Hyperspectral satellite startup Pixxel nabs $100M investment

Pixxel Space Technologies Inc., an India-based developer of Earth observation satellites, has raised $100 million in funding.

Singapore’s Temasek wealth fund and space technology investor Seraphim led the Series C round. Pixxel stated in its announcement of the deal today that the two firms were joined by several other institutional investors. The company’s total outside funding now stands at $192 million.

Objects on the Earth’s surface reflect light from the sun back into space. Imaging satellites such as those made by Pixxel use the reflected light to take photos. Furthermore, they can determine the chemical composition of the objects they photograph. That’s possible because every material reflects sunlight in a different way, which gives it a unique optical signature detectable from space.

Last year, Pixxel launched its first six imaging satellites aboard a pair of SpaceX Corp. rockets. They form a constellation called Firefly that the company says can provide six times higher resolution than most earlier alternatives. According to Pixxel, they identify objects’ chemical composition using an approach called hyperspectral imaging.

Sunlight comprises light beams with a wide range of wavelengths. Every material absorbs a specific subset of those wavelengths, which is what gives it a unique optical signature. The more wavelengths a satellite can detect, the bigger the number of materials it can identify from space.

Many traditional Earth observation satellites are based on a so-called multispectral design. That means they can sense up to 15 spectrum bands, or wavelength ranges. Pixxel’s Firefly constellation, by contrast, detects more than 135 bands, which enables it to collect more detailed data.

Forestry is one of the areas where Firefly’s increased resolution is useful. Some multispectral satellites are limited to collecting coarse-grained environmental data such as a forest’s surface area. Pixxel’s systems, in contrast, can identify what kind of trees make up a forest and assess their health. The company says that Firefly also lends itself to use cases in sectors such as water management, urban planning and agriculture.

Pixxel’s satellites weigh about 110 pounds and have a resolution of 16 feet. They’re perched 341 miles above the Earth in a so-called sun-synchronous low Earth orbit. That means they can fly over a given area at the same hour every day, which allows for consistent lighting conditions. Consistent lightning makes it easier to avoid data collection mistakes.

Pixxel will use its new funding to finance a second generation of satellites. The Honeybee constellation, as it’s called, will introduce two new capabilities: SWIR imaging and a synthetic aperture radar. SWIR, or shortwave infrared, is a segment of the spectrum that lends itself well to tasks such as urban planning. Synthetic aperture radars are sensors that can see through clouds.

Pixxel also plans to improve the software that it sells alongside its satellites. Aurora is a cloud-based platform that customers can use to run artificial intelligence models on the company’s imaging datasets. For example, a forest management organization could create a model that automatically highlights new groves to save workers the hassle of finding them manually.

Pixxel plans to launch its first Honeybee satellite next year. The company will grow its manufacturing capacity to support the initiative. 

Image: Pixell