Thanks to the development and design of constellations of nano-satellites, the start-up Prometheus aims to give emerging countries spatial sovereignty in their Earth observation missions. Having just raised 4.72 M€ (out of 15 M€ of financing by the end of the year), the start-up will build its first device.
Of the 30 billion euros deployed over 5 years as part of the “France 2030” investment plan presented at the end of 2021 by the government, 1.5 billion euros are dedicated to space. And of this total, half would be allocated to New Space, a “fabulous decision” according to Olivier Piepsz
“Our innovation is new space”. Thanks to digitalization, the miniaturization of technologies or even the “drastic drop in the price of the kilo put into orbit”, the space industry has been opened up to small players. If it is not the size of the American Space X of Elon Musk, Prometheus and its co-founder Olivier Piepsz are among those actors who can imagine the space of tomorrow.
Democratize Earth observation
At the origin of Prometheus: the expressed wish of several countries of the world who want to have their sovereignty and their own autonomy in Earth observation actions. Be independent in monitoring illegal fishing, its borders, etc. This autonomy, the young shoot aims to provide them: “we are developing a complete system which will allow to have an image every hour, and even less. But beyond the manufacture of satellites, the idea is to have business verticals to …