Ibadan, 16 November 2022. – Exobotics, the UK satellite firm, has won a multi-million-pound customer contract from advanced materials specialist Quantum Generative Materials (GenMat) to construct a high-precision, remote-sensing prospecting satellite. Exobotics will design, manufacture, and test a CubeSat satellite platform with a hyperspectral imaging payload to allow GenMat to canvas the natural environment anywhere on the planet.
The GenMat technology locates minerals in untapped locations, which will play a critical role in creating a novel circular ecosystem of advanced materials, such as semiconductors. This will consequently form the first of GenMat’s constellations, which could reach up to 600 satellites to cover the Earth. The satellite will be capable of identifying rich areas of resources and mineralization zones in previously underutilized locations.
GenMat will apply its machine learning and AI algorithms to the satellite’s space data to provide customers in the mining and agricultural industries with high-precision prospecting information on a target site location for advanced materials. Furthermore, the hyperspectral imager will be capable of high-resolution imaging at less than 5 meters per pixel in the 450nm to 900nm range, with a payload support system to enable imaging with high-speed radios in S and X bands.
With the project underway, Exobotics will oversee the end-to-end production of the nano-satellite platform in their London engineering labs, which will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket later this year.
Speaking on winning the contract, Nadeem Gabbani, founder of Exobotics, said: “We are delighted to be manufacturing GenMat’s high-precision prospecting satellite to help provide unique insights of advanced materials in the natural environment across the globe. Space data has a variety of under-explored applications which can greatly benefit industries such as mining, and we are excited to break down the barriers to entry to space for our customers to help them launch innovative solutions to macro issues.”
Deep Prasad, founder & CEO of GenMat, also noted how GenMat is “developing products that are vitally important for creating sustainable technology infrastructures, both on Earth and in Space Exploration,” stating that its sensors play essential roles in the next generation of advancements in the agricultural, mining and defence sectors.
