On September 2 in French Guiana, an AI satellite was launched into the Earth's orbit for the first time in history. PhiSat-1 is now soaring at over 17,000 mph about 329 miles above us, monitoring polar ice and soil moisture through a hyperspectral-thermal camera, while also testing inter-satellite communication systems. Onboard the small satellite is an AI system developed by Ubotica and powered by Intel's Myriad 2 VPU -- the same chip inside many smart cameras, Magic Leap's AR goggles, and a $99 selfie drone. Its first task is filtering out images of clouds that impede the analysis. Clouds cover around two-thirds of Earth's surface at any given moment, which can severely disrupt the system's analysis.

The year 2020 continues to be difficult here on Earth, where the pandemic is exploding again in regions of the world that were once successful in containing it. Germany reported a record number of cases this week alongside Poland and the Czech Republic, as the U.S. counted 500,000 new cases. It's the backdrop to a tumultuous U.S. election, which experts fear will turn violent on election day. Meanwhile, Western and Southern states like Oregon, Washington, California, and Louisiana are reeling from historically destructive wildfires, severe droughts, and hurricanes. Things are calmer in outer space, where scientists are applying AI to make exciting new finds.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is certainly the'flavor of the month' and has become a part of our daily lives. However, there is one area that, until now, hasn't been involved in AI… As ubiquitous as artificial intelligence has become in modern life -- from boosting the understanding of the cosmos to surfacing entertaining videos on a phone -- AI hasn't yet found its way into orbit. That is until September 2, when an experimental satellite about the size of a cereal box was ejected from a rocket's dispenser along with 45 other similarly small satellites. The satellite, named PhiSat-1, is now soaring at over 17,000 mph (27,500 kmh) in sun-synchronous orbit about 329 miles (530 km) overhead. PhiSat-1 contains a new hyperspectral-thermal camera and onboard AI processing from an Intel Movidius Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU) -- the same chip inside many smart cameras and even a $99 selfie taken by a drone on Earth.

The company, along with the European Space Agency (ESA) and computer vision and AI startup Ubotica, announced details of the PhiSat-1, an experimental CubeSat satellite that was ejected from a rocket's dispenser on September 2 along with 45 other similarly small satellites. PhiSat-1 contains a new hyperspectral-thermal camera and onboard AI processing - thanks to an Intel Movidius Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU), says the company, the same chip inside many smart cameras and even a $99 selfie drone. PhiSat-1 is one of a pair of satellites on a mission to monitor polar ice and soil moisture, while also testing inter-satellite communication systems in order to create a future network of federated satellites. The first problem the Myriad 2 is helping to solve, say the organizations, is how to handle the large amount of data generated by high-fidelity cameras like the one on PhiSat-1. "The capability that sensors have to produce data increases by a factor of 100 every generation," says Gianluca Furano, data systems and onboard computing lead at the European Space Agency, which led the collaborative effort behind PhiSat-1. "While our capabilities to download data are increasing, but only by a factor of three, four, five per generation."

As ubiquitous as artificial intelligence has become in modern life -- from boosting our understanding of the cosmos to surfacing entertaining videos on your phone -- AI hasn't yet found its way into orbit. That is until Sept. 2, when an experimental satellite about the size of a cereal box was ejected from a rocket's dispenser along with 45 other similarly small satellites. The satellite, named PhiSat-1, is now soaring at over 17,000 mph (27,500 kmh) in sun-synchronous orbit about 329 miles (530 km) overhead. PhiSat-1 contains a new hyperspectral-thermal camera and onboard AI processing thanks to an Intel Movidius Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU) -- the same chip inside many smart cameras and even a $99 selfie drone here on Earth. PhiSat-1 is actually one of a pair of satellites on a mission to monitor polar ice and soil moisture, while also testing intersatellite communication systems in order to create a future network of federated satellites.

As ubiquitous as artificial intelligence has become in modern life -- from boosting our understanding of the cosmos to surfacing entertaining videos on your phone -- AI hasn't yet found its way into orbit. That is until Sept. 2, when an experimental satellite about the size of a cereal box was ejected from a rocket's dispenser along with 45 other similarly small satellites. The satellite, named PhiSat-1, is now soaring at over 17,000 mph (27,500 kmh) in sun-synchronous orbit about 329 miles (530 km) overhead. PhiSat-1 contains a new hyperspectral-thermal camera and onboard AI processing thanks to an Intel Movidius Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU) -- the same chip inside many smart cameras and even a $99 selfie drone here on Earth. PhiSat-1 is actually one of a pair of satellites on a mission to monitor polar ice and soil moisture, while also testing intersatellite communication systems in order to create a future network of federated satellites.

American technology company Intel has announced its contribution to a satellite named PhiSat-1 by powering it with an onboard artificial intelligence (AI), thanks to an Intel Movidius Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU). The AI software that runs on the Intel Myriad 2 on PhiSat-1, was created by Irish startup Ubotica, which worked with the hardware maker behind the hyperspectral camera. The satellite was launched last month along with 45 other similarly small satellites as part of Arianespace's first rideshare demonstration mission. The VPU is the same chip which can be found inside many smart cameras and even a $99 selfie drone. PhiSat-1 is actually one of a pair of satellites on a mission to monitor polar ice and soil moisture, while also testing inter-satellite communication systems in order to create a future network of federated satellites.

Though artificial intelligence (AI) plays a vital role in modern life, from stimulating our understanding of the cosmos to surfacing entertaining videos on your device, artificial intelligence hasn't found its way into orbit yet. However, that is until September 2, when an experimental satellite about a cereal box's size named PhiSat-1. It is now soaring at more than 27,500 Km/h in sun-synchronous orbit around 530 km overhead. PhiSat-1 consists of a new hyperspectral-thermal camera and on-board artificial intelligence processing because of an Intel Movidius Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU). The same chip exists inside many smart cameras and even a $99 selfie drone here on this planet.

Intel, Ubotica, and the European Space Agency (ESA) have launched the first AI satellite into Earth's orbit. The PhiSat-1 satellite is about the size of a cereal box and was ejected from a rocket's dispenser alongside 45 other satellites. The rocket launched from Guiana Space Centre on September 2nd. Intel has integrated its Movidius Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU) into PhiSat-1 – enabling large amounts of data to be processed on the device. This helps to prevent useless data being sent back to Earth and consuming precious bandwidth.

Dublin start-up Ubotica has brought its AI technology into orbit aboard a next-gen ESA satellite. Dublin-based Ubotica Technologies has announced that its AI tech has gone into orbit aboard the Earth observation satellite PhiSat-1, which was launched along with 52 other satellites on a European Space Agency (ESA) Vega rocket yesterday (3 September). The satellite is part of a programme funded by ESA and supported by Enterprise Ireland, in which deep-learning technology for the in-orbit processing of Earth observation data is being deployed on a European satellite for the first time. Ubotica's CVAI technology, built on the Intel Movidius Myriad 2 vision processing unit, will allow the satellite to make its own decisions rather than relying on humans down on the planet's surface, resulting in faster, more efficient applications being deployed on the satellite. In this instance, Ubotica's AI tech is being tasked with automatic cloud detection on images captured by the satellite's advanced hyperspectral sensor.