Mini AI satellite reveals Earth looking like a masterpiece from space

By Dean Murray

Incredible first images from a new AI-controlled mini satellite show the Earth as art.

The European Space Agency (ESA) says satellite Φsat-2, pronounced phisat-2 and the size of a shoebox, has completed its commissioning and has begun delivery of science data.

It uses algorithms to efficiently process and compress Earth observation images, as well as detect wildfires, ships, marine pollution and more.

Orbiting at an altitude of 510 km, its AI capabilities include selecting images with clear visibility while discarding images obscured by cloud cover.

The algorithms can also detect and analyze disaster areas, for example, zones affected by wildfires, earthquakes or floods, and identify access routes for emergency response teams. It can also be used to detect ships, gather data on illegal fishing and marine pollution.

The cubesat, measuring 22 x 10 x 33 cm, was launched in August 2024, and the first image was delivered four days after launch.

Since then, the Φsat-2 team has spent nine months commissioning the satellite’s multispectral imager and its onboard AI applications, which carry out a range of activities.

To mark the transition from commissioning to science phase, five images have been showcased to show a range of capabilities for various end-uses over diverse types of terrain.

All images are true color using red, green and blue spectral bands, except for the image of the Bahia Blanca Estuary, which is false color using the near-infrared spectral band.

The Φsat-2 satellite captured stunning imagery of the Clavering Øer glaciers in Greenland, the Bahia Blanca Estuary in Argentina, the city of Innsbruck in Austria, sediment in the Gulf of Tunis in Tunisia, and ships in Port Said, Egypt.