Down To Earth

A new era in satellite technology offers space-down insight. Here are some fascinating world views.

- Tiana Cline

Who would have thought that over 50 years later, the space race would be back on? And this time, every country with a space program seems to have their eye on the moon’s south pole. Between the anticipation around NASA’s upcoming Artemis mission, to the Middle East entering the space race with plans to launch an Emirati-built rover this year, it’s easy to forget that SpaceX’s Starlink is expanding in Africa (most recently, offering high-performance connectivity in the West African country of Benin), with Amazon’s Project Kuiper following suit. While the idea of colonizing the moon, Mars and beyond is exciting, there’s another side to space that is changing how we see the planet we currently live on – data.

For Clint Crosier, Director of Aerospace and Satellite Solutions for Amazon Web Services (AWS), it’s as simple as making the world a better place, from space.

“There’s space up… understanding the universe… but a mission that’s growing even faster is space down – using space-related data to look at earth and improve the quality of life here,” explains Crosier.

As someone who spent his entire career flying satellites and launching rockets, Crosier has witnessed the rapid growth of the space industry first-hand. (Before moving to AWS, Crosier helped to create the United States’ (US) Space Force, the fifth branch of the US military.)

The data coming out of space is vast but in order to use it effectively, the sector needs next-gen cloud technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced data analytics, quantum computing and more.

“The space industry doesn’t really understand the cloud but there are many cloud-based technologies to move the mission forward,” says Crosier.