The Department of Defense awarded millions to enhance space-based LiDAR development.
NUVIEW announced it has been awarded an additional $5 million from the Department of Defense’s National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC) program to enhance the development of its pioneering space-based LiDAR payloads.
This funding builds on earlier NSIC investment and advances NUVIEW’s mission to deliver high-resolution, 3D mapping of Earth from orbit, supporting applications critical to national security, economic competitiveness, and environmental resilience.
The award will enable rapid prototyping of NUVIEW’s enhanced LiDAR payload, a critical step toward delivering the company’s first commercial space-based LiDAR system. Once operational, the payload will establish the foundation for NUVIEW’s planned constellation, providing persistent, high-resolution 3D data for civil, commercial, and defense customers worldwide.
The U.S. government has underscored the growing importance of advanced commercial sensing technologies, with LiDAR increasingly recognized as a critical capability for intelligence, defense, and scientific applications. This latest award positions NUVIEW to deliver against those priorities and ensures the United States leads in the development of space-based LiDAR.
“This NSIC award marks an inflection point for NUVIEW and the future of Earth observation,” said Clint Graumann, CEO of NUVIEW. “As Senator Rick Scott emphasized on the Senate floor in July 2024, the Department of Defense must prevent the procurement of Chinese LiDAR and support efforts to enhance U.S. commercial space-based LiDAR capabilities. At the same time, agencies such as the NRO have signaled the growing importance of commercial sensing technologies like LiDAR for national security. This award enables NUVIEW to advance our payloads in direct response to those priorities, while simultaneously opening new commercial markets for global 3D data. Our constellation will provide an unprecedented capability: high-resolution, three-dimensional mapping of the entire Earth at scale.”
Based in Orlando, Florida, NUVIEW is building the world’s first commercial LiDAR satellite constellation, designed to map the entire planet in 3D and provide a continuously updated global point cloud from space.
