Ibadan 13 August 2025. – Simera Sense and KP Labs have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during the 39th Annual Small Satellite Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. The agreement formalizes a growing collaboration between the two companies, whose complementary technologies — optical payloads and onboard data processing — can support upcoming Earth observation and planetary exploration missions.
The MoU will foster closer collaboration between both companies, based on shared goals and complementary capabilities. Furthermore, it opens the door to joint deployments where mission-ready components from both partners can be combined into compact, intelligent payloads with minimal integration overhead.
Additionally, bringing together advanced optical sensing and in-orbit AI processing, both companies aim to accelerate the delivery of smarter small satellite missions.
Thys Cronje, CCO of Simera Sense, remarked, “Simera Sense sees this collaboration with KP Labs as an essential step in enabling responsive EO missions with smaller satellites in the European landscape. For Simera Sense, providing our customers with a strategic advantage with near-real-time space-based intelligence is crucial.”
The first formal instance of this partnership is the upcoming OPS-SAT VOLT mission led by Craft Prospect in partnership with ESA. For the first time, KP Labs and Simera Sense will fly together as an integrated payload: Simera Sense will subsequently deliver the HyperScape100, a high-performance multispectral camera, while KP Labs will provide the Leopard Data Processing Unit (DPU) running AI-based algorithms directly onboard.
With the mission due for launch in mid 2026, the OPS-SAT VOLT will highlight how both technologies can operate jointly to capture and process data autonomously in orbit. Furthermore, there will be demonstrations of the integrated payload at selected events in late 2025, highlighting how mission-ready sensors and onboard computing units can deliver meaningful results without ground intervention.
