French space-surveillance startup Look Up has selected fellow French NewSpace company Skynopy to provide the ground-segment interface for ATLAS², its automated space-safety platform, the companies announced June 17. The partnership is a step toward a largely automated system that lets satellites respond in near real time to collision threats in an increasingly crowded low Earth orbit.
Connecting radar to spacecraft
Under the contract, Skynopy will design, develop and demonstrate the integration of its virtualized ground station network with Look Up's ATLAS² platform, enabling real-time command-and-control of satellites in response to collision threats detected by Look Up's proprietary radar network. The first phase is due to wrap up around the middle of this year. If successful, it would be followed by in-orbit tests with an operational satellite, culminating in an end-to-end demonstration of automated collision avoidance.
Why automation matters now
Researchers have warned that LEO could spiral into a cascade of collisions within days under worst-case scenarios, and conjunction alerts now arrive faster than human operators can reliably act on them. Look Up's approach fuses detections from its terrestrial radars — its first SORASYS sensor is deployed in the south of France — with the SYNAPSE digital platform to deliver space situational awareness, then closes the loop by commanding evasive maneuvers automatically. Europe is co-funding the capability.
Two French startups, complementary stacks
Look Up, founded in 2022 by France's first Space Commander Michel Friedling and CNES veteran Juan Carlos Dolado, is building a globally distributed radar network for space domain awareness. Skynopy, founded in 2023 by ex-Loft Orbital executives Pierre Bertrand and Antonin Hirsch, brings an "as-a-service" model to the ground segment, orchestrating antennas across S, X and Ka bands with virtualized modems to cut revisit times to under 20 minutes. Together the two cover both the detection and the response sides of orbital safety.
Part of a wider orbital-safety push
The deal reflects growing investment in keeping orbit usable, alongside efforts such as on-orbit servicing and repair and expanding military space-tracking constellations like the U.S. Space Force's tactical SATCOM efforts and missile-warning sensor partnerships. As constellations multiply, automated conjunction response is shaping up to be a foundational layer of the space economy.
Reporting based on coverage from SpaceNews and SpaceWatch.Global.