Simera Sense Eyes Larger Satellites with Higher-Resolution Optical Payloads

Belgium - Ekhbary News Agency

Simera Sense Elevates Space Imaging: Bigger Payloads, Sharper Vision for Larger Satellites

Having established a strong foothold in the cubesat sector, Belgium-based Simera Sense is making a significant strategic pivot towards developing advanced, higher-resolution optical payloads tailored for larger satellite platforms. This expansion signifies the company's commitment to addressing the evolving needs of the Earth observation market, particularly the burgeoning demand for exceptionally detailed imagery capable of discerning minute terrestrial features.

To date, Simera Sense's xScape100 and xScape200 cameras have proven their mettle in orbit, with customers deploying over 50 units. These cameras have primarily flown on cubesats, typically ranging from 6u to 16u in size, serving a variety of orbital missions. However, the company's forward-looking strategy now centers on larger satellites, necessitating more robust and capable optical payloads.

In line with this vision, Simera Sense is engineering standardized optical payloads specifically designed for larger satellite bodies. The core objective of these new payloads is to deliver imagery with a Ground Sample Distance (GSD) of less than one meter. This level of resolution is critical for a wide array of applications, including detailed environmental monitoring, precise natural resource mapping, rapid emergency response, and sophisticated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) tasks that require unambiguous target identification.

“Demand for sub-one-meter imagery is growing,” Thys Cronje, Simera Sense chief commercial officer, told SpaceNews during the SmallSat Symposium. “People want to see more detail on the ground.” This sentiment underscores a fundamental shift in Earth observation, where the ability to analyze terrestrial phenomena with unprecedented granularity is becoming paramount.

The SmallSat Symposium also served as the venue for another significant announcement: a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Simera Sense and Florida-based Sidus Space. This collaboration will see Sidus Space integrate its FeatherEdge hardware and Cielo AI software with Simera Sense's hyperspectral payloads. This partnership marks a crucial step towards achieving more intelligent and flexible space-based sensing capabilities.

Simera Sense's hyperspectral instruments, powered by advanced software, allow customers to configure payloads for data collection across 32 spectral bands out of a possible 400. This remarkable flexibility unlocks innovative applications. For instance, as a satellite traverses over a desert region in Africa, a customer could configure the detector for desert monitoring, then reconfigure it for agricultural surveillance on the next orbit. Should the satellite pass over Ukraine, it could switch spectral bands again to meet specific monitoring requirements for that area.

“We are working with edge-computing companies like Sidus Space to autonomously reconfigure the camera for different applications and for different needs or different targets on the ground,” Cronje explained. “The camera must be able to decide by itself what kind of spectral bands are needed to analyze the scene on the ground.” This autonomous, on-the-fly reconfiguration capability represents a paradigm shift in satellite data utilization, reducing reliance on ground control and enabling more agile responses to dynamic situations.

Founded in 2018, Simera Sense has built its reputation on offering standardized, off-the-shelf products. “We can modify a little bit for multispectral, hyperspectral, and video options,” Cronje noted. “But it’s all software changes. We update the firmware and software.” This approach ensures rapid deployment and scalability while maintaining product quality and performance.

In 2014, the company secured $15 million in funding to scale up payload production, catering to increasing demand from a roster of prominent customers including AAC Clyde Space, Loft Orbital, OHB Systems, Open Cosmos, and Prométhée Earth Intelligence. Currently, Simera Sense manufactures approximately 12 cameras per month in South Africa, and according to Cronje, “we have a big backlog,” highlighting the sustained and robust demand for its advanced technologies.

Simera Sense's strategic expansion into larger, more sophisticated optical payloads, coupled with key partnerships integrating AI and edge computing, signals a significant trend in the satellite industry. These advancements promise to unlock new frontiers in Earth observation, providing deeper, more detailed insights into our planet.

Ekhbary News Agency