AIRBUS CONSTELATION

Pleiades Neo, an optical constellation of four identical 30cm resolution satellites financed, manufactured and operated by Aibus, represents a real breakthrough in the field of Earth observation. The first launches took place in 2021, and the satellites put into orbit by Vega launchers at the Guiana Space Center will be complete this year.

The Pleiades Neo satellites are equipped with a new-generation lightweight silicon carburetor optical instrument and thanks to their inter-satellite links with the Airbus SpaceDataHighway (EDRS) geostationary spacecraft can enable urgent acquisitions as little as 40 minutes after a request. They join Airbus’ two first-generation Pleiades spacecraft Pleiades 1A and Pleiades 1B, launched into orbit in 2011 and 2012, respectively, which provide 50-cm resolution images.

On March 4, 2021, Ecopia AI and Airbus announced a partnership to deliver next-generation digital maps on a global scale. On May 5, the two companies announced an expansion of this partnership that will produce a high-precision, three-dimensional vector representation of the real world, created and maintained at unprecedented speed. This expanded relationship will allow Ecopia to join the Airbus certified reseller network and thus resell Airbus imagery as part of its product line.

Ecopia’s core technology was developed as a result of doctoral research at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, a leading institution in the field of innovation. Co-founded in 2013 by Yuanming Shu and two other UW graduates, Jon Lipinski and Shu Tan, the company specializes in extracting information from geospatial megadata. It leverages next-generation AI to convert high-resolution images of the Earth into HD vector maps that are integrated into mission-critical applications around the world. Its customers include governments, industry, NGOs, insurers… In 2021, it opened a partnership that, among other things, gives it access to Airbus’ global database of 50 cm high-resolution imagery. The latter has been a leader in innovation and development in geospatial technologies and defense solutions for some 30 years, including the design of the Pleiades Neo satellites.