COVID has accelerated a digital transformation across aerospace as well as many other industries, putting us several years ahead of where we otherwise expected to be on that journey. As organizations have pivoted quickly to respond, they have adopted Cloud to power remote work, tele-health, and distance learning. As a result, cloud computing is moving faster than ever before, helping to push collaboration and communication at scale.
More broadly, in the satellite industry, customers are seeing the value of the Cloud to collaborate, streamline operations, and grow and scale in response to evolving customer needs. One benefit of the AWS (Amazon Web Services) Cloud is its global network, which allows satellite customers to access their data when and where they need it most. Global connectivity enables global collaboration and global response.
Many satellite companies are turning to Cloud to create digital operations centers or transition their existing operations. Cloud capabilities, like high performance computing, help engineers streamline satellite design, development, and simulation, which allows them to continue product development and testing from any location.
It is also clear that the rapid innovation we see happening across the industry will require a skilled workforce if it is to be sustained.
Satellites are being used by more and more businesses, universities, and governments for a variety of applications, including weather forecasting, Earth imaging, and communications. To do this today, customers must build or lease ground antennas to communicate with the satellites. This is a significant undertaking and cost because customers often require antennas in multiple countries to download data when and where they need it, without waiting for the satellite to pass over a desired location. And the antennas are just the beginning of the infrastructure requirements: customers need servers, storage, and networking in close proximity to the antennas to process, store, and transport satellite data from the satellite, plus business workflows to organize, structure, and route the data before it can be used. This activity requires significant capital investments and operational costs.
AWS is helping lower this barrier to entry with AWS Ground Station, which lets customers control satellite communications, process data, and scale their operations without having to worry about building or managing their own ground station infrastructure. With AWS Ground Station, customers have direct access to the AWS Global Cloud Infrastructure, including over 200 AWS services and a low-latency global fiber network. Customers pay only for the actual antenna time used, and can rely on the global footprint of ground stations to download data when and where they need it.
Virtualized ground networks such as AWS Ground Station help customers uplink their Space data directly into the Cloud faster, and then process and transport that data around the world with low latency and a high level of security. This allows customers to reduce data processing and analysis times for use cases like weather prediction or natural disaster imagery from hours to minutes or seconds.
Due to the global nature of the Space industry, global collaboration is imperative for long-term success. We are seeing countries coordinate on Space policy around Space exploration initiatives. International agreements and partnerships can help to provide a safe environment for all nations to explore and use Outer Space. For example, as of January 2022, 16 countries had signed the Artemis Accords, an international agreement between governments participating in the Artemis Program, a NASA-led program to return humans to the Moon by 2025.
In this same spirit, AWS has developed statements of strategic intent with some countries, including Greece and Singapore. AWS is committed to supporting government and commercial customers around the world to achieve their Space goals. These international agreements include specific initiatives designed to support the growth, education, training and experience of professionals in the aerospace community.
We also recently announced Licensing Accelerator, a new feature for AWS Ground Station customers. AWS Ground Station is a managed service that lets customers control satellite communications, process satellite data, and scale their satellite operations. Licensing Accelerator, which is free of charge, removes the guesswork out of the spectrum licensing process and provides a guide that satellite operators can use to more efficiently secure the spectrum licenses they need for their operations and missions. AWS Ground Station customers simply come on board Licensing Accelerator, answer a few questions, and then they get a customized step-by-step guide with consolidated checklists, plus links to free resources, for their licensing needs. Leveraging the latest centrally located information provided by Licensing Accelerator, customers can launch and scale their spacecraft operations faster, mitigate launch delay risks, and reduce their capital spend.
Space data gives us detailed information about our planet, which we can only get from the vantage point of Space. Advanced Cloud tools, and resources such as the Registry of Open Data on AWS, provide valuable access and collaboration capabilities to a variety of organizations looking to study, understand, and protect our planet.
This information can help us improve life here on Earth. For example, scientists can study catalogues of satellite imagery to track changes in coastal erosion over time, or download information from orbiting satellites in real time to respond to flooding and severe storms. Government organizations, nonprofits, and commercial start-ups around the globe are using Earth Observation (EO) to help monitor extreme weather, safeguard water supplies, measure greenhouse gas emissions, improve crop yields, and more.
Over the past 10 years, the Space landscape has changed dramatically, creating an enormous need for innovation in Space-based missions. At AWS, 90 percent of what we build is a result of what customers ask for. We are constantly innovating along with them to enhance their missions.
AWS stands ready to help remove the limits to connect Space to Earth by re-imagining how organizations can access, operate, explore and further discover Space to build a better world.
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