BlackSky Technology Inc ( BKSY/WS ) shares are trading higher Thursday after the company was awarded a five-year contract to monitor global economic activity and military capabilities.

What Happened: The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) awarded BlackSky Technology ( BKSY/WS ) a multi-award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract worth up to $290 million over five years.

Under the contract, BlackSky ( BKSY/WS ) will monitor global economic and environmental activity and military capability using satellite imagery and AI-driven change-detection analytics.

The company expects to provide analytical services that detect and identify objects of interest such as aircraft, ships, vehicles and shipping containers. BlackSky ( BKSY/WS ) will also detect changes to the Earth such as deforestation, construction, mining, flooding and other phenomena that contribute to climate change or wildfires.

“The Luno A contract validates demand for BlackSky’s commercial real-time, AI-driven dynamic monitoring services at massive scale,” said Brian O’Toole, CEO of BlackSky Technology ( BKSY/WS ).

“BlackSky’s first-of-its-kind space-based intelligence system delivers answers to our customers’ most pressing questions at industry-leading speed and economics.”

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Luno A is the follow-on contract to the NGA’s $60 million Economic Indicator Monitoring contract which was originally awarded in 2021. The contract will also support the development of new and emerging products, data and services such as novel AI solutions.

“BlackSky’s commitment to automation across our entire architecture has had the cumulative effect of generating new, foundational machine learning tools for the U.S. government that will advance the key areas of focus for Luno A,” O’Toole added.

BKSY Price Action: BlackSky ( BKSY/WS ) shares were up 6.61% at $5.32 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.