Dragonfly Aerospace

Dragonfly Aerospace designs and manufactures compact high-performance satellite imagers, optical payloads, satellite buses and complete imaging satellites for CubeSat, small satellite and microsatellite Earth observation missions. The company is headquartered at Techno Park in Stellenbosch, South Africa, where its manufacturing facility has large clean rooms and test and development facilities. It follows a vertically integrated approach with in-house control of all satellite subsystems, and aims to produce up to 48 satellites of 200 kg a year. Its name refers to the dragonfly's compound eye: large constellations of imaging satellites viewing the Earth from many angles at once.

Satellite cameras

Dragonfly cameras provide RGB, multispectral and hyperspectral imagery with up to 0.7 m ground sampling distance at nadir from 500 km. The payloads are designed for smallsats of 50 to 150 kg and CubeSats from 1U to 6U, with swath widths from 11 to 80 km, five or more spectral channels and large integrated high-speed data storage. The range covers high-resolution microsatellite cameras and large imagers for microsatellites, using standard and custom lens shapes built to withstand launch and orbital conditions.

Satellites and buses

• KomodoSat, offering ground sampling distance and swath that compete with larger imaging systems, for Earth observation and space situational awareness
• RaptorSat, the flagship high-resolution Earth observation satellite with panchromatic and multispectral imaging for urban planning, environmental monitoring and precision agriculture
• Dragonfly-C, a versatile platform for medium-sized payloads
• The eta Dragonfly bus for nanosatellites

Its buses carry electro-optical and SAR payloads for scientific, civil and commercial applications.

Missions

EOSSAT-1, equipped with Dragonfly imaging technology, was launched on 3 January 2023 as the first of a seven-satellite agriculture-focused constellation in low Earth orbit. Dragonfly also supplies the CloudCT mission, an international project studying the interior of clouds, and has signed a memorandum of understanding with KP Labs on AI-enabled Earth observation missions.

Shows

Dragonfly Aerospace appears in the exhibitor and sponsor lists of the Small Satellite Conference 2027 (refreshment break sponsor), SmallSat Europe 2027 and Space Tech Expo Europe 2026.

Contact

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