Meet Benita Gornicka! With a distinguished background in the space field, including a New Space Economy postgraduate degree from MIT, she is one of the newest members of the sales team here at Unibap. Benita will concentrate on space missions and space applications development, assisting clients in planning and realizing their most complex mission concepts. We posed two equally intriguing questions to Benita about the expansive field of space technology.

What are your views on the future of the space computing industry?

– We are in rapid development! There are four main trends in the space computing industry today where significant progress is happening – Edge computing, Autonomous operations, Payload control, and Cloud computing. All are evolving dynamically.

1. Edge Computing: For example, in earth observation missions producing a vast amount of data, it might not be desirable to downlink everything. Our onboard computers, software, and algorithms select what is crucial and downlink only the information useful for the mission. This makes the downloaded data more actionable and valuable.
   
   For instance, if satellites are used to detect forest fires or military tanks crossing specific areas, it’s not recommended to view all the data registered by the satellite. Only the information about the location of a forest fire or the crossing of a military vehicle is necessary.
2. Autonomous Operations: In space, with increasing traffic and objects flying around, avoiding collisions is crucial. Autonomous on-board computers like ours can handle collision avoidance independently, steering clear of objects that might collide.
3. Payload Control: With more sensors on a satellite for different missions, effective communication between these sensors is essential since the capacity of onboard computers must be utilized efficiently.
   
   Satellite-as-a-Service involves various companies uploading their own applications to a shared satellite, enabling multiple applications to coexist on a single satellite. Effective payload control plays a pivotal role in the success of this concept. In one of our test projects, our SpaceCloud solution successfully managed more than 40 applications.
4. Cloud Computing: This involves smart constellations in space. The advantage is that different satellites, with various payloads and missions, can help each other. This decentralized approach uses multiple satellites to make observations, ensuring comprehensive surveillance coverage. This is crucial for applications like the Internet of Things, or missile tracking solutions. Unibap collaborates with private and public companies globally, including Japanese companies, the US defence sector, and European constellations, in this field.

What role do you envision Unibap will be playing in this development?
 

– Unibap will play a crucial role in ALL of these four trends and areas, making us and our clients unique globally. The world’s largest space agencies, with an overview of the global market, turn to Unibap for comprehensive partnerships to handle these complex areas.

– Unibap’s uniqueness lies in having the proven space computers (30+ units heritage) and the advanced software required. For example, in one mission we are working on, we preprocess the data on the satellite, reducing the downlink by 99.9%. Additionally, we were able to monitor an area of 100 km² and analyse the data in 43 seconds, which is entirely unique.

Benita Gornicka holds an International Business Economy master’s degree from the University of Wales and a New Space Economy postgraduate degree from MIT. Her background combines AI, machine learning, and the space sector. Before joining Unibap, Benita worked at a software company in Germany and served as a Global Business Development Manager at a satellite manufacturer from Poland.

Benita is passionate about pushing her own abilities to the limits. She trains and competes in triathlons and loves everything about flying, holding a glider pilot’s licence, flying paragliding and sport aircrafts, and has experience in aerobatics.

Photo: Richard Öhrn