AWS in Orbit: Providing Decision Intelligence from Space with SatSure

Podcast: T-Minus Space Daily
Host: Maria Varmazes
Guests: Rashmit Sukhmani (CTO & Co-founder, SatSure), Divya Sharma (Head, Earth Observation Data Team, SatSure)
Release Date: November 16, 2024

Introduction

In this episode of AWS in Orbit, host Maria Varmazes engages in a comprehensive discussion with Rashmit Sukhmani and Divya Sharma from SatSure, a pioneering deep-tech company specializing in providing decision intelligence derived from space-based data. The conversation delves into how SatSure leverages cloud computing, space technologies, and generative AI to address critical challenges in sectors like agriculture and energy, ultimately aiming to bridge information gaps and empower stakeholders with actionable insights.

SatSure’s Mission and Customer Challenges

Rashmit Sukhmani opens the discussion by outlining SatSure’s mission to utilize Earth observation data to help enterprises make informed decisions, particularly in agriculture financing and climate risk management.

[01:27] Rashmit Sukhmani: "Our mission is to bridge information gaps and empower stakeholders to make informed decisions, particularly in challenging areas like agriculture financing and climate risk management."

Divya Sharma elaborates on the specific challenges faced by SatSure’s customers. In India’s traditional agricultural sector, small landholdings and limited mechanization pose significant hurdles. Banks, the primary customers, struggle to identify and trust low-income farmers for loan underwriting due to a lack of credit history and reliable data.

[02:19] Divya Sharma: "The problem was actually found by interacting with farmers, specifically low-income farmers. These farmers earn as low as $100 a month, and banks are blind to whom they should disburse loans to."

Technology Stack and Data Processing

The conversation shifts to the technological underpinnings that enable SatSure to process and analyze vast amounts of geospatial data.

Rashmit Sukhmani discusses the complexities of handling petabytes of geospatial data and the necessity of a robust tech stack to build and deploy machine learning models.

[05:58] Rashmit Sukhmani: "We consume these petabytes of data, build the models around it, and deliver that last mile connect through APIs, mobile applications, or reports to empower the end consumer in their decision-making framework."

Divya Sharma highlights the role of AWS in facilitating this massive data processing and model deployment. Key AWS services like SageMaker and Bedrock enable rapid model training, inference, and the deployment of conversational AI solutions.

[08:31] Divya Sharma: "AWS SageMaker has allowed us to do model training and model inference fairly quickly. With AWS Bedrock, we developed and deployed a conversational AI agent for bank managers within two weeks."

Impact on Customers and Society

Rashmit Sukhmani emphasizes the tangible impact SatSure has had, particularly in empowering approximately 20 million farmers across India by providing banks with actionable insights for better loan underwriting.

[14:47] Rashmit Sukhmani: "We have roughly been able to touch upon the lives of 20 million farmers through the solutions we provide."

Divya Sharma expands on the scale of their operations, monitoring about 85 million hectares each season and aiming to support up to 80 million farmers, paralleled to Germany’s population.

[16:40] Divya Sharma: "We are hoping to empower 80 million farmers for better sustainability in agriculture, alongside supporting energy and utility sectors with large-scale vegetation management."

Sustainability: Definitions and Approaches

The discussion transitions to the concept of sustainability, with both guests offering their perspectives.

Rashmit Sukhmani views sustainability in terms of reliability and empowerment, aligning SatSure’s solutions with global sustainability goals like food security and climate change mitigation.

[18:35] Rashmit Sukhmani: "Sustainability for us is about how reliable and empowering our solutions are to our customers, addressing food security and climate change impacts."

Divya Sharma approaches sustainability from both a company and domain perspective. She emphasizes building sustainable solutions that minimize environmental impact and address evolving agricultural challenges influenced by climate change.

[19:32] Divya Sharma: "Sustainability means developing scalable solutions that address critical problems without adding to space debris, and understanding how climate changes impact agricultural yields."

Long-Term Goals and Vision

Looking ahead, Rashmit Sukhmani outlines SatSure’s ambition to become a full-stack Earth observation company by building an ecosystem that delivers analytics-ready data products across various industries, including infrastructure and forest management.

[23:22] Rashmit Sukhmani: "We aim to build an Earth Observation data refinery ecosystem that delivers contextual, industry-specific solutions, leveraging our robust tech stack to solve complex business problems."

Divya Sharma adds her personal vision to democratize decision intelligence, making it accessible and scalable across diverse sectors through a unified platform.

[25:04] Divya Sharma: "My vision is to democratize decision intelligence, enabling anyone to utilize our platform to solve problem statements across industries like healthcare, agriculture, and energy."

Rashmit Sukhmani also highlights the importance of technological versatility and the integration of innovations from various sectors, facilitated by AWS’s supportive ecosystem.

[26:47] Rashmit Sukhmani: "Integrating different technological components from sectors like medical imaging allows us to apply innovative solutions to geospatial data analysis, thanks to AWS's ecosystem."

Conclusion

Maria Varmazes wraps up the episode by thanking Rashmit and Divya for their insightful discussion on how SatSure is revolutionizing decision intelligence from space. Listeners are encouraged to explore more episodes and resources through the provided channels.

[28:13] Maria Varmazes: "A special thanks to Divya Sharma and Rashmit Sukhmani for joining us today. For additional resources and more episodes, visit our show notes at space.n2k.com."

Key Takeaways

• SatSure’s Expertise: Leveraging Earth observation data and advanced AI/ML to provide decision intelligence, primarily aiding agriculture financing and climate risk management.

• Technological Synergy: Utilizing AWS services like SageMaker and Bedrock to handle massive geospatial data, streamline model training, and deploy scalable AI solutions.

• Societal Impact: Empowering millions of farmers with better access to credit, enhancing sustainability in agriculture, and supporting energy and utility sectors through large-scale monitoring.

• Sustainability Focus: Combining reliable, empowering solutions with sustainable practices to address global challenges like food security and climate change.

• Future Vision: Aspiring to become a full-stack Earth observation company with a scalable, democratized platform for decision intelligence across multiple industries.

Produced by: Alice Carruth
Powered by: AWS
AWS Producer: Lara Barber
Associate Producer: Liz Stokes
Mixed by: Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester
Original Music by: Elliot Peltzman
Executive Producer: Jennifer Iban
Executive Editor: Brandon Karpf
President: Simone Petrella
Publisher: Peter Kilpie

Listeners interested in the intersection of space technologies, cloud computing, and AI will find SatSure’s innovative approach both inspiring and indicative of the transformative potential within the global space industry.