Marble Imaging and Scanway Space have entered into a strategic partnership for the joint development of the multispectral payload for a constellation of smallsats for EO, owned by Marble Imaging.
The targeted constellation will include as many as 200 satellites that weigh approximately 100 kg each, which is planned to be launched in several stages within the next decade to provide repeated, global imaging in the very high-resolution sector.
The cooperation has already resulted in winning the prestigious German “Kleinsatelliten Nutzlastwettbewerb” competition by DLR, which will enable the development and launch of the demonstrator satellite for the future constellation. Winning the award includes free provision of the satellite platform and transport into space.
Scanway will be responsible for developing and supplying hardware – that is, EO telescopes that will work on board the satellites to provide the best quality data. The company’s team has more than seven years of experience in the development of optical payloads.
The satellites will provide global data of the Earth’s surface at a targeted resolution of 0.7-meter Ground Sampling Distance (GSD) in the Visual and Near Infrared (NIR) spectrum and will include a panchromatic band. Future satellites will also be able to image with Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) bands. The data and derived analytics will offer valuable insights for a diverse range of clients in the EU and around the world. The cooperation between capable European companies targets to strengthen the Europe based EO industry.
“Our strategic partnership will strengthen European cooperation in the Earth Observation domain. We’re looking forward to jointly developing cutting edge optical and multispectral payloads with Scanway for our constellation.” — Robert Hook, CEO and Co-Founder of Marble
“An exciting task for Scanway in the project will be to deliver a telescope allowing a very high-resolution of less than one meter (targeted 0.7 meter). The company’s long-term goal is to create solutions for constellations, which involves scaling up the production process. We are aware of this challenge, that’s why, starting January, we will have laboratory and workshop spaces nearly four times larger than before thanks to Scanway’s new headquarters, and in the next few years we will implement further production scaling processes.” — Mikołaj Podgórski, COO and Co-Founder of Scanway
“Developing our own European constellation is a big step towards breaking the dependency on the big non-European players, that are currently dominating the market”, says Alexander Epp, Co-Founder of Marble Imaging and Head of Marketing and Sales. Marble’s role will be to process, analyze and transform the obtained EO data into added value products and services. “Our goal is to create a future where rapid and informed decision-making using up-to-date, uninterrupted, accessible and detailed EO data is seamless.” — Dr. Gopika Suresh, Co-Founder and Marble’s Chief Strategy Officer.
Marble Imaging GmbH was founded in August 2023 in Bremen, a center of Germany’s aerospace innovation. Covering the entire spectrum of Earth Observation from mission design and management to data processing and analytics, Marble strives to set the benchmark for streamlined EO services for commercial and government customers. Marble’s founders have more than 10 years of experience in space systems and satellite data processing, and CEO Robert Hook has been responsible for managing major space missions, including the Copernicus CO2M mission.
Scanway is a high-tech company based in Wrocław, Poland. The team specializes in the field of vision systems and optical systems for different applications in space and on Earth. The company is divided into two fields: Scanway Space (advanced optical instruments for the space industry) and Scanway Industry (vision systems for quality control). The company has more than seven years of experience in the space industry and TRL 9 for its solutions. Scanway offers two types of products: optical telescopes for Earth Observation and camera systems for space applications, and it also conducts R&D activities in the field of optoelectronics. Since 2023, Scanway is a public company with 50+ employees on board.
