Horizon Technologies and its partner, LN Systems (LNS), has commissioned a new data centre in Lincoln ahead of the first Amber launch in October from Cornwall via Virgin Orbit.

The Amber Data Centre (ADC) was commissioned in a new facility by both Horizon Technologies and LNS as they both to prepare for Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) data to start coming from the first Amber CubeSat.

Amber will be a first-of-its-kind mission in the UK, providing “always on” commercial RF signal geolocation and monitoring for government and commercial users.

Tracking and prevention of illegal activities

The data will be used by governments to provide information on tracking and prevention of illegal fishing, smuggling, trafficking and piracy.

Amber CubeSats will geolocate and monitor signals such as ship’s radars, satellite phones, and other RF emissions, the company said.

Horizon Technologies CEO John Beckner said: “Horizon Technologies is incredibly proud of our partnership with LNS. Amber is a data service, the ADC is one of the key components of Amber and without it, there would be no Amber.

“The team at LNS has worked tirelessly over the past few years constantly improving our capabilities to ingest data and provide it out to our government customers in the manner they have requested. The work on the ADC ensures that once the first Amber satellite is operational, our customers will get the data they need, and in the right format.”

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