Mission Space has teamed up with the University of Luxembourg’s SnT centre to create what they’re calling “the world’s most accurate space weather forecasting system”. Silicon Luxembourg caught up with Mission Space co-founders Alex Pospekhov and Alexey Shirobokov to learn more.
The partnership between the University’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) and Mission Space, signed in December 2023, aims to develop machine learning models, which will be trained on MeluXina, the LuxProvide-powered HPC, in space weather data.
Mission Space, whose aim is to protect space assets through the collection of high-quality data on space weather, estimates that the annual economic impact of space weather is around $10bn. Such normal space weather can include geomagnetic storms that risk satellites in orbit: SpaceX lost 38 satellites in its Starlink constellation, with around $100m of losses incurred.
But space weather can also have terrestrial implications, resulting in transformers on Earth burning out, impacting power grids. To take just one example, in March 1989, a solar storm caused a nine-hour power outage in Quebec province in Canada, impacting some 6m residents.
“We’re planning on the installation of 24 satellites to cover the whole Earth, and this system will allow us to predict solar flares and provide customers with space weather data in real-time.”
Alex Pospekhov, co-founder of Mission Space.
Double-pronged solution
As co-founder and serial entrepreneur Alex Pospekhov explains, Mission Space is building a database for space weather and also offers hardware that can be installed on small satellites.
“Even a small change in the ionosphere is a risk for satellites,” co-founder Alexey Shirobokov adds. “Currently there are over 6,000 satellites, [and with increased congestion], if there is a collision, you have debris which will travel all over the orbit and collide with other satellites, creating a chain reaction.” Euroconsult in a 2022 report estimated that 24,500 satellites would be launched by 2031.
With the Mission Space hardware on the satellite, Pospekhov says there has been “huge interest” for the hardware from satellite operators, adding: “With our hardware on your satellite, you can have more detailed information about the data around them.”
Support for startups, despite “complicated domain”
Based in the Luxembourg-City Incubator, Mission Space was among the startups selected in the 11th edition of the Fit4Start accelerator programme in June 2021. The startup is also planning on applying for other support programmes.
Mission Space’s business model relies heavily on government contracts, which Pospekhov says also helps gain investor traction. Both Pospekhov and Shirobokov praise Luxembourg’s support for startups. Moreover, “It’s a neutral country,” Pospekhov adds. “And space is still a very complicated domain.”
