Argentine Start-Up: Satellogic outsources satellite launches to China

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The Argentine start-up Satellogic keeps the production of its satellites in-house but has out-sourced the launch of the spacecraft to China. Satellogic aims to deliver mapping of the earth that could provide vital information to such sectors as forestry, agriculture and energy at an affordable price. Joel Richards reports from Buenos Aires.

Soon it will be possible to have weekly updates of one-meter resolution images like these around the world. The potential for sectors such as agriculture, forestry and energy is vast. The satellites to take these images are made by the company Satellogic, just outside Montevideo, Uruguay. The 45-kilo satellites are made manually, the process is overseen by engineers like 33-year old Esteban Fernandez.

ESTEBAN FERNANDEZ ENGINEER, SATELLOGIC "We take into account the feedback from the technicians working here to improve the process so we can do things better, of better quality and faster, and that way scale up to make more satellites."

Here they are ramping up production with new launches planned in the coming months.

JOEL RICHARDS BUENOS AIRES "While the satellites are made in Uruguay, it is here in neighbouring Argentina where the company was founded and where their headquarters are based. Satellogic recently announced they are set to launch 90 satellites, and they will do so from China."

GERARDO RICHARTE CO-FOUNDER, SATELLOGIC "China has a very good success record in launches and is launching very often. It has a growing industry of manufacturing and launching rockets, so for us, it is a good partner."

Satellogic's agreement is with China Great Wall Industry Corporation and sees co-opearation between Latin America and China in space exploration expand into commercial arena, says investigator Ignacio Villagran of the Argentina-China study centre.

IGNACIO VILLAGRAN DIRECTOR, ARGENTINA-CHINA STUDY CENTER "The innovation here is the idea in itself. There is not a transfer of technology, each party has its own technology but they both benefit, using its launch capabilities in the case of China and thcollecting and analysis of data that the company Satellogic has."

Satellogic aims to have a constellation of these small satellites in orbit to collect information for clients at a more affordable price.

GERARDO RICHARTE CO-FOUNDER, SATELLOGIC "Today governments and big organizations can access the technology; we believe everybody needs to have access to the technology. I don't mean everybody must have a satellite, but everybody must have access to imagery and solutions coming out of technology from satellites."

The full constellation should be deployed by the end of next year. Joel Richards, CGTN, Buenos Aires.