“We’re the first thermal infrared space start-up to successfully launch its satellite”
A conversation with Thomas Grübler, OroraTech
Thomas, OroraTech launched its very first nanosatellite called FOREST-1 in January 2022, congratulations. Did everything go as smoothly as expected?
Yes, the nanosatellite is up in space, and everything is working well. We have demonstrated the capacity to build a highly miniaturized thermal infrared imager with an efficient cost-per-picture ratio. We’re proud and excited because a satellite launch is the most important milestone for any space start-up. And the coolest part about it: we’re the first thermal infrared space start-up to successfully launch its satellite. Over the last months we have also proved to be able to operate the satellite successfully and deliver an image quality that surpasses our expectations.
What makes these new types of satellites unique?
Traditional satellites are very expensive, built for tons of use cases and often already outdated when launched into space. The cameras are as big and heavy as a fridge, since they need so much cooling. However, our camera is as small as a shoebox, has better resolution and doesn’t need any cooling. We can detect heat signatures at the source, pre-process important events on the satellite and download them directly. This is a vital benefit for every application that relies on high-speed information. Our swift forest fire detection system takes just 3 minutes from seeing the incident via satellite to sending a text message to your mobile phone.
One can literally feel your passion for space tech. Where does it come from?
Since my childhood, I’ve been a big Star Trek fan and the kind of person who always needed a challenge. I love mountain biking, but the easy hills are not for me. I need to go up to a summit, and I always pursue huge goals. My love for space tech follows the same pattern: it’s complex and challenging, but you can create an impact if you know how to do it. I also enjoy being an entrepreneur and sold my first web pages at 14, when I didn’t know it was even possible to build space apps.
You are building an entire network of nanosatellites now. How far does it reach?
Satellites are always global. They circle around the earth all the time. While this results in a high investment in the beginning, it’s much cheaper in the end. Drones or planes are only inexpensive for a very limited area. For example, the autonomous drone system in California costs as much per year as our satellites do for covering the entire globe with the same resolution and data availability. Our global data gets the same type of data from every spot on our planet. This allows us to track patterns in a fair and transparent way and detect the real contributors to climate change.
Can you describe a use case and what kind of customers you typically have?
For the wildfire service we sell around the globe today, typical customers are commercial forestry, forest and firefighting services, or conservation projects. We have many firefighters who use our actionable insights daily. It makes a huge difference if you tell them, “Look, here’s a fire, and these are the moisture, weather and wind patterns in your region,” or you say, “There is a hot pixel on this picture.” They don’t have engineers who can interpret NASA data for them. Together with ESA, we are currently exploring a second use case to detect gas flaring at oil and gas refineries. We can easily detect them with our thermal infrared imager and improve transparency and accountability for the entire industry. Thanks to the data we generate with FOREST-1, we are now in the unique position to confirm additional use cases where satellite imagery outperforms existing technology.
Hand on heart, what can you reasonably contribute to preventing climate change?
We did a calculation: If we could stop about 0.3% of all forest fires early, we could save as much in carbon emissions as the entire global carbon offsetting market is worth. So far, we only measure the size of the areas that we cover with our solution. We can’t predict wildfires, but we can help our customers to prepare themselves by giving them a risk assessment. We can provide an early warning to prevent the spread of a fire outbreak. We collect data from more than 20 public satellites and have developed our own algorithms to improve detection quality.
If we could stop about 0.3% of all forest fires early, we could save as much in carbon emissions as the entire global carbon offsetting market is worth.
The space data you collect can be used for various applications. How do you make sure to stay on the impact track?
The impact is anchored in our mission statement, and I guess that at least half of our team would jump ship if we changed it towards something less impactful. Also, as a young team, we must live with the consequences of climate change which is why we have an inherent motivation to focus our work on global warming contributors. At the same time, this market offers by far the biggest growth potential.
Speaking of growth, which element of your solution will be the most critical one for scaling: the high-quality data, the super-smart data analytics, or the intelligent reports to your customers?
At the core of our solution are the algorithms. Analytics can only be as good as the data you feed them. This is the exact reason why we’re building our own nanosatellite network. There are thousands of companies analyzing space data, but we’re one of the very few to own the data.
Your sector is quite young and getting increasingly hot for investors. Besides money, how can Ananda help you succeed?
Ananda is the investor who helped us become a winning team. All our investors bring a lot of value, but Ananda focuses a lot on team health. I really like the process with which they inject new ideas and how supportive they are to us and our journey. Only a winning team can build a winning start-up!
Interview by Christina Moehrle
More about Thomas
During his studies at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, Thomas Grübler was already conducting research for two successful space projects: in the first project he launched an experiment into space, in the second he developed the hardware for a CubeSat attitude determination and control system which is currently in operation in orbit. At the same time, Thomas gained entrepreneurial experience by working with several start-ups. He was selected to run an 18-month leadership and entrepreneurial programme for TUM’s Manage&More programme. Thomas’s enthusiasm for solving complex problems through technology led him to co-found OroraTech.
