ROOM
32
Astronautics
Space without satellites
Some start-ups do not plan to fly their own
satellites: Orbital Insights, based in Palo
Alto, recently received US$20 million in new
investment, including US$5 million from In-Q-
Tel, the investment arm of the US intelligence
community. Orbital Insights gathers its data
through contracts with EO data owners and the
start-up develops software to extract insights
from satellite and aerial imagery.
Another example, SpaceKnow, also based in
Silicon Valley, uses space imagery and other data
sources to track global economic trends through
its Analytics-as-a-Service products. SpaceKnow
SMI (China Satellite Manufacturing Index) is the
first trading index based on satellite data to be
featured on the Bloomberg Terminal.
Next steps
The EO landscape may radically change in the
coming years. While some experts warn about a
possible new internet ‘bubble’, two considerations
moderate the relevance of this analogy.
First, technology has evolved and new
small satellites have improved in terms of
performance/cost and performance/size
ratios. Some (although not all) technological
obstacles tend to disappear or to be of less
crucial importance for the design of space and
ground systems.
Second, comparing support from the web
industry in the 1990s with today gives a clear
indication of the huge progress made and the
financial and industrial strategies regarding
its massive requirements for broadband
telecommunication, location-based services and
information dissemination worldwide.
The usual suspects and the new entrants
implement specific, non-exclusive strategies:
• The ‘high end approach’, with increased
imagery resolution for customers
acknowledging the value of these products:
a significant percentage of revenues come
from EO image value
• The ‘service-based strategy’ is not only
a low-cost approach. It assumes that
the value will be the information and the
services created from the EO data and from
other data sources. The main focus is data
freshness (revisit).
It is too soon to say for sure if the promise
of huge growth in the geoinformation market
fostered by the convergence between IT and
EO will become a reality but EO markets and
the related industrial landscape will evolve
significantly in the coming years and may even
be disrupted by newer technologies.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Fabienne Grazzini, Nathalie Pisot, Marie-Christine
Delucq, Rob Postma, Laura-Kate Wilson, Magalie Vaissière (ESA),
David Hello (Terranis), Lionel Kerrelo (Geo4i)
References
1. “Alternative Futures: United States Commercial Satellite Imagery in
2020”, Report prepared for the Department of Commerce by Robert
A. Weber and Kevin M. O’Connell, Innovative Analytics and Training,
November 2011. See
IAT_DoC_Alternative_Futures_Commercial_Satellite_Imagery.pdf
2. “EO embracing the new space environment: the significance
of EO smallsat constellations”, Earth imaging Journal, July 2015,
Euroconsult, Canada, Adam Keith. See
/
print/articles/earth-observation-embracing-the-new-space-
environment-the-significance-of-eo-smallsat-constellations
3. “Des Aliens et des barbares: une révolution dans l’observation de
la Terre”, Thierry Rousselin, Revue Prospective Stratégique, n°45, 1st
trimester 2016.
4. “Satellogic on its way to launching 300 satellite constellation for
EO”. Satellite Today, Caleb Henry, March 2016.
5. “2016: State of the Satellite Industry Report”, prepared by Bryce
Space and Technology (formerly The Tauri Group) for Satellite
Industry Association, June 2016. See:
/
downloads/SIA_SSIR_2016.zip
6. “Start-Up Space: Rising Investment in Commercial Space
Ventures”, Bryce Space and Technology (formerly The Tauri Group),
January 2016. See:
_
Space.zip
7. “Commercial GEOINT Strategy”, National Geospatial- Intelligence
Agency, October 2015, 15 p. See:
/
PressReleases/Documents/2015/NGA_Commercial_GEOINT_
Strategy.pdf
8. “CIBORG Introductory Industry Day”, Slides presented by NGA,
16 June 2026. See
CIBORG%20IndustryDay16Jun2016FINAL%2016-493%20Release%20
%281%29.pdf
Trends in commercial
imagery - resolution
versus revisit.
