For many decades, satellite images have played an important role in the arena of national security. However, Intelligence teams have been hampered by long processing times, ad hoc information sources, and delays in inbound intelligence. This sort of problem can hinder decision makers considerably during the fast moving circumstances of military operations.
CATALYST, an earth observation analytic firm backed by over 40 years of experience, announced today that it has launched a new service designed to close that gap. The new service, INSIGHTS: Horizon is a rapid intelligence platform designed for those defense and governmental agencies which have need for real time monitoring across land and maritime borders.
The new platform serves to convert satellite imagery into usable intelligence in a matter of minutes helping the Intelligence Analysts to spot, track and react fare more quickly to emergent situations than can possibly be realized via traditional means.
Turning Space Data Into Action
Historically, surveillance operations have suffered from limited platforms and slow data pipelines and supply lines, leading to certain areas being left with rather serious blind spots particularly over water, coastal regions and border areas. INSIGHTS: Horizon seeks to change this.
It processes images from nearly any commercial or governmental satellite constellations and processes the data using AI-driven processes, effectively looking at many different sectors of the world at the same time. This gives defense agencies the abilityto observe several areas of high priority at the same time, flagging up anomalies immediately they appear and moving resources as necessary into position to co-ordinate an endeavor faster into position.
“In today’s complex security environment, the speed at which intelligence reaches decision-makers can mean the difference between mission success and failure,” said June McAlarey, CEO of CATALYST. “INSIGHTS: Horizon was purpose-built to shorten the TCPED cycle, giving defense organizations rapid, reliable intelligence in real time.”
Capabilities Designed for Today’s Security Landscape
INSIGHTS: Horizon backs maritime and land-based operations by delivering real-time tracking of vessels, border activity monitoring, and pattern analysis to identify unusual behavior. It can detect and classify vessels including those operating without AIS signals via the integration of radar and maritime data.
The platform also affords oversight into remote border corridors by tracking vehicle and personnel movements, comparing current activity against the historical pattern to identify irregularities that can be quickly flagged. It is sensor agnostic, allowing for the SAR, optical and aerial imagery to be integrated no matter the source, and can be deployed in the cloud, on-premises, or at the edge, depending upon the mission needs.
CATALYST indicates that the system can process an entire month of ship detection data across four major ports identified in less than a minute, showing both scale and speed.
Rising Demand Amid Geopolitical Shifts
The launch comes at a time when governments are placing stronger emphasis on sovereign intelligence capabilities, especially in regions that are facing heightened maritime and border tensions.
CATALYST is already collaborating with Ministries of Defense and intergovernmental organizations across Canada and Europe, with growing interest emerging from Central and Eastern European countries near active conflict zones.
“The current gepolitical landscape has created an urgent need for sovereign intelligence,” said a CATALYST executive. “INSIGHTS: Horizon provides a deployable, customizable solution without requiring agencies to build new systems from scratch.”
A Legacy of Technical Depth
While the service itself is new, it builds on decades of Earth observation research and operational experience. CATALYST’s processing algorithms are already in use within commercial maritime intelligence platforms, supporting dark vessel tracking and large-scale surveillance missions.
As the global demand for real-time situational awareness continues to rise, CATALYST’s mission remains straightforward: enable defense organizations to see more, act faster, and make decisions with confidence.
This article includes a client of an Espacio portfolio company
