Aechelon and Partners Niantic Spatial, ICEYE, BlackSky and Distance Debut Project Orbion: the First AI-Enabled Digital Twin of the Earth

Pioneering the Next Era of Live Synthetic Reality—Empowering Global, All-Sensor AI Training Across All Conditions for Human Readiness and Autonomous Systems

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Sept. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Aechelon Technology, a global defense leader in geospatial simulation technology and human/machine AI training systems today announced 'Project Orbion' together with its partners. Project Orbion is a groundbreaking new initiative that will integrate best-of-class technology solutions to create a live Digital Twin of the Earth. All of this is complete with accurate physics, real-time weather and more in full Synthetic Reality (SR).

Aechelon's Project Orbion is a living synthesis of real-time satellite imagery, radar intelligence, video photogrammetry and AI all combined with the most accurate rendition of the Earth, reconstructing and distributing our world in dynamic 3D. From monitoring wildfires to floods, from wartime troop movements to shipping routes in peacetime, from urban rescues to remote disasters - Project Orbion helps situational awareness, understanding and safe human decision making.

Synthetic Reality data supplied from Project Orbion is designed to train leading-edge defense and corporate AI models with real-world data - not just human-generated data, but actual ground truth conditions data. It's where cutting-edge AI is fused into a digital twin of the planet.

Project Orbion is capable of penetrating darkness, clouds and smoke to enable users to react to natural disasters and defense-oriented use cases - all with the most up-to-date 3D representation of the world. This is the Earth's true Digital Twin - perceived by AI and protected by Human natural perception.

Project Orbion partners include Niantic Spatial^® (San Francisco) for its Large Geospatial Model reconstruction and visualization service; ICEYE^® (Helsinki) for space-based imaging Radar; BlackSky (Herndon, Va.) for very high resolution, high-cadence Earth observation imagery and Distance Technologies™ (Helsinki) for their Light Field 3D Displays.

A goal of the collaboration is to explore integrating forthcoming versions of Niantic Spatial's Visual Positioning System (VPS) with Aechelon's simulation systems. In GPS-denied environments where satellite signals are unavailable or compromised, VPS will allow ground teams to achieve centimeter-level localization and navigation. This capability is critical for complex and time-sensitive search-and-rescue operations.

All of these cutting-edge technologies are being integrated to utilize Aechelon's military-grade Synthetic Reality visualization, AI training and simulation systems.

"Aechelon has spent decades creating the most realistic synthetic environments for mission-critical defense training," said Nacho Sanz-Pastor, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CEO), Aechelon Technology. "The challenge has always been keeping pace with changes in the physical world and training humans and autonomous systems with realistic worldwide information. Our Skybeam™ product combines several innovative geospatial platforms with our own AI-driven, worldwide multi-sensor baseline to become a powerful new solution. The partnership with Niantic Spatial, ICEYE, BlackSky and Distance will enable Project Orbion (over the next months and years) to address dual-use, mission-critical applications that until now were just in the realm of science fiction."

"By combining our platform to scan, visualize and understand the world with Aechelon's simulation technology, we can provide emergency and first responders the most accurate understanding of the environments in which they operate," said Brian McClendon, Niantic Spatial's Chief Technology Officer (CTO). "Geospatial understanding unlocks a new level of situational awareness that allows teams to plan and execute missions with greater confidence and safety."

"At ICEYE, we design, build and operate the world's largest group of imaging radar satellites - that allows us to react to anything that happens on the ground, regardless of the conditions and very quickly," said Pekka Laurila, ICEYE Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). "Aechelon began evaluating ICEYE SAR radar imagery from orbit by fusing the data 1:1 using its Skybeam platform to update their global geospatial database. The goal was to penetrate clouds, adverse weather and smoke to ensure timely collection on the Earth for testing critical defense applications, which now can be expanded for dual use-cases on training corporate AI systems."

"BlackSky's AI-first approach carries immense value in informing a new world of AI-enabled real-time applications – digital twins, virtual and augmented reality – that increasingly moves at machine speed," said Brian O'Toole, BlackSky CEO. "BlackSky's unique ability to deliver reliable, high-cadence imagery and analytics in real time is enabled by our dedication to proprietary end-to-end AI-enabled automation across our entire architecture. Transformative opportunities like Project Orbion are changing the way humanity will experience and explore the world." around us and can reshape how we respond to vital national security, economic or natural disaster events for the better."

"Distance and Aechelon have integrated next-generation 3D lightfield AR HUDs to advance aerospace simulation and defense applications. These cutting-edge systems support real-time battlefield intelligence, target analysis, and invite AR training - all powered by Aechelon's Synthetic Reality ecosystem. This collaboration has the potential to become the operating system for human AI interaction, enabling intuitive decision making and making autonomous AI systems safer - under control," said Urho Konttori, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DISTANCE Technology.

About Aechelon Technology:

Aechelon is a global leader in simulation and training systems, specializing in geo-specific flight simulators and physics-based sensor AI training. Its cutting-edge Synthetic Reality platform replicates real-world environments with unmatched precision, enabling both humans and machines to operate in scenarios of extraordinary detail. This technology allows pilots and emergency responders to train for complex, high-stakes situations in immersive, ultra-realistic virtual settings.

Created for the most demanding use-cases in training, simulation and analysis applications, Aechelon synthetic reality has been the tactical simulation choice of militaries throughout the free world for decades and now leverages this same trusted architecture for civilian use. Aechelon Technology is a Sagewind Capital platform company - please visit www.aechelon.ai for more information.

Aechelon and Skybeam are trademarks of Aechelon Technology, Inc. All others trademarks and registered trademarks previously cited are the property of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged.

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