Spiral Blue delivers space LiDAR to UK company

By jnally on 1 April, 2026

Four people looking at the camera and smiling, with one of them holding the space LiDAR unit. — *Spiral Blue team members delivering the Australian-made LiDAR to Lodestar Space in the UK.*

Australian spacetech firm Spiral Blue says it is one step closer to its dream of developing a space-to-Earth orbital LiDAR system for Earth observation.

The company today announced its first international LiDAR export, a strategic sale to Lodestar Space in the UK.

With the first unit delivered, Spiral Blue says it is already accelerating the development of a next-generation version to meet Lodestar’s evolving mission requirements.

“Following the integration of Spiral Blue’s LiDAR into our sensor stack we have de-risked a crucial element in delivering persistent, co-orbital capabilities to safeguard critical orbital infrastructure,” said the CTO of Lodestar Space, Thomas Santini.

Spiral Blue says the sale also represents a pivot toward sustained international revenue and reinforces its reputation for delivering mission-critical space hardware.

One small step

While Lodestar Space plans to integrate Spiral Blue’s space LiDAR suite for space-to-space applications, e.g. orbital manoeuvring and proximity sensing operations, Spiral Blue has its sights firmly set on the space-to-Earth market.

The company sees it future in providing real-time, 3D topographic data of the entire planet from space, with a focus on foliage penetration.

Four people in lab coats looking at the space LiDAR system sitting on a table — *Spiral Blue’s LiDAR (foreground) being tested by Lodestar Space.*

“While this is one small step for us on a long journey to building LiDAR in space for Earth observation, it was critically important that we absolutely nailed this first step. And nailed it we have,” said the company’s CEO, Taofiq Huq.

Spiral Blue says it is already accelerating the next phase of its LiDAR roadmap, with a high-performance LiDAR iteration engineered for multi-kilometre scanning range currently in development.

On track for completion in the coming weeks, this enhanced capability will significantly broaden the operational envelope for Lodestar Space and cements Spiral Blue’s trajectory toward long-range orbital sensing.

The company’s space LiDAR technology builds on its expertise with space edge computing and machine learning, enabling high‑fidelity data to be processed on‑orbit before transmission to Earth.

To date, Spiral Blue has launched 10 space edge computers and delivered multiple GIS contracts using AI and machine learning.