The proliferation of satellites, set to multiply by ten over the next decade, is providing unprecedented access to geospatial data and analytics, revolutionizing various aspects of Earth monitoring and enabling the emergence of new services.

In today’s rapidly evolving space industry, innovation is paving the way for transformative advancements that have a direct impact on improving life on Earth. The space technology sector is experiencing significant diversification, with numerous private companies driving innovation and shaping the new space landscape. The proliferation of satellites, set to multiply by ten over the next decade, is providing unprecedented access to geospatial data and analytics, revolutionizing various aspects of Earth monitoring and enabling the emergence of new services.

David Ziegler- VP, Aerospace and Defence, DassaultSystemes interacts with Huma Siddiqui ahead of the Paris Air Show about space and innovation.

In the new space ecosystem, how to accelerate innovation for a better life on Earth?

If we look at space technology, we notice a couple of things. The major trend is the diversification of the sector, lots of innovation going on by private companies, a lot of shapers in new space. The number of satellites is going to be multiplied by about 10 over the next 10 years: satellites will keep going around the earth and looking at different aspects of earth, all of that data or the monitoring of the data will be available 24/7 from all parts of the earth. So it’s really a change in magnitude and that change in magnitude is called geospatial analytics which means we have access to any kind of digital platform and can constantly monitor earth. What that means is new services will appear in order to improve life on earth. For example- urban planning, transportation & mobility, climate change forecast etc.

India aims to develop sustainable space technologies, including eco-friendly propulsion systems and additive manufacturing to minimize environmental impact. What are your thoughts on that?

First, we need to recognise the Indian Ecosystem, we have been working for the Indian Space Research Organisation for a long time and have already embarked on the journey of eco-friendly designs such as: plasma electronic propulsion, additive manufacturing. Back in 2018, they tested a 3D-printed semi-cryogenic engine injector. But the most critical thing in the upcoming years is the partnership between the main public actors like ISRO and the rest of the ecosystem like the start-upsin India if we want more sustainability. When we talk about sustainability, there is sustainability in the form of a new population system but the one of more importance is sustainability in Space. As you know there will be many more satellites orbiting the earth and we have limited space above our head. We are already seeing more than 4,000 satellites so focusing on collision avoidance and debris removal will be key and I know that ISRO complies with Inter Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee, the famous IADC, but still it means there is going to be more and more orbital overlap. It is all about managing sustainability in space in order to make sure we keep the place clean for everyone on earth and what I like about the space ecosystem is that a lot of start-ups focus on that.  One example of that is the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform, ManastuSpace, which is really developing plasma based engines, they are also working on some solutions to avoid debris in space and I think that is really the focus of the industry in terms of sustainability.

How can India monitor and address challenges like climate change, deforestation, disaster, management for sustainable development?

Essentially, the data that is collected by the satellites assists in the climate modelling. It not only has the ability to forecast extreme weather events but also look at deforestation by providing regular and comprehensive imagery to make sure you are able to monitor illegal logging activities and all of that. Whether it is deforestation, or climate change monitoring or even water resource management, the most interesting development is going to be in urban planning, infrastructure development. When you look at what the satellites can do for that is the ability to monitor urban growth. If you combine the data that is coming from the satellites to data that is coming from the Virtual Twin of the city, one can have very interesting advances in the way one does urban planning. So you leverage all of the data from the constructions, buildings, from the satellite observations, you put that back into the virtual twin of the city and that enables you to monitor not only the city but to do urban planning on a much faster scale, from planning the course of highways to monitoring traffic. Again, I think it is important to have access to that data but you need to be able to take that data and transform it to information or even better knowledge.

By optimizing decision making through advanced analytics and AI, how can India harness space capabilities to enhance resource management, infrastructure, development and urban planning?

The use case is fairly simple.You need a couple of things in order to get a plan for human activities. The one thing that you need in reference to urban planning is that you need to have a referential: theVirtual Twin of your city. You also need data, data sources- the data coming from satellites and then you need to be able to take that data and match it against your Virtual Twin and make sense of it and elevate that data to information and knowledge. The last step of knowledge is understanding where the data applies into the referential. This is the human part of managing the data and for that you need artificial intelligence and a collaborative platform in order to make sense of the data and act on it and this is what we do at DassaultSystemes. We essentially leverage Virtual Twin withAI and the collaborative platform to deliver very concrete results. For example- we are working on a project with Airbus, we are creating a Virtual Twin of the Earth. So essentially we are leveraging all the data coming from the satellites and we reconstruct the virtual twin of cities and on top of that we use our simulation portfolio to the Virtual Twin model. On one hand we have the virtual twin, on the other hand is the data coming from satellites, finally all of that is put into a platform with artificial intelligence with a collaboration mechanism. By applying our simulation software capabilities, we can have very interesting use cases. When you look at a city you can decide to be much more precise in the way you place your 5G antennas, monitor the radiation, you can very precisely monitor what could be the impact in case of a disruption on an industrial site, what could be the impact of the pollution on the city. do a noise analysis within a city. You can make sure you map the different zones of your urban planning and this is possible if you have the virtual twin of the city, the data coming from the satellite to keep all of that data up to date, and also to model the environment. And finally, the collaboration and simulation platform that we provide in order to make informed decisions

How can India encourage public private partnership and empower start-ups to drive innovation in sustainable space technologies?

I believe that India has already embarked on a very specific policy framework. There has been a long movement decided by the government of India to privatize space so I cannot say anything contrary to that but even more encourage the private-public partnership which is essentially what the other countries are doing.  Whether it is the US with NASA, in France with the European Space Agency, there needs to be a close collaboration between public sector and private sector within a strong policy framework. Of course with specific funding coming from the government or coming from public-private funding partnerships. But more than that there needs to be specific incubator programmes. One of them in India, is the Karnataka innovation centre which is a good example on how regional policies can be much more effective by combining together government, private sectors and start-up companies. DassaultSystemes plays a part in this as well, we’ve got specific start-up offers for start-up companies, we recognise that smaller companies don’t necessarily have the means to develop as fast as the large OEMs. We help them by adding a specific pricing mechanism but we also provide all of our software on the cloud which enables start-ups to scale really fast because they don’t have the appropriate infrastructure and finally it is important to think about the future, developing the workforce and developing the skills that are necessary in order to innovate. In particular, through model based system engineering, I believe it is the responsibility of government, industry, research and education coming together to understand what the future requires. For Example- where we collaborate very strongly is the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) in the US. It is a combination of the Washington State University for students and the research, DassaultSystemes is the main technology provider but also from different private partners like Spirit Aerosystem or Textron Aviation, we all collaborate to define not only the future progress of the workforce of the future but as well as define some common innovation grounds for research. When we combine the three, research, academia and private sponsorship for innovation then you build a skilled workforce.

What are your views on start-ups and the significant potential for new space companies in India

I think India has been on the stage of space development for a very long time with ISRO and we are seeing the emergence of a lot of Space start-ups in India and I think we are going to see even more. India will continue to be a major space power in the years to come and we have some great examples from start-up companies that we help with our technology and solutions. What’s interesting is it is in all the domains of space, so I discussed about ManastuSpace, which is more start-up focusing on sustainability and debris removal there are also other startups like Dhruva space that provides Nano satellites, different launch services for Nano satellites which is going to be major in the future and the reduction of the size of satellite. These satellites came from being very large to being essentially to the size of a shoe box so that’s a promising market. Last but not least the development of new mini launchers, with, for example, -Skyroot. The India space scene is really vibrant and will continue to be so for the next 10-20 years. DassaultSystemes looks forward to being a part of it and to help the new start-ups being the shapers and innovators of tomorrow.

https://www.financialexpress.com/business/defence-accelerating-innovation-for-a-sustainable-future-indias-thriving-new-space-ecosystem-3133473/