London, U.K. Photo: Raph.ae (Flickr)

[Via Satellite 04-11-2016] Small satellites could open up new business models for governments and other interested parties. This was one of the key findings of the “Data from Satellite Constellations” panel at the Satellite Innovation Congress held in London April 7 and 8. One of the main speakers on the panel was Farhana Amin, Earth observation program lead at the U.K.’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). She admitted the U.K. government is still getting to grips with what satellite technologies can offer an organization like DEFRA.

“There are multiple requirements in the U.K. government which could be helped and solved using satellite or remote sensing data. It is fantastic that more people will enter in the space sector. From the public sector, we have a real dilemma. We are not experts. We need to work with data and service providers to find out what is out there, what is coming, and figure out ways of delivering better applications to help us with regulatory and monitoring requirements. The satellite industry needs to educate the public sector also,” she said.

Amin is hopeful that the satellite industry and the U.K. government can develop a “mutually beneficial” relationship. She said the U.K.’s Chief Scientific Advisor is keen on exploring new business models involving government and satellite.

“We want to come up with new ideas where we can come up with new services and applications,” she added. “We can help shape policy and guidelines for these services.”

While admitting that not all information can be made publicly available, Amin believes the U.K. government can help companies make the most from new constellations. Within the U.K. government, Amin said they have the need for a lot of data. She highlighted the need for real-time data when there are floods as one very practical example.

The U.K. government has set-up a working group to see how best it can use satellite going forward. Amin admits the U.K. government needs to figure out the questions that it needs to ask in order to get the most out of satellite technologies.

“We are at the cusp of this exploration. We need to get our house in order in terms of identifying this capability,” she said, tellingly.

The theme of the panel was very much getting more capability for less. Geoff Roberts, CEO at Democrata said that thanks to advances in CubeSat and micro-sat technology, the barriers to entering the satellite market “are more or less disappearing.” However, he believes the industry needs to do a better job of educating the government and others about satellite’s latest capabilities.

“Data is the new oil,” he said. “It will fund the economy in the future. There is an enormous amount of education to be done [by the satellite industry]. It seems a bit Star Trek, but it is not. Data from satellites has many uses. Everyone can benefit from it. The education piece is the thing that most needs to happen.”

The Space Innovation Congress also played host to a number of new companies that are looking to make an impact in the space sector. One such company is Leaf Space, which wants to simplify access to space for microsatellite operators. It is working on a next generation ground station network dedicated to nano, micro and small satellites. Giovanni Pandolfi, CTO at Leaf Space, said if the company was successful in its aims it would “reflect well on the industry” as well as lower the price of access to space a lot more going forward. With the U.K. government and others far more ready to embrace satellite capabilities, the potential rewards are clearly there.