Space’s role in our low-carbon future: Science fact, not fiction

Space technologies and satellite applications are poised to power green economic development in Europe in the coming years.

So says the European Space Agency (ESA). And to back this up, the ESA signed a Memorandum of Intent earlier this month with Enel Italia and the Municipality of Genoa to collaborate on green-tech innovations using space data.

This three-way cooperation aims to develop space-based smart solutions for application in a variety of sectors, including the marine or blue economy, smart mobility and infrastructure development to promote sustainability and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the projects to be implemented will explore the use of space data in the optimisation of renewable energy, with the municipality of Genoa serving as the pilot city.

This is not the first time that Enel and the ESA have come together, however. This latest agreement actually builds upon a cooperation they established back in 2019, the aim of which is to promote space-applications in support of energy security, as well as economic and environmental sustainability.

One of the joint initiatives, for example, is the development of services combining space data and other technology to monitor public lighting, building efficiency and traffic flows.

However, it’s not just utility majors and governmental bodies that see the potential of the inter-relationship between the space and energy sectors, and wider environmental concerns.

There is a growing cohort of start-ups and other small ventures in that field, which traditionally was the domain of government-back research, and are developing innovative space-based solutions that support the transition of our energy systems, as well as provide valuable insight into how we better look after our world in the era of climate change.

Have you read?
Enel and ESA to use space data for new energy services
Enel and ESA to accelerate green innovation using space data

Spacept, a start-up headquartered in Sweden, for example, is aiming to modernise Earth-based infrastructure inspection by combining machine learning techniques and satellite imagery to provide greater insights to operators and ultimately reduce the time and cost needed for inspections and help prevent greenhouse gas emissions.

Its flagship innovation is a vegetation management solution for above-ground transmission and distribution lines and right-of-way management for railways.

Spacept also offer a liquid detection solution for the decommissioning of oil assets, management of above-ground gas and water pipelines and remediation of oil spills in water, as well as a light detection solution that analyses defective street lights.

While the goal of Canadian start-up Wyvern is to make a new kind of space data readily available. It is working on revolutionising the remote imaging industry by delivering high-resolution hyperspectral imaging from its space telescopes. – this type of imaging captures light across many different wavelengths, including non-visible ones.

Wyvern’s solution is garnering attention as recently it successfully raised CAN$4.5 million in funding through a combination of a CAN$2.25 million seed round, led by MaC Venture Capital, and $2.25 million through an earlier pre-seed funding round bolstered by government support.

The start-up is planning to launch its first-generation cube satellites later this year.

Clearly advances in hardware and machine-learning software are vastly expanding what’s possible with satellite data. One of the most ambitious ventures in this regard is Muon Space, which is building what its founders describe as the most capable Earth-sensing satellite constellation platform to power data-driven decisions as we combat climate change.

This US-based start-up is planning to launch a fleet of satellites specifically designed to monitor and analyse in the finest detail possible the state of our atmosphere, oceans and land, and improve predictions of future changes to the Earth’s ecosystems. The ultimate goal is to offer access to the capabilities of this integrated remote-sensing platform to organisations that lack the expertise or resources to develop them themselves.

At the end of last year, Muon Spaceraised $10 million in seed funding led by Costanoa Ventures.

Have you watched?
Renewable energy investment opportunities in Central and Eastern Europe
Initiate Talks: Interview with Viktória Döme, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

LyteLoop Technologies, also out of the US, is aiming to utilise satellite technology in a truly unique way, and is asking the question: Would you want to store your data in space?

The answer appears to be yes since it recently raised $40 million in private financing to support its goal of making a data storage centre in space a reality. In a nutshell, it is developing technology for storing data in orbit, on board satellites.

Its latest funding will provide sufficient runway to achieve its next major milestone, namely putting into orbit three prototype satellites equipped with its novel data storage technology over the course of the next three years. It intends to build and launch a total of six to demonstrate how its laser-based storage medium operates in space.

According to LyteLoop’s CEO, Ohad Harlev, space-based data storage is more environmentally friendly, secure, scalable and private than traditional data centres. Certainly from an environmental sustainability perspective he may have a point.

According to the IEA, data centres are currently responsible for around 1% of global electricity demand, while Climate Neutral Group says they account for 2% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

With data storage requirements expected to maintain its rapid growth rate, how we tackle this sector’s increasing carbon footprint should be a priority.

Although some of these space-based innovations sound more far-fetched than others, what is clear is that harnessing space infrastructure and its powerful data provide unique opportunities that could play a pivotal role in supporting our transition to a low-carbon future and addressing the climate crisis.

Start-ups and scale-ups are the key focus of Initiate, the gateway to the next generation of tech and talent.
Follow the Initiate platform to keep tabs on new tech, new talk and new talent.