Spire and Dragonfly Aerospace Announce Partnership to Support Australian Office of National Intelligence
January 21 2022 - 6:46AM
Business Wire
Spire’s LEMUR satellite will explore the
on-board application of advanced machine learning capabilities
Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR) (“the Company” or “Spire”), a
leading provider of space-based data, analytics and space services,
today announced a partnership with Dragonfly Aerospace to support
the Australian Government’s Office of National Intelligence (ONI)
with a second satellite as a part of its ongoing National
Intelligence Community Satellite (NICSAT) program. The follow-up
program, NICSAT2, will see Spire designing, building, and launching
the company’s Low Earth Multi-Use Receiver (LEMUR), a 6U satellite
platform, with the capability of on-board computing and processing
of machine learning and artificial intelligence across multi-modal
data. Dragonfly Aerospace will provide a high-performance Gecko
camera using its proprietary space-proven electronics and
ruggedized optics for an easy-to-integrate imaging solution for the
satellite.
The Australian National Intelligence Community (NIC) launched
the NICSAT program to experiment with commercial satellite
technologies, including the on-board application of advanced
machine learning capabilities on small satellites, like those
manufactured by Spire. In keeping with its predecessor, NICSAT2
will be managed by ONI and focused on the application and utility
of miniaturized satellite systems, especially in regard to machine
learning. Both programs are unclassified science and technology
programs, focused on innovative engineering and research that aim
to utilize commercial satellites to improve data collection and
analysis.
With the large influx of data sent to Earth, corporations,
governments, and other organizations increasingly need advanced
systems and processes to efficiently understand the data received.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)-assisted processing within satellites
allows operators to unburden ground stations and other
infrastructure and focus resources on analyzing mission-critical
information in space. ONI recognizes the potential application of
semi-supervised or unsupervised learning methods for in orbit
autonomous machine learning to, amongst other things, enable
autonomous sensor operations, speed analytics and data processing,
reduce downlink requirements, and better enable human analysts.
Spire previously worked on the NICSAT program’s first satellite,
Djara, last year. The mission focus of Djara is to conduct
experiments with systems that enable the on-orbit collection and
analysis of data including commercially available sensors and
technologies such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and
Machine Learning systems on a chip. The satellite went from concept
to launch in just six months and to full operation in just nine
months. Djara collects and processes data on orbit and then
leverages Spire’s cloud infrastructure to downlink, further
process, and analyze data.
“The success of Djara and the NICSAT program show the
significant value of small satellites for rapid deployment of
leading-edge innovations and on-orbit data analysis,” said Theresa
Condor, Chief Operating Officer at Spire Global. “With our
continued work on NICSAT2, Spire and Dragonfly Aerospace reaffirm
the importance of public-private partnerships for dual-use space
technologies.”
“Dragonfly Aerospace’s Gecko camera will elevate the satellite’s
imaging capabilities and improve the image quality sent back to the
ONI,” said Bryan Dean, CEO of Dragonfly Aerospace. “Spire’s proven
success with NICSAT made them an ideal partner to continue to
support the Australian government and we look forward to working
together.”
NICSAT2 was successfully launched aboard the SpaceX
Transporter-3 mission on January 12th, 2022.
About Spire Global, Inc.
Spire (NYSE: SPIR) is a leading global provider of space-based
data, analytics, and space services, offering access to unique
datasets and powerful insights about Earth from the ultimate
vantage point so that organizations can make decisions with
confidence, accuracy, and speed. Spire uses one of the world’s
largest multi-purpose satellite constellations to source hard to
acquire, valuable data and enriches it with predictive solutions.
Spire then provides this data as a subscription to organizations
around the world so they can improve business operations, decrease
their environmental footprint, deploy resources for growth and
competitive advantage, and mitigate risk. Spire gives commercial
and government organizations the competitive advantage they seek to
innovate and solve some of the world’s toughest problems with
insights from space. Spire has offices in San Francisco, Boulder,
Washington DC, Ontario, Glasgow, Luxembourg, and Singapore. To
learn more, visit spire.com.
About Dragonfly Aerospace
Dragonfly Aerospace designs and builds compact high-performance
imaging payloads and microsatellites which enable large imaging
constellations that provide persistent views of the Earth in a wide
range of spectrums giving unprecedented business intelligence and
improving the lives of people around the world.
Dragonfly Aerospace satellites and payloads are based on a
25-year heritage of components and design approach dating back to
the first South African microsatellite, SUNSAT, launched in 1999.
Members of our team have worked on every microsatellite space
mission since South Africa entered the space race more than 40
years ago.
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Media: Janine Kromhout janine.kromhout@spire.com (650)
269-1417
Investors: Hillary Yaffe hillary.yaffe@spire.com (917)
764-4297
Dragonfly: Janine Nicolson janinenicolson@dragonflyaerospace.com
+27 21 206 6556
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