SAN FRANCISCO – Finland’s Kuva Space won a 5 million euro ($5.47 million) European Commission contract to produce hyperspectral data to the Copernicus Contributing Mission program.
Under the five-year contract announced June 19, Kuva Space will provide data for monitoring farms, forests, methane emissions, harmful algal blooms and other applications.
“We’re constructing a novel approach to spaceborne hyperspectral imaging and repair delivery,” Tuomas Tikka, Kuva Space co-founder and chief technology officer, told by email. “We’re looking forward to evaluating our data and repair capabilities along with the European Space Agency and Copernicus program experts so as to bring recent high-quality insights to users across the globe to enhance life on Earth.”
Kuva Space, formerly called Reaktor Space Lab, launched cubesats in 2018 and 2021. Since then, Kuva Space has been working to enhance the spatial resolution of its hyperspectral imagers for industrial applications.
“Several test versions of the imager have been produced including an airborne demonstrator,” Tikka said. “Now we have also successfully developed and demonstrated our AI-based capabilities for hyperspectral data processing and analytics using hyperspectral data from scientific satellites.”
Kuva Space plans to launch 4 microsatellites in 2024 and to deploy as many as 100 satellites by 2030.
Unique Sensor
What makes Kuva unique, Tikka said, is its technology.
“Minituarizing a spaceborne hyperspectral imager is certainly a challenge,” Tikka said.
To handle the challenge, Kuva Space developed a “tunable 2D-snapshot hyperspectral imager” that produces “high-quality hyperspectral data” and in addition for “application-optimized imaging modes” to enhance data quality, Tikka said.
To compete available in the market, Kuva Space plans to “construct and launch a much larger constellation than our competitors, and thus provide data and insights at a much larger scale and frequency to our customers,” Tikka said. “Our business model relies on providing up-to-date and consistently updating analytical insights with an unmatched price-point in Earth statement.”
Kuva Space CEO Jarkko Antila said in a press release, “We sit up for closely collaborating with European Space Agency experts to validate our data quality and capabilities. This program represents a remarkable opportunity to assist shape the high standard for hyperspectral data services throughout the EU and globally.”
Copernicus is the European Union program aimed toward providing continuous, global Earth statement. Copernicus Contributing Missions are chosen through an intensive process that features ESA evaluation.