[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6851\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EMicrosatellite swarms could paint clearer picture of our planet\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESpace is not just a hostile place for life, but also for business. Building and launching a traditional bus-sized satellite tens of thousands of kilometres above Earth can cost hundreds of millions of euros, but thanks to miniature satellites, the economics are changing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAmong the start-ups seeking new ways to tap into space\u2019s potential is microsatellite manufacturer ICEYE. It aims to cut satellite prices to less than one-hundredth of traditional satellites, using a series of microsatellites partly built with off-the-shelf mobile electronics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn January, the company sent what it described as the world\u2019s first microsatellite based on synthetic-aperture radar - technology that allows satellites to see through clouds and into the dark - into a low-Earth orbit of about 500 kilometres.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESuitcase-sized and weighing just 70 kilograms, ICEYE-X1 is the first of three satellites that the company plans to launch this year, with a goal of having 18 in the sky by the end of 2020.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EICEYE says that gloomy conditions can make imagery using optical-based systems unavailable up to 75\u0026nbsp;% of the time, a problem their technology avoids.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018That means you can image in any place in the world at any time,\u2019 said Pekka Laurila, CFO and co-founder of ICEYE.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt present, requests from companies for data can take satellite providers days to process, and are often updated only once every 12 hours. ICEYE believes it can get this down to two hours once it gets six microsatellites into the sky, and even further with more launches.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018If you\u2019re able to do monitoring on a scale of a few hours, you are actually catching a set of completely new phenomena that has never been monitored from space before,\u2019 said Laurila. \u2018It gives you access to understanding these phenomena on a human timescale.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIce surveillance\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere are all sorts of areas in which this could be applied, from agricultural production to tracking climate change, but one of ICEYE\u2019s key initial focuses has been ice surveillance for companies involved in Arctic operations \u2013 where vessels moving at several knots need rapid updates on ice-field movements.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018That\u2019s an area where continuous coverage is extremely important,\u2019 said Laurila.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis revolutionary approach has arrived at a time when unprecedented amounts of data are being generated by satellites.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe surge in data is driven by a range of factors, including more detailed Earth observation services. One way to process this increasing flow of information is to find better ways of getting satellite data back down to ground.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the moment, a lot of satellite data gets lost in transit to and from Earth, or \u2018thrown overboard\u2019, according to John Mackey, CEO of mBryonics, a technology development company based in Galway, Ireland.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe coordinates a project called RAVEN, which is working to improve signal transmission. To do so, mBryonics is harnessing a technology called adaptive optics, which is used in telescopes to give astronomers clear images of stars by reducing the twinkle when viewing them through the distortion of Earth\u2019s atmosphere.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u0026#039;If you\u0026#039;re able to do monitoring on a scale of a few hours, you are actually catching a set of completely new phenomena that has never been monitored from space before.\u0026#039;\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EPekka Laurila, Co-Founder, ICEYE\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAdapting this technique to beam data up and down from satellites helps create a much stronger signal and a higher data rate by lessening such atmospheric interference, said Mackey.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMoving this data faster could also help with a challenge facing future low-orbit satellites \u2013 seeing less of the Earth than those satellites higher up. Low-orbit satellites have a more limited line of sight to ground stations and therefore a smaller window to beam data down when they pass by \u2013 maybe just 10 to 15 minutes, said Mackey. Speeding up the data rate means they can transfer more during this period.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAdditionally, mBryonics is seeking to use its technology to create links between satellites, which could help create constellations to intelligently route data in the most efficient way possible. \u2018Then, if I send my data up to the satellite, it can fire it across the satellite constellation and get me to my destination much faster,\u2019 said Mackey.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd not only can that cut the number of ground stations needed, but it could also help move the data faster and thus avoid big delays in providing costly satellite-related services. mBryonics is aiming to demo a full commercial system of its satellite technology within the next two years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EAll research in this article is funded by the EU. 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