Damian Giuletto created “Google Maps” of space

Last week, Damian Giuletto presented his new project in a videotape before an international group of generals and government decision-makers, invited to London for a conference on military space. Share My Space, a project it launched in 2017, includes mapping space debris, which is potentially dangerous for several active satellites. Kind of “Google Maps” of a crowded Earth orbit with about 900,000 sinking objects.

Fifteen years in the construction industry

But it takes more than a few golden streaks to impress the 53-year-old, who has been riding his stomach. Trained at the National School of Engineering in Saint-Etienne, this admirer of complex technologies spent around fifteen years in the building industry directing business.

Soon, the desire to gain height wins over him. The change in altitude was startling: in 2001, he became a pilot. While training, he meets Roman Lucken, a future partner with whom he will establish his own aerial mapping company. For ten years, the future entrepreneur travels around forty countries on five continents. By inventing an on-board camera suitable for transient aerial photography. By surveying the Earth’s surface, he becomes more aware of the negative influence humans have on the planet.

“Landforms”

By visiting the major Asian capitals, the recycling engineer is also enthusiastic about the “sustainable city” to the point of developing a land management program that makes human activity and the terrestrial biosphere compatible. The concept he calls “terrain” hasn’t really been successful, he admits, he’s a good player.

But from aerial mapping to satellite imagery, there is only one step. By rubbing shoulders with the space professionals, he wants to enter this coveted sector. At the end of 2016, he participated in a competition called “Starting the Weekend” where, within two days, teams had to phosphorous in innovative projects judged by a panel of professionals. His team has gathered around a future project to recover satellite debris to build a base on the moon.

Open the antennas

With Romain Lucken, a young physics doctor, he decided not to stop there. Synonym is complementary. “The branches are always open, Damian is intuitive and always ready to test new ideas, and he sums up his partner with a more moderate personality. We quickly focused on detecting space debris. Only a tiny fraction has been identified and the USAF keeps the few data that exist. There was something to do!” Damian Giuletto remembers his speech. Verbal.

When starting out, resources are limited. But at the end of two years, a grant of 10,000 euros from the Ile-de-France region (via the PM’UP program), followed by a second envelope of 300,000 euros (the PM’UP Leader PIA) allows to keep the project up and to conquer the first clients, including the center Prestigious National Space Studies (CNES). “A sign of appreciation for capital in our career, I congratulate the bubbly creator. Likewise, joining the ESA incubator at the end of 2020 gives us more legitimacy in an environment that is difficult to access if we are not in Seraglio.”

Collision prevention

The company, which includes seven people, has begun marketing collision prevention technology to satellite operators. Meanwhile, Damien Giuletto is working to convince entrepreneurs to invest 500,000 euros by September. Its goal: to start installing space object detection stations. Inexhaustible from this topic, the businessman plans to create four around the world. These devices will allow, “within three years”, to create a map of 100,000 pieces of debris for monitoring.