On November 6, 2020, Satellogic launched ten Earth observation satellites on the same rocket that took off from Taiyuan, China. It was the first time that the Argentine company, candidate to become a unicorn, placed such a magnitude of artifacts in a single launch. And it is the first step towards the goal of deploying a constellation of 300 microsatellites by 2025.
The new fleet gives Satellogic a “unique” position in collecting special high-resolution data of up to 70 centimeters, as highlighted in dialogue with Convergencialatina Luciano Giesso, Director of Sales for Latin America. It will make it possible to obtain images of 4 million square kilometers per day, in high resolution, thanks to two cameras arranged in the artifacts, a multi-spectral (covers the RGB and NIR infrared vision spectrum) and the other one, hyper-spectral (divides the spectrum into 29 parts , so it is able to see better than a microscope). The combination of both capacities makes it possible to differentiate between a healthy culture and a diseased one, for example.
Once the commissioning stage is finished, the new satellites will multiply the amount of Satellogic's collection by 8, and the points on the ground can be “revisited” up to four times a day. In 2021 the fleet will allow to see all the points of the Earth once a month.
Vertically integrated. One of the key aspects of the company, founded in 2011 by entrepreneurs Emiliano Kargieman and Gerardo Richarte, is the end-to-end operation and manufacturing of the constellation. “We are vertically integrated in every way. The optics, internal components and payloads (cameras, computers, etc.) are made by Satellogic. Eight inventions were patented and 32 patents are pending. Meanwhile, there are between 15 and 20 inventions on the way", explained Giesso.
For that end-to-end development, the firm has offices in six countries, in which its almost 200 employees are distributed. Most of them are concentrated in Buenos Aires - about 90 - and in Córdoba there are about 15, dedicated to physical and mathematical engineering, and satellite monitoring. The component integration plant is located in the Montevideo free zone and the data science team - some 25 to 30 scientists - in Barcelona, ??busy with the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to images obtained in space.
Finally, in Charlotte, United States, the finance team is based; in Beijing, China, the team dedicated to that particular market; and the Tel Aviv office focuses on software development.
The plan to reach 300 microsatellites is based on the company's efforts to make them increasingly efficient. “The costs are between 100 and 1,000 times less than what it costs to manufacture traditional satellites. And we handle manufacturing cycles of only three months”.
Dedicated constellations. 80% of Satellogic's business is in government clients, space agencies and ministries of agriculture or science, who buy “Satellite as a Service” model. The “Dedicated Constellations” product allows governments to monitor their territory without having to launch their own satellite. The company grants "the operation" of its microsatellites so that the respective governments use them when they pass through their territory. Under this model, the most important contract is that of the province of Henan, in central China, which agrees to "operate" twelve satellites of the Satellogic fleet.
“The remaining 20% of the business is in the provision of satellite images to various distributors. Where we see the greatest competition is in the field of AI over data, within this segment”, commented Giesso.
Now Satellogic is working on improving the microsatellite cameras, to reach a resolution of 30 cm in 2025. It is also preparing the next launches: in mid-2021, about 4 artifacts would be added to the constellation, for which they are in talks with Space X, and at the end of the year, other additional ones. Along this path, the possibility of becoming a new Argentine unicorn "does not keep us awake," the executive stated. “The market says those things. It is not an objective of the company ”, he concluded.
This note was published in the 2020 Communications Atlas and Yearbook on Convergence 25th anniversary.