Described as a multi-million-pound deal, the satellite – the first of GenMat’s planned constellation – is due to be launched later this year aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare.
Specifically, Exobotics will design, manufacture, and test a CubeSat satellite platform with the hyperspectral imaging payload. It will be responsible to oversee the end-to-end production of the satellite platform in the company’s London engineering labs.
The satellite will monitor the earth for materials and minerals to identify new prospecting locations, and GenMat’s ultimate goal is to map all of the Earth’s minerals into a searchable database of advanced materials, including semiconductors.
Simera
We reported last month that Exobotics was collaborating with Simera Sense for the manufacture of a high-resolution hyperspectral imager – for a nano-satellite destined for low-Earth orbit (LEO) – to forecast crop welfare, measuring emissions and object detection.
It will be working with Simera Sense again, which will produce the imager. The system will be capable of high-resolution imaging at less than 5 meters per pixel in the 450nm to 900nm range, with a payload support system to enable imaging with high-speed radios in S, and X bands. This technology will lay the groundwork for the quantum sensing space roadmap, say the companies.
The hyperspectral imager, produced by Simera Sense, will be capable of high-resolution imaging at less than 5 meters per pixel in the 450nm to 900nm range, with a payload support system to enable imaging with high-speed radios in S, and X bands. This technology will lay the groundwork for the quantum sensing space roadmap.
Exobotics
Exobotics is a start-up with offices in London, Cambridge and Cornwall. Its aim is to use advances in robotics, materials, structures and AI to enable missions to LEO and beyond.
“Space data has a variety of under-explored applications which can greatly benefit industries such as mining, and we are excited to break down the barriers to entry to space for our customers in order to help them launch innovative solutions to macro issues,” said the founder of Exobotics, Nadeem Gabbani.
Genmat
GenMat – based in Cheyenne, Wyoming – is a materials engineering company looking to automate and reduce the cost of R&D starting with the semiconductor, mining/clean energy, battery, and pharmaceutical industries.
“While we are building an AI that informs the production of advanced materials such as semiconductors, we also believe in the significance that our sensors play for the next generation of advancements in the agricultural, mining and defence sectors,” said the founder and CEO of GenMat, Deep Prasad.
GenMat will apply its machine learning algorithms to the space data collected by the satellite.
The aim is that the satellite will be capable of identifying rich areas of resources and mineralisation in previously under-used locations.
Genmat quotes research from the International Energy Agency that estimates that China controls over 71 per cent of the world’s extraction and 87 per cent of the world’s processing capacity of rare earths. With the new satellite, the com[pnay is looking to position itself to boost material detection and extraction in other regions of the world.
See also: Exobotics, Simera collaborate for high-res hyperspectral imager
