Rendering of Open Cosmos’ OpenConstellation. Photo: Open Cosmos

Open Cosmos is preparing to launch the first satellites of a newly-announced OpenConstellation, meant to democratize access to satellite imagery through a shared infrastructure. 

The OpenConstellation, announced Wednesday, will first have six satellites built by Open Cosmos. This batch will begin launching in November this year. These satellites were made in partnership with the UK Space Agency, Satellite Applications Catapult, Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), AGAPA, Portugal’s Centre of Engineering and Product Development (CEiiA), and the European Space Agency (ESA). 

Open Cosmos will manage the satellites, and partner organizations will share access to the data, which will be available through the DataCosmos platform. The cloud-based platform launched earlier this year, and also pulls in other types of data from vectors, drones, and sensors.

The constellation is also open to third-party satellites from new or existing partners, in return for access to the data, with the goal to reach 25 satellites in a mix of spatial and spectral resolution. 

The company believes this mutual infrastructure approach can democratize access for smaller countries and companies, entities for which proprietary satellites would be too expensive. It envisions that this data will help organizations address climate challenges related to energy and natural resources. 

“The main challenges the world faces today are global and satellites naturally provide that global perspective we need to make the right decisions. The key objective of OpenConstellation is to make necessary data and information from space more accessible. A mutualized infrastructure will provide the right balance between the budget organizations or government can afford and the associated performance they need,” Rafel Jorda Siquier Open Cosmos CEO and founder said.