00:00:03: Welcome to Deep Dive Space Tech, from space access-to-earth applications.

00:00:08: Your business investment and technology podcast by DWR ECO in cooperation with Mission Homebound hosted by David Wardman.

00:00:20: I'm very happy to meet Gopika Suresh.

00:00:23: she is Chief Strategy Officer of Marvel Imaging.

00:00:28: She's also co-founder that company.

00:00:29: Hi how are you?

00:00:31: Hi David, it's nice to be here.

00:00:32: Thanks for having me!

00:00:34: It is a beautiful warm sunny day in Frankfurt so I'm doing quite well thank you.

00:00:39: how are you?

00:00:40: Good Well this always good to hear...I am in Berlin very nicely weathered aswell.

00:00:44: Let us just jump right into the topic.

00:00:48: You're a space tech company.

00:00:51: What do guys have been doing?

00:00:52: maybe one sentence?

00:00:53: Its all rocket science David That

00:00:55: exactly

00:00:56: what we were doing.

00:00:59: Mobile imaging is three years old and we are developing Europe's first constellation of multi-spectral satellites that can provide global imaging off the planet in very high resolution.

00:01:12: I can break this down, basically when you don't have images on Google Earth for example... You're blind to a lot things!

00:01:23: So, mobile imaging is making sure that we give you the information so that you can make decisions rapidly.

00:01:30: And currently there's no European provider for giving this information on a daily revisit rate in very high resolutions.

00:01:38: So, Mobile Imaging is going to be

00:01:40: first.

00:01:41: Great!

00:01:41: This I think key word here – To Be The First.

00:01:45: Why are You The First?

00:01:46: Because We Have A Lot Of Imaging Already On Our iPhones.

00:01:50: Professions Are Using This As Well totally US dominated.

00:01:54: Maybe you can break this down for us.

00:01:56: where the images are coming from right now?

00:01:58: From, we're the first because currently in Europe they only have providers of imagery in very high resolution domains.

00:02:06: so that means below one meter is Airbus but do not have capability to provide daily imaging at the interplanet.

00:02:14: what you see on Google Maps or Google Earth all come from non-European American provider And what's happening right now in the current geopolitical situation is that a lot of the non-European providers have stopped providing imagery to European customers, which means there are no data.

00:02:36: That why we will be the first ones in Europe to provide this kind of imagery and we're an European company.

00:02:41: Europe

00:02:41: has programs like Copernicus and Galileo so these satellites doing what you really do better?

00:02:51: It's a very good question.

00:02:53: I've worked with Copernicus data, so i have been working with satellite imagery for the last sixteen years and am the biggest fan of Copernicus.

00:02:59: in the sentinels unfortunately resolution is what we call medium resolutions it above ten meter resolution.

00:03:07: this not enough sufficient for applications that require detailed imagery.

00:03:15: So this means that in ten meter resolution the more you zoom-in, the more pixelated or the more foggy image gets.

00:03:22: The pixels get and very high resolution imagery can be used for critical infrastructure monitoring.

00:03:29: Can we use also in the climate tech world for plantations mapping things like that?

00:03:33: Yes let's talk about it a little later before we do this.

00:03:38: why aren't they able to do this two or one meter solution, a resolution how you do.

00:03:44: Is it because of the technology they're using?

00:03:47: Or is that because of their way and how they are flying

00:03:50: etc.?

00:03:51: So what's the main difference in terms of technology?

00:03:55: maybe flight patterned?

00:03:56: It's very good question!

00:03:58: The Copernicus mission was mainly for providing an alternative to USGS Landsat data from Europe.

00:04:06: That means they have very wide spots.

00:04:08: They cover a large area and this also means that the pixels are lot bigger than uh, The Very High Resolution Satellites.

00:04:15: Um what is good about the Copernicus mission?

00:04:18: Is that we have data since twenty sixteen in different kinds of satellites and different kinds or spectral domains.

00:04:24: However it is very difficult to really get detail information from them as I said right.

00:04:31: The reason why they're not stepping into the very high domain right now, with a very high resolution domain.

00:04:36: Right?

00:04:36: Now is because they are catering really to large scale mapping versus Very High Resolution.

00:04:42: Satellites have much smaller sport which means we will Not be able To cover the entire globe in one day With One Satellite Which Is Why You Need To Think About Constellations As We Are Thinking.

00:04:53: This Is Not about The Lenses you're Using.

00:04:55: this Is More About How You Fly and how And why you fly?

00:05:01: Yes and no.

00:05:02: So it is a lot about the optics.

00:05:05: to get very high resolution, You need to have larger focal length so we need the optics To support it.

00:05:12: um...and so It Is About The Optics But Also About The Height.

00:05:17: The Copernicus Satellites Are Currently Flying Between Seven Hundred Eight Hundred Kilometre Altitudes.

00:05:21: They're Very Big Satellite.

00:05:23: they are I don't know the exact sizes, but they're much larger than what we are attempting to fly.

00:05:30: So as a reference our satellites are about one hundred and fifty kilograms to two hundred kilograms.

00:05:36: They are the size of washing machine And there will be flying at altitudes between four hundred and fifteen to six hundred kilometers.

00:05:44: This has an impact on resolution But optics also have an effect.

00:05:51: It's also a fine trade-off between the optics, quality of images and orbital height.

00:05:57: They're all placed together.

00:05:59: Okay so but Copernicus.

00:06:01: just coming back to this reference because some people may know that this program is actually able cover nearly one hundred percent of Earth surface right?

00:06:12: But you guys would focus on certain areas.

00:06:15: where are you making your decisions?

00:06:17: or is it just a matter of scale in terms of numbers of satellites?

00:06:22: You bring into the orbit so that down the road, you can also cover all of Earth's surface.

00:06:28: Copanicus can cover the entire globe but over period I think...I'm not sure about number here…but takes long time!

00:06:37: We say the repeat cycle for one copanicus Sentinel to satellite for example is eleven days which means comes back at same spot every eleven day And to cover the

00:06:46: thing.

00:06:47: what I heard.

00:06:47: maybe i might be wrong as well, but that was like five days.

00:06:50: But this is still a long time right?

00:06:52: This is

00:06:53: with two satellites.

00:06:54: Five or six days of two satellites

00:06:56: alright baby okay correct

00:06:58: yes there are in the sentinel too missions.

00:07:01: There are currently Two satellites three if you also take the first satellite which it's due for decommissioning.

00:07:06: Yes and they cannot do daily global coverage so they can not cover the entire globe in one day.

00:07:11: This is what we can do with a constellation of twenty satellites.

00:07:15: We can cover the entire globe in one day and come back to that same spot, at least over Europe for five satellite.

00:07:23: We plan on having daily coverage across Europe as well as twenty satellites' daily coverage throughout Europe.

00:07:29: Daily coverage means every twenty-four hours.

00:07:31: you can update images?

00:07:32: Correct!

00:07:34: You just mentioned earlier maybe I misunderstood but actually able to update it on an hourly basis.

00:07:41: How would you do that?

00:07:42: Yes, so with five satellites we will be able to come back to certain spots every hour.

00:07:50: That's because the satellite our satellites are capable of looking left and right.

00:07:54: We call this off-nadia angles And we can go to a plus minus thirty degrees using our satellite.

00:08:00: So let say we do one orbit...we could come back and then steal the camera Steal our satellite Left or Right To cover same spot again.

00:08:08: This is how we get hourly revisit.

00:08:10: Okay, but would you do this let's say custom made or I don't know always need to fly the same pattern?

00:08:16: Or can we just at any time reroute the satellite and come up with these hourly updates.

00:08:24: We are able to do hourly revisits for a combination of scaring the satellites left-and right And also combining different satellites in the constellation.

00:08:33: So if one satellite is currently on the other side But another satellite in the constellation is over that, we can steer the camera left and right to up to thirty degrees plus minus.

00:08:46: We cannot change the orbit...we cannot move the satellite through location but if it's in vicinity then it will cover an area within thirty degrees of the cameras radius than we can cover this.

00:08:58: And thats what you use for our day revisits.

00:09:02: Ok so your plan was shoot out twenty satellites.

00:09:07: until when?

00:09:08: And is this, let's say the final goal of these twenty satellites?

00:09:11: because you don't need more?

00:09:13: or would you really shoot up a lot more satellites?

00:09:17: for what kind of better services.

00:09:20: We have currently five satellites under development all which are due to launch next year.

00:09:27: The plan is to have twenty satellites by Twenty-Twenty-Eight Because we've done an analysis that shows that twenty satellites to cover all of the high-priority regions or crisis regions, as you call it over the Northern Hemisphere.

00:09:45: Ideally, to get global coverage in Nadia so that the satellite is always looking down at one angle and have global coverage we would need two hundred satellites but not just a bunch people coming launching satellites for fun.

00:10:01: We really want to launch satellites based on customer needs And right now the customer need is to have eyes over the northern hemisphere, or these critical areas in the Northern Hemisphere.

00:10:14: And that's why we have come to this magic number of twenty.

00:10:16: Okay,

00:10:17: so just a few more questions or maybe one particular one is if you have these twenty satellites roughly around four hundred kilometers he said in height how much traffic would you expect from other satellites there?

00:10:31: Not just now but may be as well and the next couple years decades?

00:10:36: How would you make sure that there is not any, let's say traffic jam in the particular area?

00:10:42: Because I will assume a lot of service providers would also tackle this.

00:10:48: Yeah it is a question we ask ourselves as well a lot!

00:10:53: In my last conference with someone who said more than sixteen thousand objects are currently orbiting our planet.

00:11:01: Some of them are active, some of they're inactive.

00:11:03: The active satellites obviously can be steered a little bit up and down to avoid collision with other objects.

00:11:10: This is also how usually... Is this

00:11:13: automated?

00:11:14: There's

00:11:16: the database for objects-in-space And every mission control needs to have these databases.

00:11:27: I'm not sure, but my understanding is that there are ways to automatically get a ping.

00:11:35: But then we don't want an automatic control of the satellite.

00:11:40: yet when it comes to AI for the satellite to steer itself on its own and that's why Mission Control is responsible for making sure that there is collision avoidance.

00:11:49: Okay okay... We see this increasing topic Not just for you, but the whole industry and we also know that policy makers at least in Europe.

00:11:57: But also from my understanding as a national level in Germany by all other EU member states need to have some regulations around it who get certified to put their satellites up into the orbit or not?

00:12:09: And eventually this probably needs they have some global regulation.

00:12:13: correct every satellite that is launched today has a de-orbiting plan so that doesn't stay up forever Because you do have this domino effect in space.

00:12:20: If one particle hits into a satellite, it becomes many different particles that stay there forever until they come to the Earth's atmosphere and burn up.

00:12:27: And you want to avoid collision at all rates.

00:12:30: So every single satellite today is launched has a de-orbiting plan which means we need ensure that the satellites will burn and de-orbit but not staying in space for ever.

00:12:43: This basic Best practice that is around the entire world.

00:12:49: some countries follow it.

00:12:50: Some countries don't.

00:12:52: But this is also something that has become More and more as a requirement only in let's say, The last fifteen years or so.

00:13:01: all the objects that were launched before That might still be up there And my still be causing more damage to other satellites right?

00:13:10: Okay, well let's move until maybe a little different chapter of our conversation here.

00:13:15: It is more about launching and what are the costs tied to this?

00:13:19: What are the capacities... You mentioned that you have five satellites under development, fifteen more are to come.

00:13:26: Have you secured your slots already?

00:13:32: put them into space.

00:13:33: It's a very, very good question and we at Marble are really looking forward to having European launcher capabilities coming up soon.

00:13:43: Is

00:13:43: there aerospace?

00:13:44: There

00:13:45: is ESA Aerospace, Rocket Factory Augsburg.

00:13:49: There are few French companies as well so...

00:13:53: Are you optimistic that they would be ready?

00:13:56: because what I remember from ESA aerospace You know, they say you want to have your satellites up there in twenty eight as well.

00:14:04: There's probably a lot of other companies also would like to use their capacities.

00:14:11: so do you feel comfortable that this could happen with European launches?

00:14:15: It is on high demand and every company that launches currently trying to secure our spot as quickly.

00:14:23: There is also a very high likelihood that SpaceX, for example would not be providing slots to other companies might not be available for Europeans anymore.

00:14:36: So we as a company are aware of this and have strategies in place.

00:14:40: so make sure you get your slot early with whoever's available.

00:14:48: It would have been nice to have the capacity in Europe already right now.

00:14:51: That is also the truth of it, so that we had a functioning ecosystem for developing satellites and launching them.

00:14:59: But I'm excited to see all of these companies in Europe actually being successful because their success means we can launch our satellites as fast.

00:15:08: Right, and this is really very interesting that... Because it's quite a big bet right?

00:15:13: You are developing producing your satellite already without knowing whether your carrier would be available.

00:15:22: Of course the carriers are very optimistic.

00:15:25: they could do that.

00:15:26: We know there might Let's say slipping in the schedule as well.

00:15:31: So this is quite a challenge that everything, every you know pieces really come together.

00:15:38: and it brings me little earlier to the question which I would have had later about your financing And uh About your investors because they probably didn't want to see some security around That you have actual customers actually paying customers.

00:15:52: What are all your customers?

00:15:53: Are there comfortable enough already to sign agreements, contracts.

00:15:58: Do they already pay maybe for the kind of stuff you are doing?

00:16:03: So we can just bring us a little bit into that which is very fascinating to see if this actually happening but how with so much insecurity your still planning here?

00:16:14: Yeah I could give more detail about it.

00:16:18: We finished an oversubscribed seed round support from venture capitals in Europe, but also private investors.

00:16:29: And if you just look at the press releases, You'll see who their leading investors are.

00:16:35: so there we have a lot of support and that's mainly because for our first satellite be already in twenty-twenty three and we founded The Company in Twenty-Twenty Three.

00:16:44: So couple months after founding the company We were very lucky to win the German aerospace or german space agencies DLRs small satellite payload competition, which is the Klein Satellite Nutzlust Wettbewerb.

00:16:58: And that basically secured our launch and our platform development.

00:17:05: Then we also were very lucky to get into a European Space Agency and Q-Program.

00:17:10: We had this fully funded full equity kind of funding at that stage which pushed us and give a lot off support to end confidence in the company back then, which helped secure the first couple of precede investors but also really help does in fundraising for the seed round.

00:17:31: For the first satellite because getting fast two space into the market is very important for as we're launching with SpaceX And that's why we can very confidently say, that we are launching next year in Q one.

00:17:44: So it's either Feb or March.

00:17:46: so we have already everything secured there.

00:17:48: this again gives a lot of confidence to the venture capital firms and investors because...

00:17:56: This is for One Satellite?

00:17:57: Or For The First Five

00:17:59: ?

00:17:59: This Is For One Sattelite?

00:18:01: No, no!

00:18:01: You must also understand That currently In Europe There Are Very Few satellite but also payload providers who can manufacture satellites every week.

00:18:11: The manufacturing industry here is just not that established to have satellites popping out every month.

00:18:19: so we can launch together, right?

00:18:20: So it's where you have a staggered approach.

00:18:22: the first satellite... We say four satellites by twenty-twenty seven potentially the fifth one in twenty-two eight.

00:18:31: But at least the first one isn't the first half of year either Feb or March.

00:18:36: The next one would be then in the next quarter and that's how we go.

00:18:39: Okay, so basically you will use SpaceX?

00:18:44: Yes for the first satellite it is with SpaceX...the next ones I cannot say anything.

00:18:49: its not confirmed as yet.

00:18:50: We're trying everything to get a slot.

00:18:54: It could be with European micro-launcher..it can't be with SpaceX....we are really like trying there too Get everything confirmed.

00:19:03: And then when it comes to customers, just to answer your question you probably already can imagine that with the fifty centimeter resolution imagery and the current geopolitical situation there is a lot of demand for images.

00:19:17: People want these very high resolutions so they use them when other commercial providers are not providing imagery.

00:19:26: Again, as an example right now in the Middle East over the Strait of Homoos all American providers have said they would not provide imagery to non-American customers.

00:19:37: And they're currently.

00:19:39: then Europe has to rely on Airbus or let's say Chinese providers.

00:19:45: If Marvel had a satellite up there, we would be able provide the imagery as well.

00:19:50: so There is a lot of demand for images and there are a lot customer attraction for the image only sales contracts things like that already in place.

00:20:00: We have a three million euro contract with the european space agency to provide data.

00:20:05: so that is the biggest customer contract we already in place.

00:20:08: and then on environmental side which also where they are active.

00:20:16: mangrove deforestation tools for our coastal vulnerability tools

00:20:20: and who would be because this is particular interest from outside as well to see how we can use space technologies.

00:20:30: For improving the conditions here on earth.

00:20:33: obviously I mean defense and security.

00:20:35: it's a very important topic but let say civilian dual-use cases of Very interesting as well.

00:20:43: Are there paying customers already for this?

00:20:45: If you say that, of course, you can monitor deforestation are their private companies paying for these data's or ready?

00:20:54: Yes This is actually also very well established to market and where Copernicus has led to the eruption of many analytics and inside providers who provide these kinds.

00:21:06: This is all open data, right?

00:21:08: So this is a taxpayer paid so there's open debtor And as you said, it's just on a ten-meter resolution.

00:21:16: So the images are not as good at what you would potentially be providing but you're not tax payer financed here so you need to have some renum variations there?

00:21:27: How much?

00:21:28: or how would your structure suggest?

00:21:30: service like subscription is a subscription that somebody can let them have an annual subscription?

00:21:39: maybe walk us to the business model here and whether they're paying customers already.

00:21:43: Yeah, I'm a data scientist so you know i have been working on all of these solutions for some years but...

00:21:49: You really don't care about how other companies making their money?

00:21:54: Of course he do.

00:21:56: it was just joking!

00:21:57: But uh.. Maybe you can tell us in just little bit.

00:22:00: Sure ,I can tell that We are offering our solutions as a service solution, right?

00:22:09: So we have developed our portal.

00:22:12: It's a geospatial portal where customers or potential customers can come in and view all of the satellite data from marble.

00:22:21: And we also got analytical tools that allow users to just get information they need like for example If a user is really interested in the mangrove deforestation, and their particular farm in Vietnam they can just get the analytics that we offer.

00:22:38: It runs on the image that they choose And then They Get The Information That They Can Use In Their Certification Cup.

00:22:44: There Is A Big Market There!

00:22:45: Its Not As Big as Let's Say The Defense & Security Markets.

00:22:48: The Budget Is Currently In The Defense And Security Sector Rather Than In The Environmental Sector.

00:22:55: So all of these companies that are previously relied on commercial imagery for environmental solutions and the certification also finding a very tough right now to sustain themselves.

00:23:06: But there are certification company's.

00:23:08: they have to do their due diligence there in carbon credit investors.

00:23:12: we need you to be diligent.

00:23:14: so this is the market that read rest with our solution because they don't want to deal but getting the image downloading processing it then finally, getting the information that they need.

00:23:25: They would rather just get the information as quick as possible.

00:23:28: and so on our web, on our geospatial portal like we've developed already you could have an annual contract for the customers who really know that they will be using our services regularly.

00:23:41: but also we offer pay or as-you-goal services if a customer just wants to.

00:23:48: What is the water quality in my resort right next to this area?

00:23:54: And they can go and get the information, pay for it as you go.

00:23:57: But again building satellites are very expensive.

00:24:02: It's also very OPEX heavy.

00:24:04: So the solution really is to get these big anchor customer contracts.

00:24:09: We're very much B-to-G Right now we are trying to get those big government contracts Because this is what we'll pay for developing the twenty satellites that you want to have.

00:24:19: Sure, and it's pretty much probably defense driven right now but would also be helpful.

00:24:26: key services like navigation.

00:24:28: communication said something you would also provide?

00:24:33: Yes, for sure.

00:24:33: But yeah probably not providing any satellite services right because we're already focusing on images

00:24:38: Correct so communication is less.

00:24:41: our satellite uh is mainly for observation.

00:24:44: So it's a lot of getting images.

00:24:48: You actually touched on very good point about navigation and Our tools are really suited to understanding terrain And that can help with navigation.

00:24:59: The reason this On our satinets we have two different telescopes to different cameras is if you want think of them as cameras than the two different cameras and they measure in different spectrum.

00:25:11: so one of them looks in there.

00:25:14: In the visible so it looks just like he would see a with eye, so we call invisible to near infrared.

00:25:20: you also have your infrared data coming on first camera.

00:25:24: then we have shortwave infrared.

00:25:26: Shortwave infrared data very good for understanding that rain and also for understanding man-made versus natural objects.

00:25:34: So this is particularly interesting, any kind of tool that requires information about how wet my area can I drive on it?

00:25:42: Think about disaster response in disaster management.

00:25:45: imagine there's a flood somewhere and the emergency responders want to know which is the best route from me to take or get into an area affected.

00:25:54: but they don't want to get stuck in a wet area.

00:25:58: And this is why shortwave infrared images that we would provide are very essential for understanding the terrain, and because again you do not just want to provide the image of people.

00:26:08: if there were images.

00:26:10: so let's say for government especially have a geospatial team who can work with the images.

00:26:18: But sometimes for rapid responders, they just want to know the best or fastest way from point A-to-point B. So we have tools that can provide this information on the fly as well.

00:26:29: They say okay This is a red and green map.

00:26:32: Red are areas you should not drive one.

00:26:34: Green are areas where you CAN drive One.

00:26:35: You get access directly too From our data.

00:26:38: Okay so you would not only provide the data but really provide the usable interface For the client.

00:26:45: aswell Correct But isn't that something where you would, of course.

00:26:50: You will be part of a value chain which your customers would be in so well.

00:26:56: the off-takers or debtors may not just be rescue helpers but might be companies helping to provide these debtor.

00:27:03: is this something we go into competition with our own clients?

00:27:07: Or do they cut out middlemen and make it more affordable for organizations.

00:27:14: I

00:27:15: would like to see it more as meeting the needs of both segments, so if somebody has a solution but they just need data then come to us because we will have their data and if someone just needs solutions than can also come directly from this solution.

00:27:29: So i think here we are catering for both segments in market.

00:27:32: that's why we're a data analytics company And users can choose what they need.

00:27:39: The fact is, and I can speak from personal experience that data never to few data.

00:27:45: it's always we want more data.

00:27:46: That how I see marble catering in both segments not really coming into competition with our clients if just one day today get the date all

00:27:55: right.

00:27:55: so okay but you just gave an example when you probably can.

00:28:00: So many different use cases right i mean thinking of agriculture thinking of, I don't know traffic jam development holiday season is starting weather patterns.

00:28:12: So you can really make a lot of predictions out of this if you can be very granular around the images and how things are developing.

00:28:20: so you see really developments not just aesthetic picture off something.

00:28:24: energy use for example.

00:28:25: yes but we were small company in.

00:28:28: This Is Also Where We As a small company, we are twenty seven people right now three years old.

00:28:34: We cannot provide solutions for everything.

00:28:37: so at the beginning already we had to take very strategic decision as what do you want us offer?

00:28:43: You don't have capacity and identify with our fifty centimeter high resolution data.

00:28:52: something that would be good is to provide information and to monitor critical assets, to do activity monitoring.

00:29:01: To change detection because we would have the images for it.

00:29:05: And that's a big market segment which are addressing right now.

00:29:11: For example our own AI based object detection tool developed from scratch.

00:29:16: We've trained it to detect objects classify objects.

00:29:21: Right now, we're using commercial data but also Sentinel to a data and eventually when we have mobile data then We have a lot of training data.

00:29:27: And Also very good data that we can use to provide this information about activity.

00:29:31: So that's one segment That they are actively working on.

00:29:34: Then we have the segment with the terrain and traffic ability Because we know that short-wave infrared data is currently not available On most of the other commercial providers.

00:29:43: The resolution that we would have Is again unmatched.

00:29:46: So we are catering really working with the strength of our sensors to cater to a market that you know will need our data.

00:29:53: And it's hard aspect is the third vertical that we're really targeting this coastal vulnerability because he cannot be have personally but also in the team, they had a lot of expertise about coastline ability that was posted erosion water quality checks deforestation along the course with mangroves for example.

00:30:12: this is also sector that needs high revisits Because obviously what a quality changes from hour to our day today.

00:30:19: So you need to have this revisit from the satellite and This is a segment again that we are actively working on.

00:30:25: but We cannot offer solutions for all The verticals

00:30:28: sure, and this may come down the road.

00:30:31: or You have just Data companies taking these information And then turning them into products correct.

00:30:39: so this where y'all basically like some sort of a white label product, and then somebody else can use these debtors.

00:30:45: But those three areas you just said the main off-takers again will be government right?

00:30:51: Or other commercial companies already out there.

00:30:54: who would be paying for that?

00:30:56: There are commercial company so we pay for it.

00:30:58: It's mainly the Government That We Are Currently Targeting Because We Control Also The Satellites Which Means That We Can Task A Satellite To Get Images Wherever There is interest.

00:31:10: A lot of the commercial companies out there that provide solutions rely on other data, so they become our customers then right?

00:31:16: And this is why yes we are targeting big governmental contracts and We want to make sure at least a government has reliable European data to make decisions rapidly.

00:31:30: There is a gap and we are there to fill the gaps.

00:31:32: So yes, we're targeting in government trying to get anchor customer contracts with the government here.

00:31:38: at some point your investors would like to have subtraction maybe do an exit or something like that?

00:31:44: Have you thought about IPO down-the road?

00:31:46: what it's your long-term vision?

00:31:48: as this still too early

00:31:50: I'd say It's still too Early To Say.

00:31:54: Let The First Couple Of Satellites Be Launched.

00:31:57: Personally i'm waiting for data.

00:32:00: I know that our data is going to be a game changer because until now, sure we have the analytical solutions.

00:32:07: We have activity monitoring and water quality or terrain analysis tools that rely on commercial data but don't have marble data once it comes.

00:32:16: this what i'm excited about.

00:32:18: then think of everything else.

00:32:19: after That.

00:32:21: you are probably using AI already?

00:32:23: Yes To process information extra pollations and these kind of things.

00:32:29: AI is very integral to what we do, it just makes our lives a lot easier because its more efficient.

00:32:37: Also on the next couple satellites We want to have onboard processing To give information much faster Because you can do quick analysis on board The satellite And then downlink the information.

00:32:50: For example if ship has been detected somewhere where It's not supposed be detected then we can directly downlink the information and give this information to the person who's interested in it.

00:33:00: So AI is very integral, everything that you do but... We are also not building solutions to have AI control the satellite for example.. We're still in Germany, we've got satellite and data and all of these things.

00:33:16: Everything is well regulated And actually our only second company in germany uh, deal with this.

00:33:24: Um, the data security satellite data security

00:33:28: um Which will be the other company?

00:33:30: The other one is avas for tandem and terrors ix.

00:33:33: Okay Yeah sure

00:33:34: so.

00:33:35: And the law was also from two thousand seven because that was when the first terrace ix satellite was launched.

00:33:40: all right well slowly coming to an end.

00:33:44: What would be the main challenges right now for you guys?

00:33:47: I mean, we have journalists listening to us.

00:33:50: We have investors listening to this podcast.

00:33:52: We had decision makers from politics but also a lot of entrepreneurs start up companies etc.

00:33:58: so what are?

00:33:59: your main challenge is right on where do you need some support?

00:34:02: and

00:34:02: biggest challenge was getting these governmental contracts.

00:34:06: This really wear the cycle.

00:34:09: it's very long and for startup like ours this impacts quite abit.

00:34:14: So this is where I think we say, there's everywhere on all platforms.

00:34:18: And also using this platform to say that yeah it would be very beneficial for us to have an ankle contract because this then shows confidence in our future investments.

00:34:30: We saw this with the European Space Agency three million euro contract The moment you had their contract.

00:34:36: It resulted in this over-subscribed fundraising round for our seed rounds, right?

00:34:41: So there is this domino effect.

00:34:42: There as well you get a contract and then can accumulate more money to do the work that needs to be done.

00:34:49: Yeah so This would be the only thing that I would say Is challenging The rest.

00:34:55: You know we have very smart people in the company And We can solve all of the technical problems and the space problem As long as we can hire people and hire very smart people to do it.

00:35:07: Kopika,

00:35:08: all this sounds really good!

00:35:09: I would have wished that you had a lot more time... And i don't want eat up too much of your time because there are lots important things right now.

00:35:17: We probably could've been going on with some questions but thank-you so much for the first overview of what you guys were doing.

00:35:26: Hopefully this is not our last conversation And, well thank you.

00:35:30: Thank You David.

00:35:31: it was really nice talking to you and we will have more conversations.

00:35:37: I hope everybody is looking forward the data that comes out next year.

00:35:42: Absolutely We are always hiring That's another thing.

00:35:44: so if somebody finds our journey interesting please do check-out our website Alright

00:35:51: go to Marbleimaging and find those job offers.

00:35:55: Time to surface.

00:35:56: If

00:35:57: you enjoyed this episode, we'd be grateful for a rating or subscription!

00:36:07: This series is produced by DWR Eco in cooperation with Mission Homebound.

00:36:12: To go deeper or connect with our guests visit us at dwr-eco.com.