Title
AWS re:Invent 2022 - Accelerating capacity: EO data and insight delivery (AER205)
Summary
- Satellogic is a leader in high-resolution Earth observation (EO) data collection, using AWS to streamline access to critical planetary information.
- Ryan McKinney, president of Satellogic North America, discusses the company's journey from IT security to geospatial data and the importance of EO data in various industries.
- Satellogic has developed a scalable Earth observation satellite constellation, aiming to remap the entire planet at high resolution and provide geospatial data at an unmatched frequency, resolution, and cost.
- The company focuses on improving satellite manufacturing, reducing costs, changing imagery licensing to increase collaboration, and reliably delivering data at scale.
- Satellogic's constellation offers high revisit, high-resolution data for diverse applications, including monitoring economic activity, environmental changes, and humanitarian crises.
- AWS plays a crucial role in data management, allowing Satellogic to deliver large amounts of data efficiently and cost-effectively through services like AWS Lambda.
- The company is committed to expanding the market for EO data, enabling new users to derive insights and develop new use cases.
- Satellogic emphasizes sustainability, with satellites designed to deorbit and burn up at the end of their lifecycle, leaving no trace in space.
Insights
- The demand for EO data is increasing across various sectors, not just government and defense, but also in business decision-making processes.
- Open data sets from agencies like NASA and the European Space Agency have spurred innovation and new applications for EO data.
- Satellogic's approach to reducing costs and improving access to EO data is democratizing the use of satellite imagery for a broader range of users.
- The company's partnership with AWS is strategic, leveraging cloud services to handle the vast amounts of data generated and to scale operations according to customer needs.
- The use of EO data in real-time situations, such as the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the conflict in Ukraine, highlights the importance of timely and accurate satellite imagery for both strategic and humanitarian purposes.
- Satellogic's focus on sustainability and responsible space operations reflects a growing concern in the industry about space congestion and the need for environmental stewardship in low Earth orbit.
- The company's mission-driven approach aims to enable the development of new solutions that contribute to the safety and security of the planet, emphasizing the importance of affordable and accessible EO data.