Ground stations speaks to satellites

The last newsletter was about Isar Aerospace, a company building a rocket to launch small and medium satellites into orbit.

I mentioned that rockets are the backbone of space, and companies like SpaceX are in the business of supporting the development of the technological platform of space.

In today's post, I am sharing a different business in the space industry.

Leaf space company

Provide ground stations as a service to communicate and interchange data with your satellites.

Based in Milan, Italy.

Founded: 2014

Money raised: $38.6 Million

Number of employees: 35

Leaf Space is in the business of providing connectivity with your space assets. They achieve this by building ground stations spread around the world, following a ground service model.

What does that mean?

To communicate with your satellites in space, you need antennas on the ground to send and receive data from and to your satellites.

200 satellites can take 1.4 million images per day, and this data needs to be transferred and sent somewhere.

To achieve this, you need ground stations spread across the globe. In the previous example, you needed 30 ground stations to handle that data.

Not only this, but you also need smart software to receive the daily images, categorize, and organize them.

That's a lot of data per day.

Here is an opportunity for software developers right there. It's a niche area and yet to be matured for now.

Leaf Space is providing this service as GSaaS (Ground Segment as a Service) for multiple customers who own satellites.

Currently, they offer three services based on your needs, and their business model spans from pay-as-you-go to a subscription model.

The technology:

Leaf Space has developed a proprietary software called Network Cloud Engine, which comprises a set of microservices running in the cloud. This software is designed to manage and orchestrate the entire network of ground stations from a single point

The Numbers:

As of now, they operate 19 ground stations (with plans for expansion), serve over 35 customers, and provide support for more than 70 satellites.

You can connect the rocket, satellites, and ground stations together. The rocket launches a satellite, and the ground station communicates with it.

Knowldge and tips:

What is the lifespan of a satellite?

• Satellites in low orbits at an altitude of a few hundred kilometers from the ground will enter the atmosphere and burn up in several years to several decades. On the other hand, satellites in high orbits over 1,000 km will continue to revolve for more than 100 years.

How do satellites get their software updated?

• It takes about 90 minutes for a satellite to orbit the Earth. To update your satellites, you need to access them from a ground station. You have to wait until the satellite passes directly over that ground station to send your updates. If you miss this opportunity, you'll have to wait another 90 minutes.

Thanks for reading.

rock-it from the ground station.