How Satellogic and AWS are harnessing the power of space and cloud

Get inspired. Discover how Satellogic uses AWS Ground Station and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to democratize access to Earth observation (EO) data used for high-impact missions.

At AWS, we help customers innovate and reimagine how they use space data today to make life on Earth better. Customers use this space data for initiatives like global climate monitoring, wildlife protection, disaster response, food security, and broadband accessibility. It’s our goal to make more space data available to more people in more places around the world than ever before.

The real value of space data lies in turning imagery or raw data into actionable information. This is increasingly difficult to do given the massive amounts of data that satellites collect every day. Commercial imaging companies collect upwards of 100 terabytes (TB) or more of raw satellite data per day, 365 days a year, accumulating datasets measured in petabytes per company. Once data is acquired, the raw images must be processed into usable form, cataloged, and made searchable and accessible to users for analysis. Then, it is often fused with other information such as Internet of Things (IoT) sensor data to provide a holistic picture of happenings on the ground, sea, and sky – further adding to the volume of data.

Satellogic is a leader in high-resolution Earth observation (EO) data collection. The company is creating a live catalog of Earth and delivering daily updates to create a complete picture of changes to our planet for decision makers. They are helping customers solve some of the biggest challenges by making EO data more accessible and affordable. Satellogic customers use the data for things like monitoring soil, snow packs, determining how much stress plants are under in areas of extreme drought, rainfall assessments to inform irrigation planning, and more.

Satellogic is generating massive volumes of data, with each of its satellites collecting an average of 50GB of data daily. For context, with a single 50GB data plan, you can browse the internet for around 1,200 hours, stream 20,000 songs, or watch 200 hours of SD video. On-premise, fixed-capacity infrastructure cannot keep up with this data collection scale and growth.

AWS has the virtualized compute capacity to analyze this data at scale, apply machine learning to locate features to track changes over time, and provide alerts to end users when insights are discovered. That’s why Satellogic uses AWS to host its live Earth catalog, enhance customer experiences, decrease data processing times, and optimize costs.

AWS Ground Station is a managed, pay-as-you-go service that lets customers control satellite communications, process data, and scale their operations. AWS Ground Station will enable Satellogic to quickly and cost-efficiently scale their satellite data acquisition processes and then deliver data directly to AWS for processing and analysis, so that their customers can make decisions faster. Satellogic has 26 commercial satellites in low Earth orbit and plans to grow its constellation to more than 200 satellites by 2025 by leveraging AWS services like AWS Ground Station.

If Satellogic were to build its own compute, storage, analytics, and ground station infrastructure in support of this growth, it would require significant capital investment. This would divert valuable resources away from the company’s core mission of empowering decision-making for its customers. Using AWS, Satellogic can scale their resources and capabilities more simply, which helps them stay focused on innovating for their customers. AWS continues to expand its footprint of ground station antenna locations, most recently in Singapore, so that global customers like Satellogic can get faster access to their satellite imagery.

At AWS, we’re committed to helping space-focused customers from all over the world achieve their boldest goals—growing, building, accelerating, and innovating on AWS. We work alongside customers to help them push the boundaries of what’s achievable when you bring the power of space and cloud together.

Learn more in this video about how Satellogic is using AWS to change the world for the better. Contact us directly or reach out to any of my AWS Aerospace and Satellite colleagues at World Satellite Business Week from September 12-16, 2022, in Paris.

Join us on the journey. To the stars… through the cloud!

-Clint

AWS Public Sector Blog

How Satellogic and AWS are harnessing the power of space and cloud

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