This is a very exciting time for the industry. I believe the future of Space is data driven, one where Cloud technology will be an indispensable element for operating in Space. In fact, that is exactly why Amazon Web Services (AWS) established its new Aerospace and Satellite business. We are excited to help companies reimagine how to build, access and operate Space systems on the Cloud. We have built a team that has expertise in every facet of the industry, from spacecraft design and launch to on-orbit operations and Space exploration. Collectively, our team has more than 400 years of hands-on experience in the Space industry.

In order to be successful in the future, satellite operators will need to be able to increase the rates at which they deliver high-precision data, reduce latency between the time data is collected and the time it is delivered, and reduce costs. For example, we see our AWS satellite operators growing the sizes of their constellations, which will help to improve revisit rates and deliver more data much more quickly. As customers build constellations with satellites in non-polar orbits, they can use AWS to efficiently process, store and analyze their data. AWS Ground Station enables customers to rapidly transform raw data and deliver it to end-users when and where they need it.

Technology innovation and commercialization of Space infrastructure

Last year, AWS started a brand new business segment committed to meeting the needs of our aerospace and satellite customers. The Space industry’s current growth is creating enormous opportunities and our AWS Aerospace and Satellite team is dedicated to supporting our customers and their long-term goals. AWS Cloud technology can help the customers address the following challenges:

• Reducing the cost of innovation: Space exploration requires extensive up-front capital expenditures, including on physical ground station environments and operations centers, as well as intricate control and guidance systems on spacecraft. We provide customers on-demand Cloud infrastructure and help them perform digital design, digital engineering and digital modeling and simulation.
• Securely managing and transforming data: AWS provides geospatial customers access to Cloud infrastructure, so that they can rapidly and reliably downlink, store and manage their satellite data collections. We also provide solutions to help customers apply Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to automate the enrichment and analysis of vast amounts of data quickly.
• Protecting valuable Space assets: Space assets provide vital information and services that positively contribute to our environment, economy and safety. As the number of satellites on orbit continues to grow, we know that Space traffic management and collision avoidance will become challenging for customers. Whether deconflicting thousands of satellite orbits or the thousands of pieces of debris tracked in orbit every day, the time-sensitive nature of this workload — coupled with the enormous complexity of orbital computations — is something that is perfectly suited for the advanced computational and analytical capabilities of the Cloud.

Geospatial platform: Near real-time location services

The Amazon Location Service makes it easier and more cost-effective for customers to add maps, tracking and other location-based features to Web, mobile and back-end applications. It provides access to high-quality data from trusted providers, including Esri and HERE Technologies, allowing customers to bring location-enabled applications to production quickly, securely and without the high cost of custom development.

“Space assets provide vital information and services that positively contribute to our environment, economy and safety.”

We are seeing just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to extracting actionable insights from geospatial data. The more we make Cloud-based solutions available in near real-time, the more we will see companies develop new and exciting ways to use that data — from city planning and environmental monitoring to economic forecasting and fish and wildlife management and everything in between.

Empowering customers’ capabilities and workflows

At AWS, 90% of what we build is driven by what customers tell us matters. The other 10% is things we hear from customers; they may not articulate exactly what they want, but we try to read between the lines and invent on their behalf. We put our team to work in solving our customers’ most difficult challenges. We are constantly collaborating with our geospatial customers and partners to understand their challenges and create new solutions. We developed AWS Snowmobile because it helped to solve a satellite customer’s pressing need for data transfer and storage. DigitalGlobe — now known as Maxar Technologies — became an early user of AWS Snowmobile, an Exabytescale data transfer service that customers use to move extremely large amounts of geospatial data to AWS.

It’s a similar story with AWS Ground Station, where customers told us they didn’t want to have to expend large amounts of fixed capital to generate satellite data. So, now they can focus solely on their mission — generating satellite data — and do so with greater flexibility and agility, at lower cost. We also understand that our customers need systems that are interoperable, and that they are interested in sharing data securely and seamlessly in support of complex missions. This is one reason why Amazon joined the Open Geospatial Consortium as a principal member. The membership will allow us to work with our customers and partners in a consensus-driven process to solve geospatial interoperability challenges.

Collaborative partnership with public sector

Building upon our strong relationships with our public sector customers, AWS sees tremendous opportunities to collaborate. We believe that the advances in Space will continue to be driven largely by innovation and best practices from the commercial Space industry, which will largely be driven by Cloud technologies.

We see NASA continuing to encourage collaboration opportunities for a variety of applications, including exploration to the Moon and Mars. Other parts of the US Government, such as the US Space Force, are also looking to transition satellite control networks to commercial providers. Around the globe, we see governments continuing to increase the amount of commercial Earth resources data they purchase. We expect these sorts of collaborations to continue. AWS can help enable our government customers to rapidly develop effective solutions by connecting them through our vast AWS Partner Network.