Satlyt raises $8m to bring AI computing to satellites
Satlyt, a start-up co-founded by former Google and SpaceX product manager Rama Afullo, has raised $8 million to develop software that runs AI on satellites. It aims to let spacecraft from different operators share computing work, as demand grows for data centres in orbit.
The company has flown its software on two demonstration missions and is focused on processing data and resolving problems aboard spacecraft, reducing costly and slow transmissions to Earth. In one test, Google DeepMind’s Gemma model cut a transmission about software errors by more than 60%; Satlyt estimates such savings could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars per satellite each year. Its software is due to fly this week on a TakeMe2Space spacecraft, with NASA, Stellerian and TakeMe2Space testing different uses; Satlyt hopes to link two satellites into a shared computing system next year.
- Satlyt raises $8 million to run AI software on satellites.
- A test cut an error-related transmission by more than 60%.
- The company aims to connect computing across two satellites next year.
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Satellites gather data for uses such as communications and observing Earth, but sending large amounts of information back to ground stations can take time and cost money. Running software in space can let a satellite analyse data or deal with some faults before sending information to Earth.
Satlyt is a start-up co-founded by Rama Afullo, who previously worked at Google and SpaceX. It is developing software intended to let satellites process computing tasks and, eventually, share that work across spacecraft run by different organisations.
The idea is part of growing interest in putting more computing capacity in orbit. If it works, processing data aboard satellites could reduce how much they need to transmit, while shared systems could let operators make use of computing resources on other spacecraft.
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Originally published by TechCrunch as “Satlyt, founded by a former Google and SpaceX product manager, raises $8M to run AI on satellites”.