COLORADO SPRINGS – L3Harris Technologies has inked a deal with Madrid-based startup Zoople to develop a satellite constellation designed for a still-emerging concept in the space industry: Earth AI.
The companies say the system will go beyond traditional Earth observations, providing artificial intelligence models with a constant stream of data about activity on the planet rather than providing images for human analysis.
Xoople and L3Harris describe it as a “first-of-its-kind” group adapted for the AI age, where satellite data is treated less as imagery and more as input for machine learning systems.
Earth AI refers to systems that absorb large amounts of Earth observation data – optical imagery, synthetic aperture radar and radio frequency signals – and apply machine learning to extract structured information about what is happening on the ground and the data is constantly updated. Algorithms can interrogate the system for changes, patterns of activity, or anomalies over time, with outputs given in the form of data.
Designing satellites for AI
Xoople worked in secret for seven years before outlining its plans for 2025. The deal with L3Harris, announced earlier this month, aims to build a satellite constellation designed explicitly for AI workflows, meaning they generate continuous Earth data streams optimized for machine learning.
The company raised $130 million in a Series B round, bringing its total funding to $225 million from investors including Nazca Capital, MCH, CDTI, Buenavista Equity Partners and Endeavor Catalyst.
This funding is to support the development of the group and data platform.
Fabrizio Pirondini, chief executive of Zoople, said the AI age requires satellites that are “able to monitor the entire world in real time and ensure the excellent measurements needed for AI.”
He said Zoople and L3Harris have spent years developing the technical requirements for the planetarium.
Xoople’s system will combine data from its own satellites with cloud-based infrastructure, including Microsoft’s Planetary Computer Pro, a platform designed to bring geospatial insights into analytics workflows.
Pirondini said the goal is to combine Earth AI data with other data sources to gain a better understanding of changes occurring on the Earth’s surface using natural language queries.
This concept is gaining popularity in the technology industry.
Google launched the Earth AI initiative, which applies large-scale artificial intelligence to global geospatial data, making physical, environmental and infrastructure information interrogable through advanced models.
“We’re developing what we call an ‘Earth System of Record,’ because it’s basically a data infrastructure that’s able to accurately measure what’s happening everywhere on Earth,” Pirondini said in an interview.
L3Harris moves up the stack
L3Harris says the project marks a change in its role in the space industry.
The company manufactures a wide range of remote sensing equipment across multiple sensing modalities, including optical, infrared, radar and signals intelligence payloads.
Caroline Cosavella, general manager of exclusive imaging at L3Harris Technologies, said the Xoople constellation is different from anything the company has done before.
“It’s much more than Earth observation. It’s providing information and real-time data that you can make decisions on, AI can build on and learn from,” he explained. space news. “And to do that, Xoople and L3Harris have defined the requirements for what the system must do to provide that level of accuracy and that level of detail that AI can take and ingest and move forward.”
Cosavella said the contract with Zoople is “a huge deal for us.” The company has been a payload provider for government and commercial groups, but this is a step up in the value chain, helping to design satellites and broader system architectures.
