Welcome to your weekly newsletter from satsearch
In these emails we share trending stories from the industry along with insights from our work building the global marketplace for space. Let's dive in and take a look at some of the developments that caught our eye in the last week.
Ursa Space announces $16 million in funding round led by Dorilton Ventures
Ursa Space, an American global satellite intelligence infrastructure company, announced the close of its series C round with $16 million in funding, led by Dorilton Ventures. Some of its other existing investors who participated in the round included Razor’s Edge Ventures, RRE Ventures, and Paladin Capital Group.
Currently, Ursa Space manages the world’s largest virtual constellation of satellite imagery from synthetic aperture radar (SAR), optical, and RF data vendors around the globe, containing over 10 million SAR images. With its new investment, Ursa Space plans to work towards developing solutions in response to rising customer demand for automated, scalable, analysis-ready satellite data. Find out more here.
The company will also expand its field sales organization to support newly emerging markets for earth observation data, such as supply chain optimization, logistics, and insurance.
SAR satellite imagery has recently changed the dynamics of the earth observation market. It has not only paved the way for more startups in the upstream segment, but has also provided opportunities for downstream companies. And with the growing complexities involved in developing, managing, and monitoring modern terrestrial infrastructures, ranging from cities to industrial plants, the demand for satellite imagery is rising. Companies like Ursa Space have entered the downstream market to coordinate purchases from hundreds of satellites, giving customers access to multiple image resolutions, frequencies, and price points to suit their needs.
LatConnect 60 to provide high-resolution EO analytics services to government and commercial clients in the agriculture sector
LatConnect 60 Pty Ltd, an Australian smart satellite provider, has entered into an agreement with DUG Technology (DUG) to provide high-resolution Earth Observation (EO) analytics services to the government and to commercial clients in the agriculture sector.
In this partnership, LatConnect 60 will leverage DUG’s expertise in providing reliable cloud-based high-performance computing (HPC) HPC via DUG McCloud, ensuring these advanced computing resources are accessible to support and deploy subscription-based agriculture monitoring solutions. Find out more here.
Cloud-based subscription platforms in the earth observation sector are providing greater ease for consumers accessing data for a wide variety of applications. To manage a smooth flow of information, the back-end infrastructure for cloud-based services has to be flexible and resilient, to ensure that the users are able to access data anytime and anywhere, irrespective of their location.
The inflexibility of other cloud providers was preventing LatConnect 60 from running their data processing workflows efficiently. Therefore, DUG’s cloud-based HPC service is designed to help LatConnect 60 to deploy more tailored, cost-effective, and efficient solutions.
Simultaneously, LatConnect 60 is commercializing its Plantation Analytics Reporting Service (PARS). PARS utilizes large amounts of multispectral and hyperspectral satellite imagery data to generate vegetation indices. Its latest agreement with DUG will further help the company to enhance PARS, dedicated to the agriculture sector.
|
|
Join us at 16:00 CEST on Wednesday 30th of March for a free demo on how to automate satellite missions
We're hosting a free live demo of MiRAGE, AIKO's satellite automation software package, with Paolo Madonia. MiRAGE is an advanced onboard software for satellite automation, developed to limit inefficiencies of the common human-centric approach to satellite operations (such as latency, limited communication windows, and long reaction times to events).
MiRAGE is designed to augment a satellite's ability to detect and react to unexpected events. It proactively sets mission goals and plans the mission schedule. MiRAGE allows the satellite to become entirely independent from ground control. In the event, Paolo will present MiRAGE's main features and discuss requirements compatibility and benefits.
Please click here to secure your free spot
|
|
|
PSN Group set become one of the biggest satellite capacity providers in Asia
Indonesia’s Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN) has recently ordered a high-throughput satellite (named ‘Nusantara Lima’) from Boeing, set for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in 2023.
The Nusantara Lima satellite aims to deliver 160 Gbps of capacity in Indonesia and across Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. About 80 Gbps will be used by BAKTI, an Indonesian government agency, for what it calls Hot Backup Satellite (HBS) to deliver services to remote places in Indonesia where terrestrial communications are unavailable.
The satellite will reportedly augment the capacity of the SATRIA-1 satellite. And with these two very high-throughput satellites (VHTS), PSN Group will become one of the biggest satellite capacity providers in Asia, with approximately 330 Gbps covering Indonesia and its surrounding areas. Find out more here.
To strengthen the ground segment of the Nusantara Lima satellite, PSN Group has selected Hughes Network System for the broadband network, and Kratos Communication to provide satellite spectrum monitoring and network management system. Simultaneously, the antenna and RF gateways are provided by both Kratos and PCCW Global. The satellite will have seven gateways and it will be hosted in several cities in the regions of Indonesia, including Banda Aceh, Bengkulu, Cikarang, Gresik, Banjarmasin, Tarakan, and Kupang.
Asia has been one of the most lucrative satellite markets for both regional and international companies in recent years. Firms such as SES also have a strong foothold in the market, alongside service providers like Hughes and ST Engineering iDirect. Considering Asia's recent transition from broadcasting to broadband, satellite companies are playing an important role to ensure the smooth roll out of high-quality broadband services in urban and rural areas. PSN Group’s VHTS capacity will not only serve the markets with traditional broadband services, but will also play a key role in hybrid connectivity verticals.
Kymeta and IP Access plan to deliver next-generation communication solutions to public safety agencies and first responders
Kymeta and IP Access have signed an agreement to co-develop and distribute optimized solutions to first responders across North America. The solutions will be delivered using Kymeta terminals, broadband, and LTE services.
The agreement will help combine Kymeta’s resilient and cost-effective, electronically-steered flat panel technology, with IP Access’ expertise in public safety networks for mobility and remote connectivity. It will utilize coverage and bandwidth on a jointly developed, multi-layered broadband network optimized specifically for public safety customers. Find out more here.
Kymeta’s u8 product family for mobile broadband communications offers a pathway to low Earth orbit (LEO) networks. Its electronically-steered flat panel technology will open a gateway of opportunities for new business, as well as help serve the rising demands of existing market verticals in the mobility, government, and defence sectors. The company also recently signed a distribution partner agreement with OneWeb to offer broadband connectivity services across the globe.
This distribution agreement will enable the company to resell OneWeb services in conjunction with fixed and mobility hardware solutions to government and commercial customers globally. The connectivity from OneWeb will complement Kymeta’s existing broadband geostationary orbit (GEO) and 4G cellular service offering. Find out more here.
Indra’s new satellite communications system will multiply the transmission capacity of large aircraft and drones
Indra, a leading Spanish technology company, is developing a satellite communications system that will enable large aircraft and drones to facilitate real-time data exchange, supporting missions offering bandwidths of up to 20 megabits per second.
The system will have a robust protection mode designed to resist many kinds of interference. It will also eliminate the well-known 'keyhole effect', which often makes it difficult to connect with geostationary satellites in areas close to the equator.
This advanced system capability could be critical for future drone systems, and will enable them to maintain connectivity with command centers, as well as with multiple land, naval and air platforms. Find out more here.
Long-range defense drones getting equipped with a satellite communications system are signaling a new wave of opportunities for commercial satellite companies providing services in the defense sector. The current market movements suggest that satellite systems will be crucial for defense drones, as the warfare technologies are advancing and integrating more space solutions in their respective operations.
SES and Tekever also recently demonstrated high-performance satellite connectivity using Tekever’s AR5, unmanned aircraft system (UAS), under the framework of the European Space Agency (ESA) program aimed at developing pooling and sharing systems. Find out more here.
Member news
A few stories from our valued members:
- Exotrail has been selected by the French space agency (CNES) to complete a research and technology study to optimize the operations of mega-constellations. The study will focus on mid and low-earth orbits where thousands of satellites are soon expected to be operational and propelled by electric propulsion. Find out more here.
- CubeSpace CEO, Mike-Alec Kearney, has been selected, among other distinguished thought leaders, to participate as a speaker at the Newspace Africa Conference 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya. Find out more here.
- Dimac Red team will be exhibiting at Fortronic, an electronics forum, on 12th and 13th April 2022. Find out more here.
- EOSOL team will present the latest developments in antennas at the EuCAP 2022 in Madrid from 27 March to 1 April. For more information, click here.
- Epsilon3 releases new customer-driven features for its software platform. To receive more insights on the latest features, click here.
- Infinity Avionics is recently recognized as the Start-up of the Year at the Australian Space Awards 2022 by Space Connect. For more information, click here.
- LeafSpace, Chief Strategy Officer Giovanni Pandolfi Bortoletto, will be one of the panelists at CYSAT in Paris (April 6 - 7, 2022). For more information, click here.
- Oxford Space Systems CEO Sean Sutcliffe and Business Development Manager Chris Bee will be attending the 37th Space Symposium from 4 to 7 April, 2022 in Colorado, USA. For more information, click here.
- The SIMBA CubeSat mission, using arcsec's ADCS, is getting a second mission extension. To receive more insights on the mission developments, click here.
- SATLANTIS CEO Juan Tomás Hernani communicates his vision of the Spanish innovation landscape and his insights on the present and future of the space industry in Spain, Europe, and the world, in the latest interview with Bankinter Innovation Foundation (Fundación Innovación Bankinter – FIBK). Find out more here.
- As a part of the stratospheric missions experiment, Scanway released a new WroSpace balloon mission. To receive more insights on the mission developments, click here.
- SkyFox Labs’ new flight and engineering CubeSat hardware is to become part of a new satellite project. Find out more here.
Job opportunities in the space industry
A list of job vacancies from companies participating in the satsearch membership program:
Our news
A few updates from satsearch:
Episode 33 of the Space Industry podcast is now live!
Laura Crabtree (former SpaceX Astronaut Trainer & CEO of Epsilon3) discusses the evolution of commercial human spaceflight. We cover:
- Commercial drivers in the human spaceflight (HSF) sector,
- The economic impacts of commercial providers on NASA’s future missions,
- How the various proposed private space stations are contributing to HSF demand, and
- Predictions on the evolution of the market in years to come
Find it now on all good platforms and here on our blog.
New article discussing on-board data processing (OBDP)
In an article on the satsearch blog last week we took a deep dive into OBDP, in collaboration with satsearch member Unibap. In the article we discuss:
- Some of the problems today's advanced satellites face,
- How OBDP can help solve them,
- Integration challenges for advanced payload processors, and
- We take a closer look at Unibap's various commercial and research missions in this field.
Click here to view the piece.
Share your thoughts on the space industry
As the landscape for space procurement is changing rapidly, satsearch is undertaking a study to canvas the status quo and provide insights into the general experiences of space engineers to the global community.
We would like to invite you to share your thoughts and experiences on procurement in today's commercial space industry in this short survey (should take no more than 5 minutes to complete). Click here to access.
Changelog
Here's our overview of recent updates to the global marketplace for space on satsearch.com:
Satsearch member updates:
Other updates:
|
|
|
|
