TerraWatch Space Podcast

Today, I am speaking with Chiara Solimini, Space Downstream Market Officer at EUSPA, the agency that manages the space programme of the European Union.In this episode, we discuss what EUSPA is and its activities, the role of EUSPA in promoting the use of data from the Copernicus programme, the European Green Deal and how Copernicus enables its implementation, how EUSPA encourages research and entrepreneurship and more.If you don't know much about EUSPA and want to learn more about how it can support your company or research project, then this episode is for you.And now, I bring you, Chiara Solimini.EUSPA - WebsiteEU Space for Green Transition - ReportEU Space for Sustainable Development - Report---01:06: Intro02:09: Overview of EUSPA and its role in promoting the uptake of Copernicus data10:40: What is the EU Green Deal and how Copernicus enables its implementation15:53: EU Space for Sustainable Development18:51: What is coming up for EU Space and how EUSPA supports research and entrepreneurship?23:52: Wrap-up

Today, I am speaking with Rhiannan Price, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at DevGlobal.DevGlobal is a consultancy that works in the development sector on impact projects with the world’s leading non-profits, companies, philanthropies, multilateral agencies, and government agencies. Rhiannan has been working in Earth observation for a while, especially on the impact side of things. Prior to her role at DevGlobal, she led the Sustainable Development portfolio at Maxar, where she helped found their Open Data Program, among other initiatives. In this conversation, Rhiannan and I talk about the use of Earth observation in the development sector, the journey of imagery from space to impact on the ground, the challenges of using Earth observation data, its potential in creating impact and more.Rhiannan Price - LinkedInDevGlobal - WebsiteDevGlobal's project with the Gates Foundation---Thanks to Development Seed for being one of the contributors to the podcast.Development Seed - Website---01:45: Intro06:31: DevGlobal - Overview09:30: What is the development sector?13:59: What is the use of EO in the development sector?18:15: The journey from imagery to impact24:48: What does Rhiannan wish was easier with EO?28:26: What does the best-case scenario look like for the use of EO for impact?37:54: The state of adoption of EO in development42:30: SatSummit conference47:52: The evolution of EO and what to look forward to50:29: Pricing and licensing challenges in EO54:58: Wrap-up

Today, I am speaking with Thijs van Leeuwen, Director of Product at Planet. Most of you should be aware of Planet, the company that operates the largest fleet of earth imaging satellites. A couple of years ago, Planet acquired VanderSat, a Dutch startup offering data products like soil moisture derived from various sources of satellite data.Today, VanderSat's capabilities are integrated into Planet and the fruit of that collaboration is what Planet calls Planetary Variables (PVs), a set of products that are directly usable by end-users without the need to process satellite imagery. As an advocate of making EO mainstream, I have been quite excited about PVs ever since the announcement. So, I decided to have a chat with Thijs, who was the CEO of VanderSat before the acquisition, on the podcast. In this episode, we discuss VanderSat's journey, what are Planetary Variables, what data sources they use, the black-box problem, Planet's vision for Planetary Variables and more.Planet acquires VanderSatPlanetary Variables---01:17: Thijs' Intro and Overview of Planet06:53: VanderSat: Founding journey13:07: Acquisition by Planet15:23: What are Planetary Variables (PVs)?18:57: Examples of PVs and what data they use22:44: Are PVs data-agnostic or do they use only Planet data?23:59: How do PVs fit into Planet's vision and existing set of customers? 29:11: How do you come up with a PV?30:48: The black-box problem: What is the methodology to derive a PV?35:26: The future of PVs after the acquisition of Sinergise38:34: The state of EO and why EO is not mainstream yet43:07: Wrap-up questions

Today, we are zooming out from Earth observation a little bit and going to focus on a subject that I think is very important for the future of EO: space sustainability.We are launching more Earth observation satellites than ever before, and the progress in space tech has meant that any individual, organisation or country can put up an instrument in space to collect data for scientific, commercial, environmental or strategic purposes. But how sustainable is that? To discuss this I had Krystal Azelton, Director of Application Programs at the Secure World Foundation, a non-profit organisation whose aim is to develop and promote ideas and actions to achieve the secure, sustainable, and peaceful uses of outer space benefiting Earth.In this episode, Krystal and I discuss the state of the space environment, the threats and worst-case scenarios, what regulations exist and how effective they are, the similarities with climate policies, why every stakeholder in the Earth observation sector should care about this topic and more.Secure World Foundation - WebsiteSummit for Space Sustainability---01:23: Intro02:59: An overview of the Secure World Foundation06:35: The state of the space environment today09:56: Status quo of regulations and similarities with climate policies16:38: The worst-case scenario19:41: What are the solutions?22:19: Why this matters for the EO sector33:43: Are there risks to the adoption of EO because of the state of the space environment?37:54: How can we balance spreading awareness in the world of alarmist headlines?41:28: State of EO and why EO is not mainstream yet49:14: What don't we talk about enough in EO?52:11: Wrap-up

Today, I am speaking with Dr Claire Burke, who is the Director of Science at Climate X, a UK-based startup that is building a global climate risk analytics platform to support organisations in their climate adaptation efforts.In this episode, we talk about what Climate X does, their tech stack and how they use satellite data, how they convert scientific results into climate risk analytics, the "black-box problem" challenges in educating end-users and more. This was a thought-provoking conversation with Claire especially as we head into a world where many climate-related policy and strategic decisions could be powered by satellite-driven insights. Climate X---01:04: Intro04:18: Climate X: Overview 07:24: Converting scientific results into quantified financial risks09:51: Tech stack and what type of satellite data is used15:46: The "black-box" problem and challenges in educating end-users23:00: Data gaps and state of EO27:56: What can the EO industry do better33:27: How does Claire keep herself climate-optimistic?---

Today, I have two guests from Asterra, the Israeli startup offering a satellite-based solution for monitoring all kinds of infrastructure, whether it is for monitoring roads, rails, dams, water utilities and even for mining. While Asterra uses analytics derived from synthetic aperture radar (or SAR) imagery in their products, they use a specific type of SAR data in the L-band spectrum. Note: I have had the CEO of Asterra on the podcast before. Check out episode #60 to learn more about the company. This episode is especially about how they use L-band SARL-Band SAR is unique in its own way, in terms of its availability, usability and potential. So, to discuss this further I had two guests from Asterra on the podcast. Jasmin Inbar, who is the VP of Corporate Development and Yuval Lorig, the VP of Research and Development. In this episode, we discuss Asterra's strategy, the advantages of L-band SAR, its availability and applications, polarimetric SAR and its use, how Asterra is using SAR for mining applications and more. If you are curious to learn more about the applications of SAR, specifically L-band SAR, this episode might be a good intro. Asterra's SolutionsAsterra's Mining Application[Thanks to Asterra for  sponsoring this episode]---01:22: Intros03:58: Overview of Asterra06:50: Asterra's customers and product portfolio11:18: L-Band SAR: What, Why and How?15:20: Usability of L-Band SAR and how Asterra uses it17:21: Polarimetric SAR and its applications23:02: Use cases in the mining sector26:35: Is L-Band SAR going to become mainstream soon?30:41: State of adoption of EO for infrastructure monitoring33:24: Worries about the state of EO35:20: Wrap-up

Today, I am excited to bring you an episode on a topic that I have been researching for a while - satellite imagery in 3D. The guest I am speaking with is Josh Winer who is a Senior Director for Global Sales at Maxar Technologies.Maxar probably needs no introduction as a company, I think most of you know what Maxar does both within the Earth observation domain and outside that. But, if you had paid attention to the company over the past few years, going private aside, Maxar has been heavily investing in its 3D market strategy - whether it is the initial partnership and later acquisition of Vricon, the acquisition of AI and software development company Wovenware or the recent partnership with blackshark.ai on digital twins.So, I wanted to ask Josh about what Maxar's thinking is and how it sees the potential of 3D satellite imagery to be. In this episode, we discuss Maxar's strategy, use cases for 3D imagery in industries such as telecom, automotive and gaming, complementary/substitute sensors, the differences and similarities of going to market with 3D vs 2D and more.And now I bring you, Josh Winer.Maxar's partnership with blackshark.aiMaxar's acquisition of WovenwareMaxar's acquisition of Vricon---01:28: Intro04:08: Maxar: Overview06:31: Maxar's strategy for 3D satellite imagery 17:25: Use cases for 3D imagery25:06: Complementary and substitute sensors32:21: What is a digital twin and what is the partnership with blackshark.ai all about?37:08: Go-to-market similarities and differences of 3D vs 2D imagery42:41: Is 3D the next big thing? Will Maxar build a consumer device?49:10: Wrap-up

Today, I have two guests: Dan Pilone, co-founder of Element84 and Robert Cheetham, founder of Azavea, which Element84 recently acquired.Both Element84 and Azavea are essentially service companies that focus on building solutions to solve important problems in the realm of processing, visualization, and analysis of geospatial data, with open-source software at their core. I will let you listen to Dan and Robert introduce their companies and what they do, but I think they are solving some very important but boring problems.If you have listened to this podcast before or read my blogs, you know what I mean by boring problems - those that are underrated and underappreciated, but unless we find a way to solve them, there is very less likelihood for Earth observation to go mainstream. Think about creating a standard approach to ingest, process and search for geospatial data or a standard format to use for placing satellite imagery orders from different providers.In this episode, we talk about the two companies and how they came to be, the difference between a project and when it turns into a product, the importance of open source and its financial sustainability and more.Azavea WebsiteElement84 WebsiteElement84 Acquires AzaveaSTAC Standard---01:38: Intros04:01: Element84 and Azavea - Overview16:21: Differentiating between a project and a product 24:56: The importance of open source - why?31:13: The financial sustainability of open source39:40: What is STAC and why is it important?49:20: What more should we be doing in EO to make it mainstream?55:35: Wrap-up

Today, I am speaking with Pooja Mahapatra, who is the Global Lead of Geospatial for Climate at Fugro, a Netherlands-based company focused on geotechnical and surveying services for monitoring infrastructure.As you will hear from Pooja, geospatial data is central to Fugro's strategy and one of the fundamental technologies that power their products and services in the infrastructure, energy and water verticals. As such, they have an interesting approach to using satellite data in combination with other data sources such as aerial, drone and proprietary instruments for in-situ measurements.In this episode, Pooja and I discuss what Fugro does, the role of Earth observation for the company, how they make a decision to use satellite data for solving a problem, building scalable solutions based on EO, the evolution of EO over the years and more.Fugro WebsitePooja's LinkedIn---01:12: Pooja's Intro04:46: Overview of Fugro08:30: Fugro's customers and use cases 12:40: The fundamental role of Earth observation for Fugro20:04: Combining satellite data with other sources of data22:59: Making a case for EO within the company26:27: Picking scalable EO-based solutions29:58: Working with the EO ecosystem34:57: Evolution of EO over the years43:18: Adoption of EO: In-housing vs Outsourcing45:23: Wrap-up - what can the EO industry do better and magic wand wishes

Today, I am speaking with Dr Benjamin Laken, who is the Chief Science Officer at Cervest, a UK-based startup building a climate intelligence platform to support climate adaptation efforts for enterprises, governments and non-profits.Climate risk is an important topic and satellite data has a lot to offer for estimating it. Whether it is the climate risk for an individual, an asset, an infrastructure or even an entire city, understanding the probabilities of scenarios is becoming more and more important. As Cervest is a company that is specifically focused on tracking, quantifying and reporting climate risk, I thought it would be great to speak to someone who is involved in building this important tool.In this episode, Benjamin and I discuss Cervest and what the company is building, what their tech stack looks like, what type of satellite data they use, the challenges of using EO data, the hardest risk to measure and monitor, what the EO sector can do better, and more. Cervest WebsiteEarthScan, by Cervest---01:17: Intro03:23: Cervest: Overview05:38: What are assets and what are the risks (hint: physical, transition and natural capital?12:58: What does the tech stack look like?17:06: Who are the customers? And what is the product portfolio?25:31: What type of EO data is used?29:41: The hardest risk to measure and monitor33:06: Challenges of using EO36:45: Outlook on publishing research and peer-reviewing methodologies40:05: State of EO and what the industry can do better50:07: Differentiation with other datasets53:13: Wrap-up

Today, I am speaking with Grega Milčinski, CEO of Sinergise, a geospatial IT company based in Slovenia. Sinergise is most well-known for their flagship product, Sentinel Hub, which is a platform for accessing, processing and analysing Earth observation data.Grega has been around in the EO sector for a while now and has a ton of insight into the most important problems in EO revolving around making satellite data usable for all. In this episode, Grega and I talk about his company, about Sentinel Hub, the importance of solving the boring problems, about EO Browser, thoughts on some buzzwords in EO, the state of the sector and more.Sinergise WebsiteSentinel Hub WebsiteEO Browser Tool---01:06: Intro - Grega's Story02:56: Sinergise05:22: Sentinel Hub: What does it bring to the table?11:29: Solving boring problems in EO15:01: What is the biggest challenge in EO today - data accessibility, data management and data preprocessing?20:52: Will there be one horizontal platform in EO?23:15: Thoughts on a few buzzwords - analysis-ready data, edge computing, data fusion, data cubes, democratisation29:22: EO Browser: Why Sinergise built it and the vision34:27: Where should we invest $100M in EO, if given the chance?36:33: Descartes Labs and the state of EO38:14: Opening up EO data archives?39:52: Wrap-up

Today, I am speaking with Professor Paul Bates, Chairman and Co-founder of Fathom, a UK-based startup specialising in water risk intelligence.We have already had one episode on floods recently with Floodbase, a company that is working on creating near real-time flood maps, but in this episode with Paul, we discuss how flood risk is measured and modelled, how this data is used to anticipate flood hazards and the role of satellite data in all of this.In this episode, Paul and I talk about Fathom and their products, the state of flood modelling today and the role of satellite data, why the quality of data is more important than anything else for this use case, some findings from Fathom's research and more.Fathom's WebsiteProf. Paul BatesFABDEM (Forest And Buildings removed Copernicus DEM)Research: UK Future Flood MapResearch: Inequality in FloodingResearch: Need for More Investment in Climate Models---01:06: Intro02:32: Fathom - Overview07:21: How is flood risk modeling done today? What is the status today?15:02: The value of satellite data in flood risk modelling and the importance of higher quality observations20:37: Fathom's product portfolio23:02: Importance of collaborating with research community and whether that is the new norm in the industry28:07: Some findings from Fathom's research: "UK Future Flood Map", "Inequality in Flooding" and "Need for More Investment in Climate Models"38:46: State of EO, whether we need more satellite data and Paul's association with the NASA SWOT mission43:41: What can we do to be optimistic about the state of climate?

Today, I am speaking with Sean Mitchell, Chairman & Chief Commercial Officer at Ubotica, an AI-driven edge computing startup from Ireland.Edge computing is a technology that has started to create a lot of buzz in the Earth observation sector. Enabling some processing of satellite data on-board the satellite before downlinking seems efficient, but the execution may not be straightforward. Ubotica is a startup focused on solving that with their edge computing platform solution, which they have already flown in space.In this episode, Sean and I talk about what edge computing means, what it brings to the table, what is possible today, applications for Earth observation, Ubotica's technology and journey and more. Ubotica websiteUbotica's latest edge computing innovationESA Phi-Sat[Thanks to Ubotica for sponsoring this episode]---01:08: Intro02:52: Overview of Ubotica05:24: What is edge computing and where are we today in terms of its capabilities?13:00: Applications of edge computing19:01: Ubotica's offering and go-to-market strategy25:52: ESA's Phi-Sat mission33:55: Are larger satellites more suited for edge computing?37:28: Applications of edge computing beyond EO - in space exploration and space situational awareness42:07: Limiting factors for adoption of edge computing and how not to oversell48:32: Entry of big tech and their role in edge computing for EO49:49: Wrap-up

Today, I am speaking with Brad Bode, CTO & CIO at ATLAS Space Operations, which is a ground software as a service company. Ground segment is an area of the space industry which really doesn't get a lot attention, despite the fact that it is the bridge between data acquired in space and data collected on Earth. So, I had Brad on the podcast to discuss the state of ground segment and the impact on EO sector.In this episode, Brad and I talk about what ATLAS Space Operations does, why ground segment is so underappreciated, how EO companies work with ground segment, the difference between ground station as a service and ground software as a service, the entry of Microsoft and AWS into this space and what it means and more.ATLAS Space Operations - WebsiteBrad Bode - LinkedIn[Thanks to ATLAS Space Operations for sponsoring this episode]---01:08: Intro06:19: Overview of ATLAS Space Operations14:54: What does the status quo for ground segment in EO look like?22:44: Why is the ground segment appreciated?25:48: Ground station as a service vs ground software as a service33:12: What does the entry of Microsoft and AWS mean for the ground segment?38:10: What does EO companies look for from the ground segment? Latency, and what else?43:07: One thing people will be shocked to learn about the state of the ground segment

Today, I have two guests Bessie Schwarz, co-founder & CEO and Subit Chakrabarti, VP of Technology at Floodbase.Floodbase, which used to be called Cloud to Street, before their rebrand recently, is a climate-tech startup using satellite imagery to build flood data products for use by the insurance sector. In this episode, Bessie, Subit and I discuss what Floodbase does, their tech stack, what types of satellite data they use, why they publish their methodologies and collaborate with the academic community, how EO has evolved over the years and more.Floodbase websiteFloodbase open datasetPublication in Nature---01:00: Intros04:39: Floodbase - Overview08:59: Floodbase products13:51: Tech stack and what types of satellite data Floodbase uses17:40: Publishing the methodologies and datasets and working with the academic community19:48: Secret sauce behind mapping floods in near real-time25:01: Challenges using satellite imagery and wishlist36:02: Backward integration in the insurance industry40:52: Advise for starting a company today 45:51: Floodbase is hiring!

Today, I am sharing an insightful discussion I had with Elly Perets, CEO of Asterra. Asterra is a startup headquartered in Israel, that offers a platform for monitoring all kinds of infrastructure, whether it is for monitoring roads, rails, dams, water utilities or even for mining - based on synthetic aperture radar (or SAR) data.SAR, as some of you know, is pretty hard to process, but Asterra has managed to not only develop a scalable product that derives insights from SAR data but also managed to transform them into performance metrics that can be easily understood by the asset operators. I wanted to learn more about how they managed to do that.In this episode, Elly and I discuss the interesting origin story of Asterra, their product portfolio, the challenges of using SAR, how they managed to transform complex SAR data into actionable information, why adoption of EO in the infrastructure sectors is inevitable, and more.ShownotesElly's LinkedInAsterra's WebsiteLocating Lithium with Asterra's Technology[Thanks to Asterra for sponsoring this episode]---01:15: Elly's background and how we got involved with Asterra03:22: Overview of Asterra 08:45: Founding story - Spin-off of a Mars project12:39: Product portfolio and use cases17:22: Tech stack and how Asterra uses SAR19:11: Transforming SAR technology into a commercialy scalable product27:15: Challenges in the EO market in transforming science into value30:57: About EO Discover Platform to provide environmental metrics38:23: Distribution model and importance of integrating into other software40:31: State of EO and the need for more SAR data47:08: Why adoption of EO for infrastructure monitoring is inevitable 50:19: Wrap-up

We have got an interesting episode today, I know I say that for most episodes, but this one is actually quite interesting because we are talking about a strategy that not many companies have pursued in Earth observation - starting as a product company and offering solutions based on EO data, then deciding to go up the value chain and launch proprietary satellites. We have got only a handful of companies who decided to go with this approach and SatSure, a startup from India, is one of them. SatSure, based in Bengaluru, develops EO-based products for Agriculture, Banking, financial services and insurance and the Infrastructure sectors. I have already had SatSure's CEO Prateep on the podcast (episode #32), but in this episode, I wanted to dive deep into how and why they decided to launch their own high-resolution, multispectral satellites with on-board processing capabilities.Today, I am speaking with Karthik, General Manager of SatSure and Akash, CTO of KaleidEO, which is a subsidiary of SatSure focused on building payloads. We talk about why SatSure decided to launch its own satellites, the state of pricing of satellite imagery and whether the evolution is suitable for the developing world, on-board processing and what that brings, how all of this relates to the company's existing product portfolio and more.[Thanks to SatSure for sponsoring this episode]---ShownotesSatSure WebsiteKaleidEORecent investment announcement-----Timestamps01:37: Intros04:53: SatSure: Overview07:21: Why did SatSure decide to launch their own EO satellites16:43: Evolution of the price of satellite imagery and whether it is suitable for the developing world20:47: Making the decision on sensors, resolution and other technological configuration27:51: On-board processing and why it is relevant37:22: Do most downstream companies need to launch their own EO satellites?44:03: Wrap-up questions and what's coming up for SatSure50:37: Recent announcement of investment from three major banks52:17: A question for me

This week, I am sharing an episode from the New Space India podcast where I was invited to talk about all things Earth observation, particularly focusing on India. The New Space India podcast is hosted by Narayan Prasad, the co-founder and COO of satsearch and is the go-to podcast to learn about space tech in India. I thought I will share this episode here as we covered a lot of interesting topics that might be interesting for you. In this episode, Narayan and I discuss the state of EO in India, differences in EO adoption vs the west, the need for vertical-specific EO innovation hubs and more.Hope you enjoy this conversation!Original Podcast Feed: https://share.transistor.fm/s/30d8b965---

Jed is the Executive Director of the Radiant Earth Foundation and used be the Open Data Lead at Amazon Web Services. Jed is an influential thinker in the Earth observation space and he has been part of a number of important milestones in this sector.I wanted to have Jed on the podcast to talk about his thoughts on the future of Earth observation, especially following one of the blog posts he had written last year. I recommend you check it out (linked below).In this episode, Jed and I discuss what the Radiant Earth Foundation does, his experience at AWS, the importance of building data products in EO, analysis-ready data and what that means, Jed's thesis on the future of EO with the three things we need, the future of open source in EO and more.Jed's blog post: https://medium.com/radiant-earth-insights/democratizing-open-machine-learning-technologies-for-earth-observation-cf3fd9f0a432Jed's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jedsundwallRadiant Earth Foundation: https://www.radiant.earth/ML Hub for EO (from Radiant): https://mlhub.earth/---01:09: Jed's background03:11: Overview of Radiant Earth Foundation08:54: Jed's role at AWS and EO milestones15:24: Thoughts on the state of EO20:18: Building data products in EO23:35: Analysis ready data and what that means29:33: Jed's thesis on the future of EO: New data products, new leaders and new institutions35:15: A multidisciplinary approach to building data products39:45: What new institutions for the future of EO?42:33: The importance of browser-based interfaces45:41: The future of open-source in EO and cooperative utilities50:03: Wrap-up questions---

Today I am speaking with with Bill Perkins, Founder of SkyFi and Luke Fischer, CEO of SkyFi.SkyFi, which just recently went live with their product, aims to democratise satellite imagery and make it affordable, accessible and usable for everyone. I recommend checking out their app, which looks pretty cool.In this episode, we talk about the founding story of SkyFi and their vision, the importance of making satellite imagery accessible to 'the hive mind', differences in how the B2C and the B2B segments will use Earth observation, the verticals SkyFi is targeting, the state of EO and more.Check out the SkyFi app: https://bit.ly/TWSxSkyFiBill Perkins: https://twitter.com/bp22Luke Fischer: https://twitter.com/FischerLukeM[Thanks to SkyFi for sponsoring this episode]---01:01: Intros03:02: SkyFi overview 05:09: Founding story and why it took a hedge fund trader to create it14:21: Why a mobile app to access satellite imagery?17:46: Thoughts on targeting both the B2C and B2B segments22:42: Types of satellite data on the platform29:34: Convincing the satellite data providers33:15: The future of distribution of EO data and analytics 38:08: Educating the masses about EO40:46: Thoughts on competition44:34: Outlook for SkyFi49:14: State of EO and how it influences SkyFi54:56: Worries about the state of the industry57:04: Wrap-up---