Dragonfly Aerospace, South Africa’s leading manufacturer of imaging satellites and payloads, has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Elecnor Deimos, a world leader in space technologies and satellite image processing.

According to the agreement, Dragonfly will incorporate the Insight4EO software product from Deimos in its existing nanosatellite camera range, greatly simplifying the image processing needs for nanosatellite earth observation mission operators and reducing the downlink volume to enable greater coverage per satellite and from constellations as a whole. In addition, the Deimos Insight4EO image processing software will run on the existing Dragonfly nano-camera controller module that is currently available across all of Dragonfly’s nanosatellite camera products.

Furthermore, the joint development of Dragonfly Aerospace and Deimos Space will first be implemented on the Chameleon Hyperspectral camera before being offered as an option on all Dragonfly’s nanosatellite cameras. This enhancement of the existing Dragonfly nanosatellite camera range will further simplify customer nanosatellites and significantly improve the overall performance of their nanosatellite systems. Dragonfly’s nanosatellite cameras already implement 128 GB of non-volatile onboard memory, removing the need for customer nanosatellites to incorporate a separate mass memory data storage. Also, high-speed SpaceWire or LVDS interfaces allow the cameras to be connected directly to the nanosatellite data transmitter.

The Insight4EO software product from Deimos has been developed as a turn-key on-board processing and intelligence product to enhance the performance and throughput of Earth observation missions and payloads. The Insight4EO product provides software-defined onboard data processing services for satellites, facilitating the edge-computing paradigm for real-time knowledge and decision-making and increasing mission autonomy, throughput and return-on-investment. The Insight4EO product is already incorporated in Deimo’s’ small satellites, and the further employment of Insight4EO on Dragonfly’s nanosatellite cameras confirms the added value provided by its innovative onboard data processing services.

According to the CEO of Elecnor Deimos,  Ismael López, “Insight4EO is the result of a significant effort on internal investment and participation in European R&D programmes to provide innovative operational solutions to commercial Earth observation systems. In addition, partnering with Dragonfly is an excellent opportunity to increase our market and to consolidate our role as a leading supplier of on-board intelligence systems.”

“This is the next step in Dragonfly’s plans to optimise our high-performance products for large imaging constellation operations. We will continue to innovate and improve our products to aid our customers in achieving their targets of implementing highly capable and productive systems. The nanosatellite industry continues to redefine what is possible with this class of satellite.” said Bryan Dean, CEO of Dragonfly Aerospace.

Dragonfly Aerospace and Elecnor Deimos will sign a formal cooperation agreement in the coming months.

About Elecnor Deimos 

Elecnor Deimos is a multinational company with 500 employees and subsidiaries in five (5) European countries. The company develops systems and technology for space, transport, aeronautical and maritime sectors and designs and implements digital transformation processes.

In Space, Elecnor Deimos excels in mission analysis and design, systems engineering and ground segment systems. The company also leads in onboard software solutions and integrating science and research satellites, satellite navigation, Earth observation, space awareness and launchers.