Last two weeks, Paris has been buzzing with global space leaders and enthusiasts. First in the World Satellite Business Week (WSBW) 2022 and then IAC 2022. Both the events happened back to back, giving us one more chance to admire la Ville lumière!
The WSBW is organized annually by Euroconsult and marked its 25th anniversary this year. 241 Speakers, 114 partners, and 1,261 participants made the summit a success. While the first three days were for Summit for Satellite Financing, the last two days were dedicated to Summit on Earth Observation Business. The week-long conference program had several panel discussions and fireside chats. Senior executives, investors, and government officials from the connectivity and Earth Observation (EO) value chain exchanged ideas on topics such as financing, manufacturing, launching, in-space logistics, 5G & cloud, NGSO broadband constellations, smallsat market, SAR market, the rise of GSaaS as well as Big Data, AI and digitalization.
Some big announcements at WSBW 2022
Jason Zander, EVP – Strategic Missions and Technologies, Microsoft, in a fireside with Pacome Revillon, CEO, Euroconsult, unveiled the latest Azure Space developments to enable digital resiliency and empower the space industry. Azure Orbital Cloud Access is now available in private preview for Azure Government customers. Using a prioritized network provided by SpaceX’s Starlink connectivity and Azure Edge devices, customers can get low-latency access to the cloud from anywhere on the planet that Starlink operates. This technology helped us enable new customer scenarios, including the Wildland Fire Information Technology (WFIT) group at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). Microsoft also partnered with Pegatron and SES Satellites to explore a scenario that combines the power of 5G and space in natural disaster scenarios that may compromise communications infrastructure to equip the Hsinchu City Fire Department in Taiwan with connectivity resiliency.
Space-resilient computing infrastructure provider Ramon.Space, and dynamic management systems provider Kythera Space Solutions, partnered to deliver highly dynamic and flexible communications payload solutions.
NorthStar Earth & Space (NorthStar) and Telespazio announced that they have entered into a Distribution and Partnership Agreement (D&PA) to strengthen cooperation on delivering solutions to enhance European Space Domain Awareness initiatives.
Ursa Space Systems, a geospatial analytics orchestrator, and Unseenlabs, a world leader in satellite-borne Radio Frequency (RF) ELINT/SIGINT technology, are combining their capabilities for detailed and realistic maritime reporting.
Spire Global announced a space services agreement with GHGSat to launch satellites for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Monitoring. Under the agreement, Spire will launch three 16U satellites in 2023 that will carry GHGSat’s payload and provide the company with Spire’s robust, scalable, and simple-to-integrate API to receive its data and operate its payloads effortlessly.
Summit on Earth Observation Business
On 15 & 16 September, the discussions focused on the satellite imagery and geospatial solutions sector with topics such as growth strategies, GSaaS, insurance, and climate monitoring. The intense week was full of exciting discussions about the state of space, culminating with exchanges from senior ranking speakers from leading SAR imagery providers and EO satellite manufacturers. The EO summit started with an insightful market presentation by Steve Bochinger, COO of Euroconsult. “Defense sector is a legacy, but Location-based Services (LBS) and finance are disruptive sectors boarding the growth path of EO data and services,” he said.
The presentation was followed up by an interview with the Undersecretary for Communications and Information Technology for Oman, Ali Amur Al-Shidhani. “We want to use space as an aspiration for youth in Oman. Oman’s space sector has four pillars: economic diversity, capability building, national security, and sustainability,” informed Al-Shidhani while giving an overview of Oman’s space sector.
In the panel ‘Leading Operators’ 360 Growth Strategies’, executives from satellite operators agreed on the continuous demand for satellite imagery from the end users while acknowledging the need for data. They also emphasize the growing demand for analytics. Maxar and Airbus highlighted the opportunity in 3D modeling and mapping. Jon Love, VP – Strategic Growth, Maxar, said that the company sees demand in 3D on the military side for synthetic training and Metaverse potential on the commercial side for mapping. François Lombard, SVP Head of Intelligence Business, Airbus Defence & Space, said that the company is getting numerous requests for location-based models. Still, it requires precise imagery and combining space, ground, and AI capabilities. Airbus invested in the global digital elevation model to pursue this opportunity.
Discussing the real estate and insurance sector, the panelists of the ‘Real Estate and Earth Observation: The Next Milestone for P&C Insurance’ session highlighted the benefits of a growing flow of EO data and analytics. They agreed that this supply would help insurers to provide compensation quicker. “The processes that we go through while working with the insurance industry for everything that can identify a human are so detailed that we have passed many levels in this particular use case for sure,” Rema Matevosyan, CEO, Near Space Labs.
The Ukraine-Russia war shadowed the WSBW 2022. The panel discussing the ‘Federating Institutional Needs’ highlighted how the war had raised the importance and concerns of cybersecurity for satellites. Catherine Kavvada, Director of Space Development & Innovation, European Commission, said while the notion of secure connectivity predates the war in Ukraine, it accelerated the idea of a common strategic approach to cybersecurity in Europe. “We would like to go ahead with a new infrastructure to provide government services. We are also looking to help the private sector of the European Union to build the best commercial infrastructure,” she said.
Giving the vote of thanks on the event’s last day, Pacome Revillon, CEO of Euroconsult, announced the dates for next year’s WSBW: September 11-15, 2023, The Westin Paris – Vendôme.
