Scottish company Clyde Space partners to build Poland’s Intuiton-1 satellite

Construction of Intuiton-1, a satellite with a high-performance computing unit for artificial intelligence applications and advanced Earth observation instruments, is entering its next phase. March 15, 2019., KP Labs, the Gliwice-based company implementing the project, has signed a contract with the Scottish company Clyde Space to provide the satellite platform and place the satellite in low Earth orbit. Intuition-1 is scheduled for launch in late 2022 or early 2023.

The goal of the Intuition-1 mission is to conduct Earth observations using a hyperspectral instrument and advanced data processing, based on deep neural networks (AI), directly in Earth orbit. It will be the world’s first satellite with the processing power to segment imagesoin hyperspectral in orbit. Polish engineers, members of the KP Labs team, are responsible for creating this part of the Intuition-1 mission.

Clyde Space, listed on Nasdaq First North in Stockholm, will be responsible for the infrastructure necessary for the payload to function properlyowny. The satellite platform, whichorą will create a Scottish spoThe boat will also include such items as m.in. The control system, communication, power supply, position control and is responsible for the launch service, i.e. the. the process of preparing and launching the satellite into orbit around the Earth.

The on-board computer software, roalso an important part of the platform, is written by an engineerow with KP Labs, using the experience gained from the PW-Sat2 mission.

– For reasons of commercial confidentiality, I cannot disclose detailedoloin the contract between KP Labs, and Clyde Space, but the value of the contract exceeds the sum of £500,000ow – comments Michal Baćkowski, vice president of KP Labs. When evaluating the submitted bids, m.in. compliance issues in legal aspects, geographical distance and cultural compatibility of the teamoin design, reliability, flexibility in the selection of the launcher, as well as the price of the platform and launch service within the scope of the application.

– We made the selection after an in-depth review of bids from eight companies from around the world that provide satellite platforms and launch services. We have analyzed a number of elementsoin, zaroboth technical and non-technical. I am pleased that Clyde Space – entity experienced in the space industry – will be our partner in this project – said Grzegorz lada, Project Manager of KP Labs.

KP Labs is constructing the satellite as part of the project’s „Hypercam” financed by fundsoin the National Center for Research and Development. The project involves the design and construction of a payload of a majoroof the satellite by KP Labs and the provision of the satellite platform and launch service by an external provider.

– We are pleased to have been awarded the second contract alreadyoThe news from KP Labs, extending our involvement in the Intuition-1 mission with the service of putting the satellite into orbit. This 6U-class CubeSat mission, using Clyde Space’s high-performance and proven satellite platform, will demonstrate state-of-the-art image processing and analysis techniques using the hyperspectral instrument. Its effects will have applications in many industries, e.g. for monitoring the agricultural industry – said Craig Clark, founder and CSO of Clyde Space.

W¶rod specific contractual technical requirements were elements of m.in. Such as platform size, available payload space, stabilization performance, knowledge of the satellite’s position, docking availabilityoradio system, the speed of transmission to Earth, the speed of transmission to the platform, the programmability of the onboard computer or the ability to test our own algorithmsoin navigation and control of satellite orientation.

The heart of the satellite (payload) will be an innovative and high-performance processing computing unit for performing high-resolution hyperspectral imaging. The satellite will carry a specialized high-resolution visible light and near-infrared camera. After splitting this band into 150 channelsoin will be able to obtain far more information than currently existing instruments on the market make possible.

With the data processed on board Intuition-1, it will be possible to interpret the health of plants, forestow, forecast crop yields or create maps of urban pollution, and the data will be available more quickly. Processing data directly on board the satellite is an innovative idea, not yet realized in existing and built satellites.

Intuition-1 will be a 6U-class satellite, in the shape of a cuboid measuring 10x22x36 cm, and will weigh approximately 10 kg. Its construction project was inaugurated in January 2018.

Intuition-1 is not the only project carried out by the engineeroat KP Labs. Specialists from Gliwice can boast of winning the Copernicus Hackathon. This is a competition for the most promising application for interpreting data from imageow satellite, using data from the European satellite constellationow Sentinel from the Copernicus program. The competition is organized by the European Commission. DeepFlow – the winning solution developed by KP Labs automates the search for relevant information, whichore „hidden” w roThe layers of satellite images sent by Earth observation satellites. It will allow interpretation of image data, for use by e.g. In agriculture, industry or health care.