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<\/p>\nFor decades, satellites have circled Earth collecting images, but much of the data never reaches the ground or arrives too late to be useful. Zaitra, a Czech startup based in Brno, is trying to change that. Its Skaisen AI model processes data in orbit and beams down concise, machine-readable alerts, cutting latency from hours or days to minutes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
VP of Engineering Martin Javorka(Left), CEO Marek Marusin(Middle), CTO Rado Pitonak(Right)<\/p>\n
Zaitra<\/p>\n
Co-founder and CEO Marek Marusin calls this \u201cselling insights, not images.\u201d Traditional Earth-observation companies compete to deliver sharper or more frequent pictures. \u201cWe don\u2019t send the picture,\u201d Marusin says. \u201cWe send what the AI sees in the picture.\u201d The result is a near-real-time alert that might read: \u201cthere are three untracked vessels at these coordinates, heading north at this speed.\u201d That alert can cue follow-up satellites, trigger drone inspections, or simply send a message to an operator\u2019s phone.<\/p>\n
CTO Rado Pitonak explains the company builds its own computers based on FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) architecture. \u201cEvery ounce is critical,\u201d he says. \u201cWe had to build hardware that is light enough, power-efficient, and space-qualified, then run large models on it.\u201d The result is Skaidock, a ruggedized processor that hosts Zaitra\u2019s Skaisen software. Together, they filter out unusable images, discard cloud-covered scenes, and transmit only structured text that other systems can read and act on.<\/p>\n
Zaitra demonstrated its first prototype in space in July 2022 and has since integrated Skaisen on two commercial missions. The company has sold about a dozen Skaidock units this year. <\/p>\n
Zaitra\u2019s algorithm was tested on the Czech VZLUSAT-2 satellite, where it filtered out cloud-covered images and transmitted only useful data, proving its ability to save bandwidth and deliver cleaner information to users on the ground. Its hardware and software also flew aboard Troll, the largest Czech satellite yet, where they successfully faced full operational trials. Zaitra recently presented its edge-processing approach at the SmallSat Expo in Utah, one of the industry\u2019s leading gatherings.<\/p>\n
Skaidock is a ruggedized processor that hosts Zaitra\u2019s Skaisen software.<\/p>\n
Zaitra<\/p>\n
Use cases go far beyond defense. Zaitra is working on methane-leak detection for pipeline operators, wildfire ignition point identification for emergency responders, and illegal fishing enforcement. \u201cOnce you have near-real-time information, you can automate things,\u201d Marusin says. \u201cYou can launch a drone, redirect a ship, or just show the data on a commander\u2019s map. That was not possible before we started using AI on top of satellites.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like many space startups, Zaitra is pursuing a two-track strategy: selling its components to other satellite makers while building its own constellation. The company closed a \u20ac1.7 million pre-seed round last year and is now opening a seed round to fund its first Zaitra-operated AI node and a U.S. expansion. The team has grown from five to 25 in the past year and has signed roughly ten paying customers.<\/p>\n
The story of how Zaitra began could have come from a movie. \u201cWe went to a hackathon for fun, food, and curiosity,\u201d Marusin recalls. \u201cWe won, and the organizer liked the team so much he invested the first money into the company.\u201d They pivoted from agency work to building their own AI hardware and software stack, and Marusin landed on Forbes\u2019 30 Under 30 list. The advisor is Petr Kapoun, who founded satellite system integrator company TRL Space. He is a founding angel investor in Zaitra.<\/p>\n
Marusin says Zaitra\u2019s addressable market for components is roughly $1 billion, but the market for low-latency space data is far larger, and growing. \u201cThe total market for space data is about $5.5 billion today,\u201d Marusin says. \u201cIt can grow into the trillions as we find new applications.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFive years ago, we didn\u2019t have the hardware or the AI to do this,\u201d he says. \u201cNow we can send a message from space in minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For decades, satellites have circled Earth collecting images, but much of the data never reaches the ground or…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":281103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[691,738,145174,145173,2540,783,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-281102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-chechia","11":"tag-czech-repulbic","12":"tag-satellites","13":"tag-space","14":"tag-technology","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115325743169474177","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}