Global Satellite Earth Observation Market Worth
ESA -The European Space Agency – October 13th 2021. According to the latest report from the Geospatial Industry Outlook and Readiness Index, GeoBuiz, the Earth observation industry as a whole is estimated to have been worth almost US $58 billion in 2019, rising to almost US $76 billion in 2020. Moreover, it is thought that this steep rise merely marks the beginning of bigger things to come. The Earth observation data and service market has been witnessing a high growth rate owing to significant demand for applications such as disaster management, agriculture, cartography, and natural resources survey.
In addition, with respect to Europe industry, the 2021 survey published by the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies, EARSC, indicates that in 2020 there was a 24% growth in the number of companies associated with the Earth observation industry, as well as a 24% increase in revenue and a 17% rise in employees, compared to 2019.
Airbus is entering a whole new sustainable era
Airbus is now the go-to supplier for end-to-end Earth observation satellite systems and High-Altitude Platform Stations. Its comprehensive portfolio means Airbus is able to provide the right satellite and system for every customer – whether they need a weather-independent data source, a small constellation for high-frequency revisits, very high-resolution imagery or even all of the above (and more) in a single system.
January 21st, 2021 – SSC (Swedish Space Corporation) and Airbus Defence & Space Netherlands (Airbus DS NL) have signed an MOU for collaborative activities regarding ground equipment for space-to-ground optical communication. The agreement will accelerate the development of commercially viable optical ground stations that will be offered by Airbus DS NL and used by SSC in delivering ground network services.
One of the collaborative activities in developing this capability includes optical communication tests against the CubeLCT optical terminal on the Photo Images Cross Laser (PIXL-1) Mission, organised in close co-operation with project partner TESAT. PIXL-1.
“Airbus Netherlands will be an important partner as SSC continues to add optical communication solutions to our global network of ground stations. Their modern infrastructure and industry-leading knowledge will be a vital contribution to our service offering”, says Stefan Gardefjord, CEO at SSC.
Optical communication between ground stations and satellites in orbit enables broadband connectivity via space, providing a secure and efficient solution for the fast-growing worldwide demand for data.
“Optical communication will be a game changer in this era in which we increasingly share data. We have a strong desire to work with Swedish Space Corporation to further build up our capabilities for optical ground stations, as they have been at the forefront of ground stations services for decades”, says Maarten Schippers, CEO at Airbus Defence & Space Netherlands.
Something to note, currently about 95% of Airbus Defense & Space revenue is coming from outside of the “home countries” where Airbus has an established presence.
Challenges and Opportunities of Big Satellite Data
Multitemporal imagery processing requires significant computational resources and wide bandwidth for data downloading. So it could be done efficiently only in cloud environment, like Google Earth Engine or Amazon, when you do not waste time for data downloading and the processing could be efficiently parallelized. European Space Agency also moves at similar direction. It envisages the development of the cloud infrastructure for Copernicus Data and Information Access Services Operations (DIAS). Such cloud-based infrastructure should be launched in operational way in early 2018.
Cloud platforms are also the solution for scaling the small area applications and methods. They allow to estimate the efficiency of known methods and to implement parallelization in most effective way. Nice example of such solution is LandViewer, which provides on-the-fly analysis and downloading of satellite data for the area of interest. LandViewer is really suitable for quick data accessing as well as for products validation at a glance.
So, things are changing very fast. And what was the problem yesterday becomes an opportunity tomorrow.
Getting the data via OneAtlas
Airbus aims to address that with their OneAtlas platform, which offers the opportunity to access, process and analyze their data, and use it to develop new solutions. In addition to allowing users the option of browsing satellite data archives and tasking satellites, it also features predefined analytical models—for example, infrastructure change detection, vehicle detection, aircraft detection, and land-use change detection, among others. See ilustrated examples on the YouTube video below:
The AIRBUS CONSTELATTION is divided in the following groups:
- Pléiades Neo – The most advanced optical technology – Four identical 30cm resolution satellites with ultimate reactivity and very high resolution
- Pléaiades – The identical Pléiades 1A and Pléiades 1B satellites deliver 50cm optical imagery
- SPOT – Designed to efficiently cover huge areas in record time.
- RADAR – The Radar Constellation comprises TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X and PAZ and delivers high-resolution radar data in flexible acquisition modes.
- DMC – The DMC Constellation acquires multispectral imagery at 22m resolution and provides rapid repeat coverage of the largest countries, regions and even continents.
- Vision -1 – It provides 1m high-resolution imagery with full end-to-end mission operation services. It is particularly suited for defence, security, maritime and agriculture applications.
With proprietary access to Pléiades, SPOT, Vision-1 and DMC Constellation optical satellites as well as the Radar Constellation (consisting of TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X and PAZ), extensive portfolio spans the entire geo-information value chain and is unrivalled in the marketplace.
And we are continuously expanding our constellation to deliver even better data solutions. With the upcoming launch of the Pléiades Neo constellation, we will be able to provide our customers with even more coverage and high resolution at 30cm resolution and intra-daily revisit.
Airbus constellation provides decision makers with integrated, sustainable solutions to increase security, optimise mission planning and operations, boost operational performance, improve management of resources and protect our environment.
To continuously reinforce its leading position in Earth Observation, AIRBUS is preparing the future with further extensions of our constellation through the CO3D, the Zephyr and the TerraSAR-X Neo programmes.
Pléiades Neo 4, the second of four planned high-resolution imagery satellites built and operated by Airbus Defense and Space, entered service Dec. 15th 2021, free from an issue that prompted an insurance claim for Pléiades Neo 3. The last two satellites of the Pléiades Neo constellation are set to launch in 2022, on the next-generation Vega C launch vehicle. The completed four-satellite constellation will allow for daily imaging between two and four times a day. These new satellites will work with the existing Pléiades satellites and the rest of the Airbus EO satellite fleet.
Francois Lombard, Airbus Defense and Space head of intelligence, told SpaceNews that Pléiades Neo 4 “is fullfilling all expected performance specifications” as it begins commercial operations four months after its mid-August launch aboard a Vega rocket, from Kouru.
However, an equipment issue onboard Pléiades Neo 3 prompted Airbus to file a partial insurance claim soon after the satellite’s late April launch, according to an industry source.
“It hasn’t impacted service [enabling the company to] respect all our service agreements and commitments,” he said, adding that “there are some marginal effects that we could manage” within the wider four-satellite constellation.
Airbus Defense and Space has signed more than $500 million in imagery orders to date for the constellation, according to Lombard.
The company announced Dec. 15 that PASCO Corporation, a Japanese geospatial solutions provider, signed a distribution agreement with the constellation for services in Japan.
Airbus Defence and Space has entered into a partnership with Orbital Insight, a U.S.-based geospatial analytics company, to build a suite of geospatial analytics services and tools. The agreement will provide Orbital Insight with access to Pléiades and SPOT satellite imagery at scale and provide Airbus with analytics services, making Orbital Insight the first analytics partner for the Airbus Digital Platform, “OneAtlas.”
The OneAtlas Platform is a collaborative environment enabling users to easily access constantly updated satellite imagery, perform large-scale image processing, extract industry-specific insights, and benefit from Airbus assets to develop tailored solutions for a wide range of markets in both commercial and government sectors.
Microsoft also recently partnered with Airbus Defense and Space on the constellation to give customers of Azure Maps, Microsoft’s geospatial services platform, access to the high-resolution satellite imagery and elevation data.
Airbus Defence & Space said Pléiades Neo 4 has successfully doubled the coverage its 30-centimeter native resolution constellation provides to around one million square kilometers a day.
The final two satellites in the constellation are currently in qualification tests ahead of their launch on an upgraded Vega C next year, Lombard said.
The four Pléiades Neo are identical to each other apart from the laser links that will be fitted onto the two coming next year, enabling the constellation to increase data transmission speeds for ordering and downloading imagery.
Airbus Defence and Space says the full constellation will be able to cover the entire Earth landmass five times per year, supplemented by synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) and lower resolution optical spacecraft that the company also operates.
Before Pléiades Neo became operational, the company says only U.S.-based Maxar Technologies had been offering commercial customers 30-centimeter resolution imaging with its WorldView constellation.
Peru Sat-1
In 2014, the Peruvian Space Agency CONIDA selected Airbus as the sole prime contractor for the PerúSAT-1 Earth observation satellite programme (launched in 2016) following a government-to-government agreement between Peruvian and French authorities. As the contract included an in-orbit delivery of its first satellite, Airbus contracted Arianespace to launch PerúSAT-1 on a Vega launcher from Kourou in French Guiana, which placed the satellite in its sun-synchronous polar orbit approximately 700 km above the Earth. PerúSAT-1 is based on Airbus Defence and Space’s AstroBus-S platform: the latest generation of high-end satellites designed for a 10-year lifetime.
Pléiades Neo
The possibilities of what can be achieved with the use of Earth Observation have just become much more interesting. In November 2021, Airbus announced the availability for commercial operations of its second Pléiades Neo 30cm-resolution satellites—the most advanced, very-high-resolution optical constellation to date.
In the competitive 30cm resolution landscape, Pléiades Neo seems to be ahead of the industry in nearly every aspect, such as spatial, spectral, temporal, and positional resolution. Arguably the most exciting aspect, however, is the visual quality of the data, which is simply stunning. The images are razor-sharp—to the extent that for many use cases they are comparable to aerial data, rather than that of other satellite constellations.
In terms of technical specs, Pléiades Neo offers 30cm panchromatic resolution, with 1.2m resolution images in multispectral channels, over a 14-kilometre swath. The panchromatic images can be retrospectively colourized based on multispectral data, and oblique views can be orthorectified where data applications require a nadir (optimal, sub-satellite) view. In terms of spectral channels, Pléiades Neo has six multispectral bands: Deep Blue, Blue, Green, Red, Red Edge, Near-infrared.
Source: GEO Article about Pléiades Neo
The new business model for satellite launch
Airbus has been one of the pioneers of the space industry, providing satellite imagery for more than 35 years. Perhaps not surprisingly, the business model of providing satellite imagery has evolved a lot in that time, but because it’s such a huge project, launching a satellite has historically been a joint venture of some combination of companies, organizations, and governments. Pléiades Neo, therefore, represents the second time (after SPOT 6) that Airbus has funded and launched an end-to-end constellation entirely independently. This gave the company full control over the entire process from creating the satellite hardware and sensors onboard, operating the ground stations which download the data, post-processing the data, and offering the data to clients via OneAtlas.
Owning the entire value chain offers new technology and business model opportunities, as well as reducing the dependency on governments (for example), which means that we are likely to see far more innovative uses of this data—as well as greater data availability more generally.
Airbus and Orbital Insight Partner
Airbus Defence and Space has entered into a partnership with Orbital Insight, a U.S.-based geospatial analytics company, to build a suite of geospatial analytics services and tools. The agreement will provide Orbital Insight with access to Pléiades and SPOT satellite imagery at scale and provide Airbus with analytics services, making Orbital Insight the first analytics partner for the Airbus Digital Platform, “OneAtlas.”
In january 2021, SSC and Airbus Defence and Space Netherlands (Airbus DS NL) have signed an MOU for collaborative activities regarding ground equipment for space-to-ground optical communication. The agreement will accelerate the development of commercially viable optical ground stations that will be offered by Airbus DS NL and used by SSC in delivering ground network services.
See MEREGE´s SMART FARMING Business Case
Check it out for Brazilian 1st geostationary satellite (there will be 3) for both Defense and general Telecom purposes, up and running since 2017:
Business Case TELEBRAS / FAB “SGDC-1 / SGDC-2”
Further than the government & Defense constellations, The Brazilian satellite launching plans now unfolds through private launching as well, hence a complete, consistent and flexible TT&C service offer would be necessary to get along. Note that SGDC satellites count on an exclusive high-end TT&C facility that no other Brazilian private satellite could use: “SGDC-1 / SGDC-2 COPE TT&C plus gateways network”
Combining those opportunities with the best launching location in the World, it results a very attractive scenario. Please, also check it out for the ALCANTARA launching base / space center:
Business Case FAB / AEB “ALCANTARA”
Check it out for CBERS case, the long-term Brazil-China partnership for building and launching satellites, that has been running since 1988:
Business Case INPE REMOTE SENSE SATELLITE “CBERS”
Check it out for AMAZONAS-1 case, 1st satellite fully built in Brazil:
Business Case INPE REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE “AMAZONIA-1”
Check it out for CARPONIS-1 (To be launched), 1st High Resolution imaging satellite in Brazil:
Business Case FAB, HR REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE – “CARPONIS-1”
Through a combined Defense / Aerospace / Telecom effort, Brazil is developing very complex and sophisticated projects to cover its gigantic borders, both terrestrial and maritime, longest continuous frontiers in the world. Please, check it out through the cases below:
Unfolding relationships previously developed, MEREGE partners were able to quickly build a specific network that would permeates the capillarity of TELECOM & IT, plus AEROSPACE & DEFENSE sectors.
If those business opportunities would suit your interest, MEREGE would be more than glad to bridge you into this arena.
Further more, MEREGE Legal & Regulatory team has a long and vast knowledge plus the legal experience on the related sectors, hence able to help your company to set a safe and strong grip to those promissing markets.
Always count on MEREGE Consulting Partners to reach out to the right people at the right time.
