), was successfully launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan, carrying RapidEye's constellation of five Earth-observation satellites designed and implemented by MacDonald Dettwiler (now MDA) of Richmond, Canada.

2009: After the satellites completed their MPAR phase (consisting of testing and calibration) they became commercially operational in February 2009.

2011: RapidEye files for bankruptcy protection on 30 May.

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2011: Blackbridge Ltd. of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada acquired RapidEye AG on 29 August.

2012: On 18 December 2012 the company announced that it has successfully relocated the company headquarters to Berlin, Germany.

2013: On 6 November 2013 RapidEye officially changed its name to BlackBridge.

2014: Blackbridge Ltd. announced a new constellation called RapidEye+. The constellation was never developed.

2015: Planet Labs acquired RapidEye.

2020: In April 2020, Planet Labs retired the RapidEye constellation.

From Wikipedia’s article on RapidEye, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. Nov 6, 2013Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. Dec 1998Founded Founded1

Sources

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