There are currently around 1,600 active satellites orbiting around the Earth, and more than 4,500 will be launched within 2026. None of them is designed to be autonomous.
Despite the technological advancements, currently it takes an average of three ground operators to manage the basic in-flight operations of each satellite, which substantially impact on cost and mission effectiveness.
For a standard mission, this turns into a time span of several hours to detect system failures, to perform orbit and attitude correction, and to identify critical mission events related to the mission objectives, such as monitoring (disasters such as forest fires, flooding), or acquisition of important data (weather, astronomy, Earth Observation).
In an era where Artificial Intelligence is making cars and other systems smarter and more autonomous, at AIKO we have seen a huge market opportunity in endowing spacecraft with AI-based capabilities.
We are a team of experts in aerospace engineering and Artificial Intelligence, and we have developed MiRAGE, the first in-flight software on the market based on AI and designed to enable increased mission autonomy for satellites (conventional and small satellites) and for the Mission Control Centres.
The use of our product MiRAGE drastically improve the way how operations are managed during space missions, increasing the mission effectiveness and supporting the operators in taking decisions. By having more efficient space mission, there is an effect on the society by obtaining more timely, more precise and higher quality data from space missions.
MiRAGE is an innovative software library based on Artificial Intelligence algorithm capable of enhancing the autonomy of space missions. The objectives of the SME Instrument Phase 1 project were related to the integration of the library within the on board satellite flight software and the evaluation of the performances. Moreover, the feasibility of a business centered on the MiRAGE product was being object of investigation.
