Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1353955
MXR-CS-ALCIS 12/20 Shaping the future of in-depth In the words of former U.S. Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, there are three types of information: known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. In this case, the labs were known knowns, the impact of the MOAB strike was known unknown, and the solar- powered farms were the unknown unknowns. Thanks to the brilliant work of our partner Alcis, counter-narcotics teams now have new, valuable insights to identify and tackle illicit crop supply chains more effectively. And this is just one example of how Alcis is leveraging the quality of our satellite imagery technology to extract critical information. info@maxar.com maxar.com Step three: find the source With new imagery, Alcis continues to deepen its analysis of the heroin supply chain. The supply chain starts with the cultivation of opium poppy. This illicit crop is most commonly grown in remote, desert areas. However, in order to obtain water in such arid locations, one must dig for water and pump it out of the ground. Pumps require diesel fuel which costs money. However, aer receiving reporting from its research partners that farmers were beginning to adopt solar panels to pump water and avoid high diesel fuel costs, Alcis was able to explore Maxar satellite imagery and found something very unusual. Over time, there was wide, significant and increasing adoption of this green technology by large numbers of remote, desert based households. Together, Alcis and Maxar are helping non- traditional imagery users keep up with the speed of change by making geospatial data and insights more accessible. "Maxar imagery and SecureWatch made this all possible - we had instant access to the imagery we needed every step of the way." — Richard Brittan Managing Director, Alcis Figure 3. Maxar multispectral imagery can detect a long list of manmade materials, like material, found in solar panels. Figure 4. Maxar multispectral imagery can detect a long list of manmade materials, like material, found in solar panels.