Satellites power multiple sectors, and are at the core of modern economy. As the pace of digitalization accelerates, there would be a further spike in their demand and utility.
By 2030, over 1700 satellites would be launched daily, according to Euroconsult estimates. This would lead to a rapid increase in investments for satellites.
“The race is heating up to rapidly deploy commercial mega constellations for broadband communications, and new constellations for real-time observation of the Earth”, says the report.
The World Satellite Business Week, organized annually in Paris by Euroconsult, is the premier forum for interactions, idea sharing, and broad discussions on the defining trends and shifts underway in the global satellite market.
With 200+ speakers, 100+ partners, and more than 1000 participants, this year’s event has been a roaring success. There have been dedicated summits on satellite financing, Earth Observation, as well as a lot of other pertinent themes.
The attendees were from the entire gamut of the satellite value chain, including key user segments. Insightful deliberations over the week provided a lot of food for thought.
Here’s a wrap-up of the key announcements at the week-long summit:
IT Eyes Space
IT giant Accenture announced an investment and collaboration with Open Cosmos, the UK based space tech company that focuses on the design, manufacturing and integration of satellites. Open Cosmos builds and operates space missions, providing access to high quality satellite data and insights on a global scale via a data services platform.
The two companies will help clients track and analyze data found in space in order to help solve business challenges found on Earth, particularly related to sustainability. Accenture Ventures led the investment as part of its broader Project Spotlight initiative.
“This investment and collaboration with Accenture will help us achieve our goal of simplifying access to space using smaller satellites and ensure that a greater number of organizations all over the world can benefit from the richness of satellite data to improve sustainability, logistics and other global and business challenges”, says Rafel Jorda Siquier, Founder and CEO, Open Cosmos.
“Accenture sees a future where every company is able to tap into the vast potential of data captured in space in order to push past the boundaries of the possible and find new sources of innovation,” adds Tom Lounibos, Managing Director, Accenture Ventures.
“Although access to this data has traditionally been limited and costly, Open Cosmos removes these barriers with satellites that launch quickly and simply, providing fast access to data on climate changes, energy, resources, navigation and more.
Coming Together
Satellogic, a high-res EO data provider, joined hands with SkyWatch, the Canadian remote sensing data company. The collaborations aims to bring bring Satellogic’s highest resolution commercially available EO data to EarthCache customers.
Caitlin Kontgis, Senior Vice President, Commercial and Growth, Satellogic, deemed the partnership between the two companies a natural fit. Satellite has its own constellation of high-res EO satellites and is working towards global daily remaps.
“EO data from Satellogic is now available to the thousands of organizations that depend on SkyWatch for their remote sensing needs,” said James Slifierz, SkyWatch’s CEO and co-founder.
Geospatial Marketplace + Space Radar
UP42, the Airbus backed geospatial marketplace, and Umbra, an advanced space radar technology also joined hands at the summit.
Umbra’s direct tasking capabilities with the highest resolution SAR data will now be available via the UP42 marketplace.
UP42 tasking, equipped with advanced capabilities such as order tracking, automated delivery, and support for complex and multi-geometry AOIs. In addition, Umbra’s tasked data is managed in UP42’s STAC-compatible storage, simplifying the search and management of data for easier processing and integrations.
“We need partners who can educate the forefront of those adopting this technology in their daily workflows. UP42 is an incredibly technically focused team (both in remote sensing and software) that can consult on real applications–and that’s where we see the biggest growth in the future”, says Joe Morrison, CEO, Umbra.
UP42’s customers will harness Umbra’s high-resolution SAR data’s superior image quality and advanced data processing techniques. This would include resolution of up to 25 cm, and frequent revisit rates of 6-12 hours, depending on latitude–crucial for disaster monitoring, security, and agriculture. There would also be an open license under a Creative Commons authorization.
Starlink All Over
Satcom is an area to watch out for. The three main players in this segment are Elon Musk backed Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kupier, and Airtel backed OneWeb. However, as of now, Starlink is ahead of its rivals with most satellites in orbit.
Post the invasion of Ukraine, Starlink garnered applause by provide satellite internet to Ukraine, which considerably helped the embattled country.
At the discourse on connectivity, ground infra, and regional operators, Starlink was conspicuous. Though it remains to be seen who will succeed in delivering the most extensive satellite internet connectivity to the remotest corners, as of now, most bets are hedged towards Starlink.
Capacity Building
When it comes to regional satellite programs, technical know-how, financial wherewithal, and industry partnerships are crucial, along with the ability to fine-tune and adapt best global practices into the regional context. This requires capacity building as well as segmentation.
“LEOs don’t actually serve the capacities that we want because they are scattered quite thinly around the world. We need certain capacities in certain areas of certain parts of the country —it’s not a total solution,” says Thaicom CEO Patompob (Nile) Suwansiri.
A Via Satellite article by Rachel Jewett cites a regional group including Thaicom, Nigcomsat etc that regional knowledge is vital.
