The Airbus S950 satellite was first developed for the Pléiades Neo optical constellation. Photo: Airbus

Skynopy, a French space startup, has won a major deal in the ground satellite services arena. Airbus Defence and Space has tapped the company to support the enhancement of the ground segment for its very high-resolution optical imagery services based on its Pléiades Neo constellation. Skynopy announced the deal, Jan. 28.

Skynopy, founded in 2023, aims to bring a fully software-defined ground segment, combining centralized orchestration and virtualized modem technologies to enable rapid deployment of new ground stations and flexible resource allocation. An initial operational test conducted earlier this year deployed new capabilities within weeks and transitioned to operational service within months, while supporting real-time data downlink.

Pléiades Neo satellites are part of Airbus’ high-resolution optical constellation, delivering native 30 cm resolution imagery with high reactivity for a wide range of applications, including defence, security, disaster management, civil engineering, environmental monitoring and commercial services. By integrating Skynopy’s ground station services into its operations, Airbus Defence and Space is able to further optimise data acquisition and downlink performance, reducing the time between image acquisition and data availability through the OneAtlas platform. This enhanced responsiveness aims to represent a key differentiator for demanding customers requiring faster access to critical Earth Observation (EO) data.

“This collaboration with Airbus Defence and Space illustrates how a fully software-defined and virtualized ground segment can bring tangible performance gains for very high-resolution Earth observation services. Our objective is to enable satellite operators to deploy and operate ground infrastructure faster, with greater flexibility, while delivering the levels of responsiveness and data availability expected by today’s most demanding users,” Antonin Hirsch, CTO and co-founder of Skynopy, said in a statement.