Ubotica and Open Cosmos Agree to Launch AI Centric Satellite

arwell, 9 November 2022. Ubotica Technologies™, the leading provider of smarts for smart satellites, and Open Cosmos, leading space mission and data provider, have signed an agreement to deliver CogniSat-6, the first AI centric CubeSat mission to include autonomous capabilities.

As part of the agreement, CogniSat-6 will carry the flight proven (TRL-9) CogniSat™ edge computing platform to low earth orbit and provide reactive retargeting to optimize image gathering on specific areas of interest identified in-orbit without requiring any intervention from ground stations. This allows faster response times for satellite tip and cue operations, resulting in higher value data gathering which significantly accelerates the mission return on investment (ROI).

Additionally, the mission will be used to execute a wide selection of CogniSat applications. These applications enhance the value of imagery available for analysis through smart AI-enabled compression techniques. This results in a six-fold increase in the usable data received by the ground station when compared with the transmission of uncompressed images and a two-fold increase when compared with the use of standard compression approaches.

Announcing the agreement, Fintan Buckley, Co-Founder and CEO of Ubotica Technologies, said:

“CogniSat-6 builds on the solid foundation of flight proven Ubotica technology to deliver the first AI centric CubeSat mission with autonomous capabilities. CogniSat-6 also uses CogniSat on-board edge computing to realise considerable system savings. For example, applications running on CogniSat-6 will increase the system value by expanding system data throughput or reducing satellite power consumption and cutting downlink costs. Satellite System Designers are already telling us that it is a compelling proposition.”

This mission will be joining the OpenConstellation project: a global, shared satellite infrastructure built and managed by Open Cosmos to enable anyone to access satellite data to address challenges around the climate crisis, energy and natural resources. The OpenConstellation enables business, organisations, national and regional governments to participate and access insightful, actionable data from space for the first time while keeping high levels of governance and security.

Commenting on the agreement Rafel Jorda Siquier, founder and CEO of Open Cosmos, said:

“We are delighted to announce Ubotica as the first edge computing and AI partner for the OpenConstellation. The OpenConstellation is attracting both private and public partners willing to share infrastructure with the aim to make data and information available to everyone. CogniSat-6 addresses real needs we see from customers and will enable OpenConstellation users to implement comprehensive AI-enabled system developments.”