Kuva Space Secures €5M Commercial Contract to Provide Hyperspectral Data Services for Copernicus Program

Kuva Space Secures €5M Commercial Contract to Provide Hyperspectral Data Services for Copernicus Program

Finnish Earth observation company Kuva Space has been awarded a five-year commercial contract worth €5M to be the world’s sole provider of hyperspectral data services for the European Commission’s Copernicus Contributing Missions (CCM) program.

Chosen by the European Space Agency, Kuva Space will demonstrate its proprietary technological capabilities to monitor farming and aquaculture crops, forests, methane release, and harmful algae blooms in seas and coastal areas. Kuva Space's hyperspectral data services will facilitate the development of new and accurate commercial services for Copernicus users and beyond, helping them make financially smarter and environmentally responsible decisions related to global issues like food security, carbon capture, and safety and security.

"We are honored to have been awarded this opportunity to bring our unique hyperspectral innovation and expertise to the esteemed Copernicus community," states Jarkko Antila, CEO of Kuva Space. "We look forward to closely collaborating with European Space Agency experts to validate our data quality and capabilities. This program represents a remarkable opportunity to help shape the high standard for hyperspectral data services within the EU and globally,” he continues.

Kuva Space’s commercial microsatellite constellation, equipped with a patented hyperspectral camera, can capture scientific-grade data on details like crop types and their health, soil conditions, biomass, biodiversity, and marine chemical pollutants, at scale. Leveraging its AI-driven analytics platform, Kuva Space transforms the collected data into actionable insights, empowering users to monitor, identify, and forecast changes and their impact in near real time.

The availability and usage of hyperspectral data has previously been limited or non-existent in Earth observation. With near real-time hyperspectral data, industries such as agriculture, insurance and finance, carbon and environment, and safety and security get access to reliable, verifiable and robust insights when making decisions.

“The economic viability of generating continuous, reliable, and affordable hyperspectral data has been hindered by the large size and high costs associated with massive spaceborne hyperspectral instruments. However, Kuva Space's compact, innovative space and hyperspectral camera technology have overcome these challenges. We are seriously committed to improving life on Earth,” continues Antila.

For example, farmers worldwide are facing increased vulnerability due to extreme weather conditions. Kuva Space's hyperspectral imaging can detect subtle changes in crop health, enabling early disease detection, pest management, stress assessment, and damage evaluation with daily measurements. This contributes to enhancing food security and productivity, particularly in developing countries that require crop insurance policies based on accurate and rapid "proof-of-loss" assessments. Moreover, the data services provided by Kuva Space can facilitate effective crop trading with timely and up-to-date forecasts when setting prices to trade.

Another example is in the carbon credit market, which is expected to grow to around $250 billion by 2050. Kuva Space can offer frequent hyperspectral measurements that can unlock the potential of blue carbon capture (carbon captured by the world's ocean and coastal ecosystems) and agricultural offsets. By capturing data frequently, changes in carbon stocks, vegetation health, and ecosystem dynamics can be tracked over time.

“With a time-series view of the coastal and marine ecosystems and agricultural landscapes, we bring accountability, trust and pricing transparency to the entire market and fuel its growth,” says Tuomas Tikka, CTO and co-founder at Kuva Space.

Kuva Space will launch its Hyperfield-1 microsatellite in November 2023 before launching four Gen 2 microsatellites in 2024. This will mark the initial stage of Kuva Space's planned constellation, which aims to eventually deploy up to 100 satellites by 2030 to measure the material composition of any target on Earth sub-daily, heightening society’s ability to meet climate and safety and security challenges.

With local representation in Finland, Japan, Belgium, the USA, and the UK, Kuva Space has raised €6.5M in total funding from Reaktor Ventures, Voima Ventures, Nordic Foodtech VC, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, and public funding from ESA Philab and Business Finland. The company is currently raising its Series A round.

Click here to learn about Kuva Space's Green Data Platform.


Publisher: SatNow
Tags:-  SatelliteLaunch

GNSS Constellations - A list of all GNSS satellites by constellations

beidou

Satellite NameOrbit Date
BeiDou-3 G4Geostationary Orbit (GEO)17 May, 2023
BeiDou-3 G2Geostationary Orbit (GEO)09 Mar, 2020
Compass-IGSO7Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)09 Feb, 2020
BeiDou-3 M19Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M20Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M21Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M22Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 I3Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M23Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019
BeiDou-3 M24Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019

galileo

Satellite NameOrbit Date
GSAT0223MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0224MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0219MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0220MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0221MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0222MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0215MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0216MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0217MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0218MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017

glonass

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Kosmos 2569--07 Aug, 2023
Kosmos 2564--28 Nov, 2022
Kosmos 2559--10 Oct, 2022
Kosmos 2557--07 Jul, 2022
Kosmos 2547--25 Oct, 2020
Kosmos 2545--16 Mar, 2020
Kosmos 2544--11 Dec, 2019
Kosmos 2534--27 May, 2019
Kosmos 2529--03 Nov, 2018
Kosmos 2527--16 Jun, 2018

gps

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Navstar 82Medium Earth Orbit19 Jan, 2023
Navstar 81Medium Earth Orbit17 Jun, 2021
Navstar 78Medium Earth Orbit22 Aug, 2019
Navstar 77Medium Earth Orbit23 Dec, 2018
Navstar 76Medium Earth Orbit05 Feb, 2016
Navstar 75Medium Earth Orbit31 Oct, 2015
Navstar 74Medium Earth Orbit15 Jul, 2015
Navstar 73Medium Earth Orbit25 Mar, 2015
Navstar 72Medium Earth Orbit29 Oct, 2014
Navstar 71Medium Earth Orbit02 Aug, 2014

irnss

Satellite NameOrbit Date
NVS-01Geostationary Orbit (GEO)29 May, 2023
IRNSS-1IInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)12 Apr, 2018
IRNSS-1HSub Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (Sub-GTO)31 Aug, 2017
IRNSS-1GGeostationary Orbit (GEO)28 Apr, 2016
IRNSS-1FGeostationary Orbit (GEO)10 Mar, 2016
IRNSS-1EGeosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)20 Jan, 2016
IRNSS-1DInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)28 Mar, 2015
IRNSS-1CGeostationary Orbit (GEO)16 Oct, 2014
IRNSS-1BInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Apr, 2014
IRNSS-1AInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)01 Jul, 2013