BUILDING, DEPLOYING AND OPERATING A CUBESAT CONSTELLATION Exploring some of the less obvious reasons space is hard
Jeroen Cappaert, CTO ([email protected])
Smallsat 2018, Logan, UT SPIRE TODAY
• 150+ People Across 5 Offices - San Francisco, Boulder, Glasgow, Luxembourg, and Singapore • 80+ Satellites Launched, 25+ Global Groundstations Deployed - 15+ Launch campaigns completed with 7+ different launch providers - Ground station network owned and operated in-house for highest level of security and resilience • Each Point on Earth Visited 100 Times per Day with 65 satellites in orbit today - Complete global coverage including Arctic • Deploying New Applications Within 6-12 Months - Example: Aircraft tracking at cost of 1/100th of traditional approach • $130+M Raised with top institutional investors, including - Bessemer Venture Partners, RRE Ventures - Qualcomm Ventures, Airbus - Luxembourg Future Fund, Seraphim Capital, Baillie Gifford SPIRE’S THREE STRATEGIC PILLARS
Spire collects data when no one else Spire collects data where the number – Spire collects data with sensors that are can, focusing on delivering the maximum rather than size – of sensors matters programmable and reprogrammable benefit for customers while maintaining most when in orbit – applying Moore’s law to its competitive advantage space SPIRE OPERATES IN 4 MAJOR MARKET SEGMENTS SPIRE PLATFORM CREATES NETWORK BENEFITS
Each of Spire’s Satellites Can Host Multiple Applications, Allowing for Exponential Improvement in Data Quality as New Satellites are Deployed
Enhances Existing Initial Application Further Enhances and Broadens Data Set Application Data Set
Multiplier Effect as Satellites Host Multiple Payloads
AIS AIS + GNSS-RO Deployment of New Applications
AIS Sensor AIS Sensor AIS Sensor
4 Available New Payloads for GPS-RO GNSS-RO Expansion New and Existing Sensor Sensor Slots Applications Space for ADS-B Sensor Additional Payloads Empty Empty APIs MAKE ANSWERING QUESTIONS SIMPLE Question: Where is HARMONY OF THE SEAS (IMO 9682875)?
TRADITIONAL AIS DATA PROVIDERS Spire SENSE Vessels API You Must Build a Vessel Database from Scratch 425k+ Ships At Your Fingertips
1) Read Raw Stream
2) Build Database
3) Build API
Time to answer / develop: Unknown
Time to answer: Seconds EXAMPLE COMBINING DATA NEW SPACE CHANGED THE PARADIGM
Constellation Design 1.0 Constellation Design 2.0 Traditional Space New Space
$1 Billion $0.1 Billion 15 Years 5 Years
Iridium, Orbcomm, O3b, Disaster Monitoring Spire, Planet, TBD Constellation, Globalstar, …
You need to be 10x better to create a new market. Peter Thiel Space Mission Provider Your Payload Your Customer ENTER: THE SPACE MISSION PROVIDER Amazon AWS for Space
(*) Official Time and Price from Spire, others may vary SPIRE ADVANTAGE: VERTICAL INTEGRATION
Spire’s ownership of design through delivery coupled with select external partnerships for satellite launch enables speed, reliability and control.
Satellite Satellite Satellite Satellite Data Satellite Data Satellite Build Design Launch Operations Sales Analytics Sales
Launch broker Wholesale API
Direct Sales Launch Companies
Less Dependencies + Unique Satellite Constellation Model = Highest Quality Data & Lowest Risk IDEAS COME IN, SATELLITES GO OUT 2017 By The Numbers 47 9 8 4 4 Satellites delivered Launch campaigns 8 Unique vehicles Different countries Major satellite revisions CONSTANT INNOVATION & LAUNCH
• About 3-12 Months From Design to Delivery • Building Up To 10 Satellites At Once • Completing up to 2 per week • Industry-First Launch Schedule • Constantly launching new satellites • Compatible with most launches with secondary payloads • Diverse set of orbits • Covering the entire globe through a diverse set of orbits
Smooth, repeatable, month in & month out A first in the space industry SPIRE MANTRAS • Iterative Improvements • Use the software model of continuous integration • Create a stable hardware “branch”, and iterate on it until features require a major revision
Typical Software Iteration Models (Agile) Spire Iteration Model
Design
Discover Develop
Test V1.X V2.X V3.X Design
Discover Develop 1.0 2.0 3.0
Test 1.1 2.1 3.1 (minor fixes) (minor fixes) (minor fixes) Analyze Plan Design Build Test Deploy
2.2 3.x ….. Feedback (feature update)
2.3 Launch Plan (features / fixes)
Build 2.5 (hybrid retrofit) Systems Checkout and Idea Engineering Design Manufacturing Launch Production Commissioning Discussions
SPIRE’S SATELLITE PROCESS
From idea to orbit! MANUFACTURING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS • Track designs, engineering changes, engineering documentation • Hardware and inventory control, full traceability of any component • Linked with finance department, allows fast supply chain action TEST FACILITES • All test facilities in-house, components come in, fully tested satellites go out • Greatly increases test coverage • Big increase in test automation and decrease in total test times ADVANCED 24X7 SATELLITE OPERATIONS • Operations Team on 3 Continents with State-of-the-art Tracking & Commanding Dashboard • Automated satellite tracking and scheduling via proprietary communication architecture • Rolling on-orbit software upgrades - constellation performance constantly being optimized EXTENSIVE GLOBAL GROUND STATION NETWORK • 25+ Ground Stations Installed Today • Global Coverage Supports Multiple Orbits SPIRE AS DATA PROVIDER AND MISSON PROVIDER QUESTIONS? [email protected]