Earth-i chooses Spacemetric for image and video processing

15 December 2017 - British ‘New Space’ pioneer Earth-i today announced that images and video from its new prototype satellite due for launch early January 2018 will be managed, catalogued and geometrically corrected using software from Swedish photogrammetry and imagery specialist, Spacemetric.

Earth-i is building the first commercial constellation in the world to provide full-colour video; and the first European-owned constellation able to provide both video and still images.Footage recorded by Earth-i’s fleet of satellites will be available for analysis within minutes of acquisition.

Spacemetric’s Keystone software will be installed at Earth-i’s Data Processing Centre in Guildford, UK and will perform two vital processes:

• Pin-pointing the precise location of each pixel of every image and video frame
• Correcting for distortions owing to the motion of the satellite, the shape and rotation of the Earth and effects due to the Earth’s terrain.

Spacemetric CEO Mikael Stern said “Earth-i is an exciting and innovative New Space company with unique requirements served well by our technology and expertise. We are proud to be part of their constellation which is raising the bar in the EO industry and flying the flag for the European space industry.”

Earth-i is at the forefront of an era known as New Space which is being driven by commercial and governmental organisations that want to use high-quality, timely images and video from space to improve investment and trading decisions, monitor and track their assets more cost-effectively, track changes or activities in critical locations - and predict future events with more certainty.

Earth-i has already ordered the first five satellites for its constellation from SSTL (Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd) – and chosen Norway’s KSAT (Kongsberg Satellite Services) to provide ground network services.

Richard Blain, CEO of Earth-i, said: “We are making good progress as we await the imminent launch of our next prototype satellite. Spacemetric joins our roster of partners and suppliers who represent the space industry’s most innovative and dynamic companies.”

Earth-i’s constellation will be a major leap forward for the Earth Observation industry providing a number of innovative capabilities including:

• The provision of high-frame rate images with resolutions better than one metre for any location on Earth.
• The ability to film moving objects such as vehicles, vessels and aircraft in ultra-high-definition colour video.
• Revisiting the same location multiple times per day with agile satellites that can be pointed to image specific areas of interest.
• Rapid tasking of satellites to take images or video, and fast data download within minutes of acquisition.