The creation and maintenance of space satellites has become comparatively easier and less expensive with the technological advancements of the past few years. With new accessibility, the once exclusive tool is now a viable channel for transporting the ever-growing mass of data that drives modern markets for imaging, weather monitoring and telecommunications services, to name a few.

But while satellite technology in the sky is ready to accept the flood of data streaming from every enterprise business, the necessary complementary ground systems were not developed in tandem to complete the transfer loop.

To open this channel to businesses and lower the high cost of entry to satellite data processing, Amazon Web Services Inc. and Lockheed Martin Space Corp. are working together to build out the AWS Ground Station.

“If you were going to build a parabolic antenna, it might cost a million dollars,” said Maria Demaree (pictured), vice president and general manager at Lockheed Martin Space. “You have to have land, a fence line; you have to maintain it, operate it. This is available as a service.”

Combining their strengths of innovation in connectivity, Demaree’s team and AWS are chipping away at the edge of computing networks by providing to customers what AWS Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy calls the “world’s first fully managed ground station as a service.”

Demaree sat down with with John Furrier (@furrier) and Dave Vellante (@dvellante), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas.

This week, theCUBE spotlights Maria Demaree in our Women in Tech feature.

The antenna challenge

Before the development of AWS Ground Station, public and private entities in need of satellite data processing capabilities had to lease or construct their own ground antennas. The process was not only prohibitively expensive, but also unwieldy for global companies with a need for that level of satellite access around the world.

Beyond the challenges of construction, companies also needed a robust system with the ability to download and analyze a large volume of data. With many customers already utilizing AWS’ cloud for satellite data storage and compute, the company teamed up with Lockheed Martin Space to brainstorm solutions that leveraged their shared potential.

“We got our teams together for a two-day shark tank type activity, put them in a room, and said, ‘What might we be able to bring together?’” Demaree stated.

Disrupting satellites

By the end of their summit, the two companies had come up with a game-changing collaboration to change the way the market interacts with satellite technology and potentially eradicate the need for edge compute through its comprehensive connectivity.

At AWS re:Invent 2018, the cloud company announced AWS Ground Station, a system of 12 parabolic antennas housed across the globe at Amazon locations. Lockheed Martin provides the complementary antenna network through its system Verge, which connects to AWS Ground Station, enabling full coverage for better connectivity and more frequent opportunities to down link data from nearly anywhere in the world.

“We provide ground for satellite systems, and it’s generally a physical place [where] there’s a large parabolic antenna. This completely disrupts that,” Demaree said. “It becomes a network node of low-cost antennas for our customers.”

AWS Ground Station works on an as-needed payment plan, significantly lowering the barrier to entry for customers in need of satellite tech. “You are only paying for it when you’re using it, which is key when you think about the cost of access to space. It’s very expensive if you have to build these large parabolics,” she said.

AWS also streamlines the previously cumbersome satellite data process through its own cloud service, giving customers the opportunity to extract actionable insights and deploy applications faster.

“The point of both these systems: It gets data into the cloud,” Demaree said. “When you can down link and start using artificial intelligence, machine learning, you can take action. It’s not necessarily about the satellites; it’s about getting data that you can action on.”

Discovering possibilities in deep space

Lockheed Martin and AWS are already looking at practical use cases for the powerful technology in natural disaster recovery and weather forecasting. The satellite network offers a unique opportunity for rapid image capture and analysis that could enable responders to assess and react to disaster faster, mitigating the effects of damage.

“Maybe there’s a fire situation and someone needs rapid access to get imagery down to see where something’s happened. As a service they can connect; we can get them on quickly,” Demaree said.

While the system is starting with a modest number of antennas, AWS and Lockheed Martin have plans to expand both their existing network and partnership through opportunities unearthed at their joint “shark tank.”

“These systems are complementary to each other. It’s been really neat, and the teams have had a lot of fun learning from each other,” Demaree stated.

With the momentum of this collaboration and current pace of innovation in space technology, this project is only the beginning. “There’s a lot happening in deep space. Technology has advanced recently to the point where we can do more than we’ve been able to do before. This is the start of a great longer-term relationship,” she concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of AWS re:Invent.

Photo: SiliconANGLE