IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2019 - 62

TaBLE 2. a LIST OF TEchNIcaL FEaTUrES USED IN ThE rESEarch.
aBBrEvIaTION TEchNIcaL FEaTUrE (UNIT)

NUmBEr OF
cOLLEcTED vaLUES*

DEScrIPTION
INSTrUmENT-LEvEL FEaTUrES

rWL_min

minimum wavelength range
(nm)

the lower limit of the spectral range to which the instrument sensor is
sensitive

17 out of 21

rWL_max

maximum wavelength range
(nm)

the upper limit of the spectral range to which the instrument sensor is
sensitive

17 out of 21

ncH

number of channels

the number of spectral channels allocated by the instrument

20 out of 21

sPr

sPr (m/pixel)

the sPr of the image sensor (m/pixel)

20 out of 21

sW

swath (km)

the width of the strip perpendicular to the motion direction of the satel- 19 out of 21
lite and that the instrument is able to cover

minst

mass of the instrument (kg)

claimed by the company as mass of the instrument

19 out of 21

tsen

type of sensor

type of the sensor used in the instrument; number 1 is for imager, 2 for
push broom, and 3 for both

15 out of 21

Vid

Video availability

availability of the function of the receiving video with 30 frames/s from the 21 out of 21
company's satellites; number 1 if the function is available, number 2 if not

ter

ter (h)

SaTELLITE/cONSTELLaTION-LEvEL FEaTUrES
minimal periodicity of satellite passage above the fixed point of the
earth surface claimed by the company

15 out of 18

mPLd

mass of eo payload (kg)

mass of the eo payload**

16 out of 18

nsat_c

number of satellites currently
in orbit

number of satellites put into orbit as of 31 december 2016

18 out of 18

nsat_p

number of satellites planned to
be placed in orbit

Planned number of satellites in the constellation as claimed by the
company

18 out of 18

msat

satellite launch mass

Launch mass of the satellite as claimed by the company

16 out of 18

tmas_c

total launch mass currently in
orbit

calculated variable (product of nsat_c and msat variables)

16 out of 18

tmas_p

total launch mass planned to
be placed in orbit

calculated variable (product of nsat_p and msat variables)

16 out of 18

trr

Payload transmission rate
(mb/s)

data transmission rate over the payload radio channel***

16 out of 18

aLt

altitude (km)

average altitude of orbits where companies' satellites have been placed

17 out of 18

mdU

Planned mission duration
(years)

duration of the space mission for one satellite claimed by the company

10 out of 18

*For objective reasons, it was not possible to create a complete list of technical specifications for all missions. thus, the number of collected values for some of the variables is smaller than the number of instruments or missions.
**in most cases, equal to the mass of the instrument; if there are several eo instruments, it is the sum of their masses.
***the most common situation is when several instruments transmit data through one radio channel.

which investors received if they funded the start-up. In the
preseed and seed stages of the investment process, venture
capitalists, on average, acquired 20.5% of the start-up: in
series A this was 23.3%, in series B 18.6%, and in series
C 18.3%. Our analysis also considered the number of
sold shares of particular companies that were publicly announced (e.g., venture capitalists gained 19.6% of Planet
Labs Inc. in series A and 9.8% in series B). On the basis of
these indicators, we obtained an approximate valuation for
each company at different stages of its development, the
maximum of which was used in further analysis.
Finally, we analyzed the collected data using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The response or dependent variable was the company's VC valuation in millions of dollars;
groups of technical features' values represented independent
variables. Some values of technical features were combined
into logical groupings because of the high number of their
62

different levels [e.g., range of wavelengths as the minimum
and maximum (RWL_min/max); see Table 2]. Because of the
small sample size in this study (only nine start-up companies with 18 space missions and 21 instruments), our data
set is not suitable for rigorous statistical treatment (however, it should be noted that, to the best of our knowledge,
we collected data about all EO start-ups active as of 31 December 2016). Thus, the results reported here should be
used with care and understood as a pilot study reflecting
preliminary indications for technology development in the
field of EO.
UNDERSTANDING ThE INVISIBLE hAND
VC is private capital collected and managed with the goal
of investing in a portfolio of companies with high-growth
potential in exchange for a stake in the company. It is a vital financial mechanism for a market economy because it
ieee Geoscience and remote sensing magazine

march 2019
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2019
