Expanding access to thermal intelligence with UP42

We are pleased to partner with UP42 to make constellr’s high-precision thermal intelligence available through their Earth observation platform.

As demand grows for reliable Land Surface Temperature (LST) data across security, infrastructure, industrial monitoring, and climate resilience, scalable and standardized access becomes critical. Through UP42, users can now integrate constellr’s thermal products directly into their existing workflows.

Below, we share more about our constellation, our offerings, and why thermal intelligence is becoming an essential layer in modern Earth observation.

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1) Could you tell us about your satellite constellation, HiVE, and its history?

HiVE (High-precision Versatile Ecosphere) is our thermal Earth observation constellation designed to deliver high-resolution Land Surface Temperature (LST) with frequent revisit.

Our first satellite, SkyBee-1, launched in January 2025. The constellation now includes SkyBee-1 and SkyBee-2 (launched June 2025), enabling sub-daily revisit, day and night.

2) Tell us about constellr’s offerings. How do they help solve real-world problems?

Our portfolio is built around turning temperature into operational insight across domains:

• LSTfusion: cloud-free, modelled daily LST at 30 m by combining constellr measurements with other sources for continuity at scale
• LSTprecision: high-precision, frequently updated LST at 30 m for reliable absolute temperature monitoring
• LSTzoom: higher “sharpness” layer designed to support detailed local analysis (10 m spatial detail layer)

Use cases span security & defense, agriculture and water, urban heat and resilience, and infrastructure and industrial monitoring, where temperature often reveals stress, inefficiency, or anomalies before they show up visually.

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3) How can thermal data be used with other types of Earth observation data?

Thermal becomes more powerful when fused with:

• Optical/VNIR for vegetation indices and surface context (what is it?) alongside temperature (how is it behaving?)
• SAR for structure and moisture-related signals, especially when clouds block optical
• Weather and reanalysis data to separate atmospheric effects from ground-level changes
• Land cover, DEM/elevation, and infrastructure layers to attribute drivers and quantify risk

4) What are the biggest untapped areas of opportunity for thermal intelligence?

Several areas remain underexploited:

• Security and defense (critical infrastructure monitoring, maritime awareness)
• Industrial decarbonization and efficiency (process heat, losses, abnormal heat signatures)
• Urban adaptation (hyperlocal heat-risk targeting, verifying cooling interventions)
• Water risk and crop productivity
• Climate finance and resilience verification

5) What are the biggest barriers to wider adoption of thermal data?

Adoption is often limited by:

• Data continuity and revisit
• Clouds and gaps
• Calibration, comparability, and trust
• Integration friction into existing EO workflows

6) Why did constellr decide to partner with UP42?

We partnered with UP42 because it represents a highly relevant entry point into a mature Earth observation procurement environment.

UP42 provides a scalable route to meet users where they already source and operationalize EO data, with standardized access patterns that reduce integration and contracting overhead.

7) What’s next for constellr?

We are focused on scaling thermal intelligence from “great data” to “always-on capability” at defense-grade performance:

• Launching next-generation systems with sub-5-meter resolution
• Expanding constellation capacity and product layers
• Broadening accessibility through institutional and commercial channels

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