La Linea reaches out into space with satellite project

On Thursday, the alliance of the companies WISeKey and Fossa Systems took its initial steps into space with the launch of the first of a planned 80-strong constellation of small satellites that will communicate with an antenna installed on the roof of La Línea City Hall.

The launch is being seen as the foundation stone for the Spanish border city’s development into a technology hub focussing on what the World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab termed the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ or Industry 4.0.

At 3.25 GMT, the rocket Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral loaded with 105 commercial and government-owned satellites and orbital transfer vehicles.

Amongst its cargo were WISeSAT 1 and WISeSAT 2, two picosatellites (a term for satellites massing less than 1kg) jointly owned and operated by the companies WISeKey and Fossa Systems whose La Línea-born CEOs saw that the city’s geographic location made it a potential Industry 4.0 Centre of Excellence.

After the satellites’ initial checks and tests, they will begin to fulfil their function.

“Nobody has done this before, it is the first time that a cryptographic signal will be sent from space to connect with the
Internet of Things [IoT] by computer,” WISeKey CEO Carlos Creus Moreira told Europa Sur.

“We already have an agreement with an agricultural concern which will use satellites to control its crops, [using] sensors to transmit information about low temperatures, ice or detection of other problems.”

The WISeSAT constellation will allow agricultural producers in six provinces in Spain to monitor the hundreds of thousands of sensors that they use to track their crops.

“It will be used in large expanses where there is no internet connection. 5G, which is an expensive technology, competes with satellite communication which is cheaper.”

“Other possible applications include tracing the refuse generated by cities or for a client to locate a container that could be at sea.”

Julián Fernández, CEO of Fossa Systems, told Diario Area: “The market for appliances and OTs [Operational Technologies] is growing prodigiously in agriculture, in which Spain is leading. But the keystone for this project is how we are working through La Línea and Gibraltar with our antenna linked to our WISeKey technological centre.”

Mr Moreira and Mr Fernández’s belief that La Línea could be a centre of excellence and innovation driving forward Industry 4.0 (the joining of technologies towards automation, the Internet of Things, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, amongst others) came about from an analysis of the city’s geographical location and proximity to Gibraltar, which has also signed an MoU with the company related to the scheme.

Speaking to the Chronicle in September, Mr Moreira described the area as “unique in the world."

"You have Gibraltar with [its expertise in] blockchain, artificial intelligence, e-gaming. There's a huge intellectual capital in Gibraltar that could be easily converge into this 4th Industrial Revolution hub."

"And then you have La Línea in Spain, which has available space which could be used to integrate this kind of dual centre."

"The idea of mixing both creates a unique offering...and will blend the best capabilities in Gibraltar [which is a pioneer in sectors such as gaming, blockchain and non-fungible tokens] with the best capabilities in Europe, because La Línea is the plug toward European innovation," he said.

“Combining a distressed area like La Línea with an economic powerhouse like Gibraltar, that needs expansion and needs interactions with Europe, is obviously a very powerful model that will fly, especially now with the 4th Industrial Revolution requirements where you can do a lot of things with less space than before,” he said, referring to the use of miniaturisation and virtual spaces.

But Mr Moreira attributes the germ of the idea to a coincidence.

“It all started with a film about La Línea that I saw on Netflix,” he said, speaking of ‘La Línea, La Sombra del Narco.’

“I was saddened to see the impression that was being depicted about the city, so I contacted the mayor and presented myself as a local businessman who had the opportunity to help the city and, while thinking things out, I found Julián and his satellite project.”

“I invested in his business and helped him get started. I told him I had a NASDAQ-listed company and, from there, we integrated our technologies to create a more powerful satellite on the condition that the control centre would be installed in La Línea.”

“My engineers helped his and, later, we got to the part about Gibraltar, with their Chief Minister, with the idea to create a technology hub between La Línea and Gibraltar.”

The project aims to construct the technology hub in no more than five years, with the erection of buildings capable of maintaining large numbers of computer servers (server farms) and installations geared towards the design and assembly of low-cost picosatellites. It is expected that programmers and experts in blockchain, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and Big Data will be attracted to the area.

Mr Moreira’s has experience of similar projects as vice president of the Malaga Valley technology park.

“Our idea is to replicate what we have achieved in Malaga in La Línea, but this time with Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies,” he said.

Positioning La Línea and Gibraltar as a centre of development of Industry 4.0 was “vital,” he said, going on to describe Mr Fernández’s company as “one of the pillars to underpin the strategy.”

By his estimation, three billion objects will be capable of connecting to the internet and will require satellite communications to function. Picosatellites can have a useful lifespan of two to three years, so their design and construction is an area with a huge growth potential.