The UPC continues to harvest the talent of its former students. Six startups, which base their business on the innovative use of space technologies or infrastructures and which are mostly being led by polytechnic alumni, will develop their projects within the ESA BIC Barcelona program.
This is an incubation program that will allow 18 companies to be hosted until 2025. Each project receives up to 50,000 euros for the development of its proposal or service, as well as technical support, technical, commercial, legal and patent advice. In addition, they will be part of the UPC innovation ecosystem of the New Space community of the Digital Catalonia Aliiance and the ESA BIC network, which already has 29 business incubation centers in Europe.
ESA BIC has a budget of almost two million euros. A third part, about 600,000 euros, comes from the Generalitat of Catalonia, through the framework of the New Space Strategy of Catalonia; from the Economic Development Agency of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area and Barcelona City Council, through Barcelona Activa.
The ESA BIC Barcelona incubation center, where the Baix Llobregat Campus is located, in Castelldefels, within the Parc Mediterrani de la Tecnologia (PMT), where the School of Telecommunications and Aerospace Engineering of Castelldefels (EETAC) is also based, has selected them to promote their knowledge and contribute to the promotion of the aerospace sector in Catalonia. Now they have up to two years of incubation.
Avoid GPS hacking
Circe. Smart Navigation Solutions, one of the selected startups, focuses its business on the development of security solutions for geolocation systems. It has created innovative software to detect radio frequency interference signals, in order to improve the operation of systems that use GNSS (global navigation satellite system) receivers. Commercial satellite navigation signals are not secure, and that makes these types of receivers vulnerable. Most modern devices and systems that use them are not protected and, on the other hand, there are few solutions on the market, and most are aimed at the defense sector.
The core of the software created by Cice is an algorithm based on machine learning released to detect and classify, with high precision and in real time, attacks on recipients
The solution to electromagnetic compatibility problems
EMC Barcelona is another technology-based company incubating at ESA BIC Barcelona and is focused on high added value projects in the field of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). His project is the agile multi-domain assessment of electromagnetic interference for space application.
It aims to overcome complex EMC problems and meet demanding standards and mission requirements, provide the aerospace industry with the ability to evaluate EMC problems from all phases of project development in an agile, affordable and reliable manner, and offer solutions for EMC tests aimed at small and medium-sized companies in the space ecosystem.
Artificial Intelligence Store
For its part, Geoskop is dedicated to making long-term climate predictions so that the industry, for the first time, can make decisions taking climate changes into account. Its goal is to be a climate intelligence store that offers predictive data on weather. The weather predictions are very accurate and use algorithms developed by the same company. They are based on the use of massive data obtained from global climate change models – such as those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – to satellite images and local weather stations. The company's desire is to democratize access to this type of information. This company's clients include large multinationals in the energy sector, developers of solar and wind farms.
Electric motor for satellites
Another of the companies housed in the incubator, Kreios Space, is the first startup in Spain focused on developing a new electric propulsion system for satellites that operate in low orbits. The solution it has created, known as ABEP, with helicon source engines, is sustainable, fully electric and does not generate space debris or require fossil fuel.
It is the only company that allows satellites to orbit closer to Earth without using fuel. This offers significant advantages for space operators, such as satellites being able to obtain higher resolution images and significantly optimizing telecommunications systems.
Small satellite systems
Also in the orbiting satellite sector is Xiroi Aerospace, which develops and markets micropropulsion systems for small satellites, solid wind turbines and materials treatment systems.
The startup is creating a micropropellant based on electrospray technology and this will improve the flexibility and efficiency of current propulsion systems, despite maintaining or even reducing the manufacturing cost.
Lighter and cheaper telescopes
Provide a disruptive solution that drastically reduces the weight and manufacturing time of space telescopes, maintaining optimal high-quality performance, at a much lower cost. This is the objective of SLIMOp Space, also selected by ESA BIC Barcelona. The company's mission is to revolutionize Earth observation technology by developing super-light, high-resolution orbital telescopes.
This new generation of deployed telescopes can scale rapidly to meet the growing demand for nanosatellite constellations and small Earth observation satellites.
