To support global climate action, Earth2Orbit and its partners created EO analytics solutions for cities, agriculture, water security, and renewable energy using ML and satellite data.

Geo-Intelligence Products

In December 2015, at the Paris climate conference (COP21), 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal. In 2016, Earth2Orbit (E2O) committed itself to supporting global climate action using Earth Observation (EO) Data Analytics.

We trained young engineers and scientists to straddle both worlds – Machine Learning (ML) Analytics and satellite Remote Sensing. We combined EO data from open-source EO satellites with other relevant data to deliver “actionable intelligence” for social, business and environmental impact.

Earth Observation (EO) Imagery

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Ancillary Data

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Machine Learning Analytics

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Actionable Intelligence Social, Business Environmental

Earth Observation (EO) Analytics

We primarily used open-source satellite data from the European Sentinel constellation, the American MODIS and Landsat series of satellites. Our Geo-Intelligence products targeted cities, agriculture, water security and renewable energy. Examples include:

  • Crop Acreage
  • Rain Water Harvesting
  • Roof-top Solar
  • Urban Sprawl Monitoring
  • Pollution Monitoring

>>Play Video: Earth2Orbit Analytix: Intelligence for the New Climate Economy

E2O actively collaborated with the Data Center & Analytics Lab (DCAL) at the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B). E2O was selected for the Bangalore edition of the Airbus BizLab Season 2 Accelerator program. We were also members of the Microsoft BizSpark program. Microsoft supported us with cloud credit worth US$ 125,000 for their Azure platform for a period of two years.

Geo-Spatial products

E2O had a 2-year Reseller Agreement with Antrix Corporation to promote, market, lease and distribute the IRS products in digital form in the US market. ISRO’s remote sensing satellite fleet provides EO imagery in a variety of spatial resolutions, spectral bands and swaths. E2O’s San Francisco office conducted market research, created databases of potential customers and marketed IRS data for Antrix/ISRO in the United States.

E2O’s Bangalore office and its local partners also offered value-added remote sensing data products using EO imagery from the Cartosat and Resourcesat series. Together, we offered mapping and geospatial services such as:

  • Digital Elevation Model (DEM) generation
  • Digital Terrain Model (DTM) generation
  • Contour generation
  • Ortho-photo generation
  • DEM extraction from stereo
  • Ortho-rectification and mosaicing
  • Crop acreage and yield estimation

In partnership with a Japanese trading company, we provided consulting services for ortho-rectified EO imagery to Japanese clients.

constellation

In partnership with a Berlin based satellite company German Orbital Systems, E2O tried to pitch for a private hybrid (medium and high-resolution) constellation of 24 satellites for the Indian subcontinent, but unfortunately there were no takers.

Foreign investors did not want to invest in an Indian venture, Indian investors were running shy of investing in space and unlike NASA, ESA and the European Commission, ISRO doesn’t yet have any decent funding support for promoting entrepreneurs and innovation.

The India-centric private constellation idea is as relevant today economically, technologically, socially and environmentally, as it was a couple of years ago. If you or your company are interested, we are happy to share this idea with you under a non-disclosure.

Climate-Smart Cities

E2O was a pioneer in creating EO analytics models for addressing urban problems in India. E2O reached out to the Indian government “Smart Cities program” as well as had dialogues with the decision makers of some of the cities that made the final cut under the Smart Cities competition, but none of them were open to engaging us in a meaningful way.

Inspired by the Australian Geoscience Data Cube , E2O has also tried to educate and persuade city administrators in India to create EO Data Cubes for their cities using open-source satellite data to be able to track changes and respond in an intelligent manner to everything from urban greenery to ground water, particulate matter pollution to urban sprawl.

conferences

E2O, in partnership with Toulouse-based Climate City hosted an “Urban Air Quality Monitoring using Space-Air-Ground infrastructure” Round Table. The Round Table was supported by the French Space Agency (CNES), the French Consulate in Bangalore, Data Center & Analytics Lab (DCAL) at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B). We presented EO Analytics solutions at the CNES Pavilion in the 2017 Paris Air Show in Le Bourget.

E2O was one of 10 start-ups selected worldwide by New York based 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) program to participate in the 2018 CityXChange Summit organized by The Rockefeller Foundation and 100RC in Bellagio, Italy. The summit also invited 10 City Mayors and Chief Resilience Officers (CRO) from Greece, Atlanta, Belfast, Calgary, Chennai, El Paso, Honolulu, Pittsburg, Pune, Quito. The summit brought together city administrators, social impact investors and innovative start-ups to discuss solutions for myriad problems cities face in the 21st century.

E2O was invited by the C40 cities collective to its Bangalore forum on sharing global experiences on improving urban air quality. E2O was invited to participate in the 2022 “Unlock Bengaluru” conference organized by the World Resources Institute (WRI) . E2O CEO participated in a panel discussion “Agenda 2022: Managing Metropolitan Bengaluru”, and discussed ways in which EO Analytics can help make Bengaluru climate-smart. E2O presented technical papers at international conferences to showcase Geo-Intelligence products developed by the company.

alliances

  • Climate City, Toulouse, France
  • Data Center + Analytics Lab (DCAL), IIM-B, India
  • Genesys, Bangalore, India
  • German Orbital Systems, Berlin, Germany
  • HD Sense, Bangalore, India
  • INDrone, Bangalore, India
  • Microsoft, Bangalore, India
  • Thybolt, Hyderabad, India

crew

Management

Scientists

Interns

2016: Pierre Bertrand, Dual Degree Graduate Student: Aerospace Engineering + Technology and Policy Program (TPP), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA

2017: Adhithya S. Rajan, Aerospace Engineering, Joint Degree: Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore and TU-Munich

2018: Samarth Urs M., Earth Science and Resource Management, University of Mysore