Metaspectral Will Reduce Data Transmission Costs From Space By Over 50%

VANCOUVER, B.C. & LOS ANGELES (Metaspectral PR) – Metaspectral, a company offering technology that derives real-time insights from AI using ultra-high-resolution, visible-to-infrared (hyperspectral) images, has completed the Los Angeles-based, Starburst SCALE Aerospace Accelerator Program. Throughout this program, Metaspectral has laid the groundwork to roll out its market-ready solution that will cut spectral data transmission costs from space by over 50%.

Data transmission is crucial to the success of space missions including low Earth orbit, Lunar, and Mars missions. With the number of missions on track to increase dramatically following NASA’s Artemis lunar program, those missions will only have an eight-hour connectivity window per week to transmit data back down to earth from the lunar orbit. Further, several planned Low-Earth Orbit constellations such as Satellogic, Orbital Sidekick, and Pixxel are also set to face millions of dollars per year in data transmission costs, due to the vast quantity of data that must be transferred through the atmosphere down to Earth. 

“There is a significant disconnect between the quality of the sensor data that can be gathered on these missions and the amount of bandwidth available to transmit that data,” said Francis Doumet, CEO of Metaspectral. “Our technology addresses this problem. Not only by reducing the size of the data that needs to be transmitted to Earth, but also by facilitating more edge-processing of that data using machine learning.” 

This is enabled by Metaspectral’s unprecedented lossless compression capabilities, which can reduce file size to as little as 30% of the original size, and to as little as 9% of its original size with near-lossless compression.

“Maintaining the quality of the data that is transmitted is crucial,” added Doumet. “This is one of the biggest challenges for space exploration, the fact that computing resources on board are highly constrained. Before our solution, the options were to reduce the quality of the data transmitted to Earth, wait many hours or days to get the data back to Earth in its original form, or to have the data analyzed on board the spacecraft with much of the data truncated. However, performing analysis on truncated data poses a problem — the analysis is only as good as the information that it is provided with, therefore resulting in sub-optimal analysis. ”

Metaspectral is aiming to build on the momentum gained while participating at SCALE, and currently has multiple space projects at various stages.

SCALE is run by the Starburst Aerospace Accelerator in collaboration with UCLA, federally funded by the EDA Venture Challenge, and backed by industry and authorities across the greater Los Angeles area. The U.S. Economic Development Administration provided a $1.4 million grant to the program.  

The program will conclude with a Demo Day, hosted by Starburst Accelerator on August 4 from 2-7 p.m. PDT at UCLA at the Meyer & Renee Luskin Conference Center (425 Westwood Plaza). Metaspectral will be giving a 10-minute presentation to showcase the progress achieved through the 13-week intensive program. 

Metaspectral had the distinction of being the only international company selected to participate in the Los Angeles accelerator program. 

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About Metaspectral

Metaspectral is a technology company making it possible to derive real-time insights from AI using ultra-high-resolution, visible-to-infrared (hyperspectral) images. It offers proprietary solutions for multispectral and hyperspectral data management, with world-leading technology for lossless data compression, transmission, storage management, and artificial intelligence (AI). Metaspectral is ideal for applications in a range of industries including recycling, the military, aerospace, agriculture, and more. Learn more: https://metaspectral.com/