Hydrosat Launches into Space and Humanity

Written by:
Dr. Joshua B. Fisher,
Science Leat at Hydrosat

On August 16, 2024, Hydrosat launched into space what may be among the most cutting-edge thermal infrared (TIR) satellites in existence. The satellite, called Van Zyl-1 (VZ-1), is at the forefront not because it is a billion dollar complex large instrument, but rather the opposite: it is one of the smallest, least energy-intensive, and lowest cost instruments ever built for high resolution TIR Earth Observation. Additionally, the Longwave Infrared (LIRI) instrument has a Visible-to-Near-Infrared (VIRI) buddy alongside as part of the VZ-1 package. What this enables is the ability to launch a whole bunch of these with wide flexibility in launch, platform, and orbits ultimately bringing us towards a long-sought-after constellation for global, daily, high resolution TIR (Figure 1).

VZ-1 was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket—Transporter-11—out of Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Loft Orbital’s Yet Another Mission (YAM-7) (Figure 2). The rocket itself was a bit of a carpool—over a hundred other mostly commercial satellites were on board; so, maybe less of a carpool and more of a flash mob takeover. Hydrosat was joined by good friends at Carbon Mapper, Planet, and Capella, among others. A photo from SpaceX of all the satellites ready to go puts the world on notice that the commercial space industry is leading a revolution coming together to save the planet (Figure 3). We are excited about other thermal capabilities from companies such as constellr, Satellite Vu, Albedo, and EarthDaily, and governmental satellites from SBG, TRISHNA, and LSTM. We are rooting for their successes, as we need all hands on deck for the world’s climate challenges, and we will eventually all be working together.

The launch marked a huge engineering milestone for Hydrosat as we had been building towards this moment for many years. It also highlighted commercial success in that through investments, grants, and early customers we could develop, build, and launch a cutting-edge satellite (with more to come) without full support by direct government funding. And while we fully celebrate the engineering and commercial parts of the company with this launch, I want to take a moment to reflect on the human component of what makes Hydrosat.
 

The Hydrosat VZ-1 satellite was named after one of Hydrosat’s founders, Dr. Jakob Van Zyl. Originally from Namibia, Dr. Van Zyl’s career took him to Caltech for a Ph.D. then on to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). At JPL, he worked on Earth Science radar for soil moisture and quickly rose to Associate Director of JPL for Strategy and Director of Solar System Exploration, transitioning to launching missions to other planets while publishing over 220 papers cited over 13K times along the way. I overlapped with Dr. Van Zyl at JPL for almost a decade, though he was so high up the ladder that I never directly worked with him, but I do remember him well. It was to my surprise in 2019 that after 33 years at the top of the JPL career ladder, Dr. Van Zyl left JPL. I wondered what could have been so much better than the top of JPL to inspire him, especially as I was still early in my career ascension at JPL. It was to co-found Hydrosat. Jakob’s vision was to accelerate Earth science missions cutting through governmental funding limitations and bureaucratic constraints, and to strengthen the connection between data and applications. He wouldn’t know it then, but his vision succeeded.

Tragically, just a year after co-founding Hydrosat, Dr. Van Zyl was taken from this planet, passing away on August 26, 2020 (the VZ-1 launch was almost exactly 4 years later). This should have been the end of Hydrosat. But, his spirit was strong, and Hydrosat co-founders Hydrosat is rapidly growing with team members distributed throughout the world. With our early growth during the pandemic, the majority of us work remotely. Yet, every single person at Hydrosat is driven and inspired by the mission, technology, and applications, so it is very easy to find motivation daily. We love working together and when the chances arise to meet in person, we are excited to soak up those moments. In-person hubs, like in Luxembourg, are buzzing with activity. There is an emphasis on work-life balance. I’ve been very impressed with the level of talent that Hydrosat has attracted across the engineering and data pipelines to the commercial outreach and user training, from the interns to the leadership. Hydrosat makes or breaks on its ability to help people—the ultimate applied sciences—and we have been thriving as evidenced by our growth. This is a system that works.

I joined Hydrosat as Science Lead on August 9, 2021 (August appears to be a significant month for Hydrosat). I was particularly attracted to the technology for getting us to daily high-resolution TIR globally. I had been the founding Science Lead for ECOSTRESS while at JPL, and contributed to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Decadal Survey that recommended the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) mission. But, neither of these were getting us to daily. As I started exploring my role within Hydrosat, I realized there was a void we were filling with Dr. Van Zyl’s death just 1 year prior. I soaked up everything I could from what he left behind in papers, presentations, and other documentation, trying to get a feel for what he had been thinking, and how he had been thinking. Although I regret never having had the chance to work directly with Dr. Van Zyl, in many ways I am working with him very closely. At the Hydrosat launch, CEO Pieter Fossel gave a stirring speech about many of the trials and tribulations along the way that got is to where we were that day, thanking and recognizing everyone who led and contributed to the success (Figure 4). He gave a moving dedication to Dr. Van Zyl, with Dr. Van Zyl’s wife in attendance. I went up to her afterwards to introduce myself, affirming to her that I and others were carrying her husband’s torch forward; she collapsed into my arms with emotion.

We commemorate the launch of Hydrosat’s VZ-1, marking significant achievements, milestones, and an exciting future from the engineering and commercial legs that comprise the company. But, more importantly, Hydrosat has accomplished an incredible milestone of humanity, within the team and its extended family—its heart—which is just a microcosm of the overall mission of engaging and helping the humanity of the planet overall. We are here to help the world carry the torch forward.