Darwin McDaniel
Amazon Web Services is offering AWS Ground Station, a new service that gives customers expanded access to satellite data through a network of ground stations around the world.
Customers can avail the service through pay-by-the-minute process based on antenna access time, which will help them save up to 80 percent of their current ground station costs, the company said Thursday.
It allows subscribers to upload satellite commands, use AWS cloud platforms to store large data and utilize machine learning for analysis.
“The goal of AWS Ground Station is to make space communications ubiquitous and to make ground stations simple and easy to use,†said Shayn Hawthorne, general manager for AWS Ground Station.
She added the company hopes data gathered through the new satellite service would support scientific projects and future deep space exploration.
Initial customers and partners of AWS Ground Station include Capella Space, D-Orbit, Maxar Technologies, Myriota, NSLComm, Open Cosmos, Spire and Thales Alenia Space.
In late 2018, AWS announced a partnership with Lockheed Martin to integrate AWS Ground Station with Lockheed’s Verge antenna network to enable customers to access and process satellite data amid weather disturbances and other outages.
