The inhabitants of Rennes will have their eyes turned towards the United States today, for the take-off of Falcon 9 and the deployment of their eighth “BRO”. A small satellite with significant capabilities for ocean monitoring, equipped with technology mastered by this ever-growing French team.
He will not be alone under the cap of SpaceX.
All aboard the carrier
The year starts as the previous one ended: with the takeoff of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. But this one is not dedicated to the Starlink connectivity constellation, it is a “Transporter” flight, a set of satellite deployers attached to a central mast, sent into polar orbit at an altitude of 525 km.
There are 114 passengers in all on this flight, satellites from all walks of life with small private deploying cargo vehicles, 36 “SuperDove” for the American earth observation operator Planet, three radar satellites from the Finnish company Iceye, a solar sail which we will talk about later… and a “BRO”, for “Breizh Reconnaissance Orbiter”, from the Rennes start-up Unseenlabs.
It’s the eighth already in three years: a small Breton constellation, discreet, but increasingly effective! This satellite, with up to six others sent this year, will fly over the same areas of the globe several times a day so as not to miss any activity on the oceans.
It’s far, but it’s BRO
BROs use a unique (and patented) technology for detecting radio frequency emissions. A single satellite is capable, by flying over an area from orbit, of pinpointing a source of emissions within less than a kilometer of precision… This is what the company transforms, for its customers, into a powerful tool for detecting boats over the world’s oceans.
Indeed, all ships emit signals of different kinds, and this is also valid for ” dark vessels », the boats which cut off their transponder so as not to be spotted. Unseenlabs has made a specialty of flushing them out and following them thanks to their electronic signature: illegal fishing, pirate ships, oil ferries or traffickers have a hard time escaping Breton satellites.
A success for the start-up whose customers are multiplying, from States to major shipping companies. Each satellite therefore improves this capacity.
A discreet BRO-chette
The success of Unseenlabs, founded in 2015, has enabled the company to double its workforce in 2022 and now have 50 employees… And its CEO, C. Galic, does not intend to stop there . Even if, with its activities, the SME keeps a natural discretion, because it attracts covetousness.
In November, Unseenlabs partnered with Secure-IC to deliver a first-ever encryption solution with a protocol that can withstand future computer attacks using quantum technologies. Breizh satellites are popular!
Source : unseenlabs
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