Two ESA Φ-lab-enabled satellites launched
MANTIS, the first satellite mission to be supported from concept to liftoff by ESA’s Earth Observation InCubed programme, has been launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. MANTIS carries a high-resolution multispectral camera coupled with a powerful AI processing unit.
Intuition-1 was also launched on the same rocket and will similarly demonstrate the advantages of onboard AI capabilities, in this case in tandem with a hyperspectral imager. The satellite’s machine learning algorithms were developed under the ESA-funded Genesis project
The two satellites lifted off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, US, at 18:49 GMT (19:49 CET, 10:49 PST) on 11 November.
MANTIS and Intuition-1 were delivered into orbit about one hour after liftoff.
Customer-focused intelligence from space
The MANTIS mission is the brainchild of UK-based company Open Cosmos. Founded in 2015, the company focuses on the design, manufacture and operation of small Earth observation satellites, along with providing remote-sensing data services.
MANTIS, which is short for Mission Agile Nanosatellite for Terrestrial Imagery Services, is primarily aimed at the energy and mining sector and was conceived as a means to alleviate the need for ground-based monitoring of sites in inaccessible regions.
Based on a 12U CubeSat platform, the satellite has at its heart a compact binocular telescope from the Spanish company Satlantis. The instrument operates in the visible and near-infrared wavelength range and boasts a resolution of just 2.5 m.
The onboard computational unit processes the imagery using AI algorithms created by IngeniArs in Italy, meaning that the data downlinked to the ground have already had unwanted features like clouds removed. Further processing is completed by British company Terrabotics’ analytics, delivering actionable insight to the customer on their chosen locations.
As ESA’s Earth Observation commercialisation programme, InCubed supports many upstream activities involving the launch of satellites by European private operators, including Ororatech, constellr and Kuva Space. MANTIS is the first InCubed-supported satellite to lift off from the launch pad and so represents a significant landmark for the programme.
InCubed contributed to the development of MANTIS with financial support together with technical and business mentoring, working closely with the Open Cosmos project team to review progress at key milestones. Funding was made available thanks to the UK Space Agency’s contribution to ESA.
“We’re enormously proud of our achievement in making MANTIS a reality, a venture made possible through extensive collaboration with our partners and the unyielding support of ESA,” said Open Cosmos Chief Operations Officer Aleix Megias.
“MANTIS will empower organisations and enterprises to manage natural resources more sustainably, and we also envisage a host of further applications for its datasets, such as climate emergency monitoring, water management and biodiversity conservation.”
An eye on soil health
Intuition-1, built by Poland’s KP Labs, is a 6U CubeSat technology demonstrator that will show how AI can deliver in-orbit processing of hyperspectral data for soil analysis.
Intuition-1’s hyperspectral camera captures and segments light across a broad spectrum, enabling the identification of a number of soil health indicators such as potassium oxide, phosphorus pentoxide, magnesium and pH level.
Computational muscle is provided by an orbit-resilient data processing unit which, by pre-processing and filtering the images, is expected to reduce the volume of data transferred daily to ground from around 100 GB to just 300 MB.
The majority of the AI models for Intuition-1 were developed within the ESA FutureEO-funded Genesis activity.
Working with ESA’s data science experts, KP Labs created a machine learning ‘pipeline’ that will process raw data on the satellite while continuing to improve its performance through a continual learning process and a seamless interaction between the satellite and the ground.
In-flight validation of Intuition-1’s payload and AI algorithms will commence in the Spring of 2024.
“This is a fantastic moment for us, with not one but two commercially oriented satellites launched on the same flight with ESA Φ-lab support,” said Head of ESA Φ-lab Giuseppe Borghi.
“Both of these Earth observation missions will demonstrate how the power of AI in space can create value for the benefit of industry and society as a whole.”
ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, added, “We warmly congratulate Open Cosmos and KP Labs on the launch of their satellites.
“Through commercial initiatives and targeted disruptive innovation funding, ESA Φ-lab is able to provide a catalyst for European Earth observation businesses, and it’s particularly pleasing to see InCubed achieve the major milestone of its first supported satellite reaching orbit.”
