KP Labs

KP Labs (KP Labs Sp. z o.o.) is a Polish private space technology company founded in 2016 in Gliwice, Poland, by graduates of the Silesian University of Technology.^[1] The company designs and manufactures onboard data processing units (DPUs), flight software, AI algorithms, and cloud validation infrastructure for nano and small satellites, and operates Intuition-1, its own 6U hyperspectral CubeSat in orbit since November 2023.^[1][2]

KP Labs' core hardware product line spans three DPU tiers targeting different satellite classes. The Antelope DPU (PC/104, 160 GOPS, Zynq UltraScale+ ZU2-ZU5) targets CubeSats and completed an 8-week in-orbit demonstration in 2023. The Leopard DPU (PC/104, 3 TOPS demonstrated in orbit, 5-20 W, Zynq UltraScale+ ZU6/9/15EG) targets micro and mini satellites and is the onboard processor on Intuition-1, where it runs the Xilinx Vitis AI framework to execute quantised convolutional neural networks for cloud detection, image segmentation, and hyperspectral data compression in real time.^[2][3] The Lion DPU (ADHA 3U module, Kintex UltraScale KU060, up to 30 W, SpaceWire and SpaceFiber interfaces) targets medium and large satellites and carries an ESA Mission Class III/IV rating.^[4]

Intuition-1 is the company's primary flight-heritage demonstrator. Launched 9 November 2023 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 (Transporter-9) rideshare into a 535 km SSO at 97.5 deg inclination, the 6U CubeSat (12 kg, bus by AAC Clyde Space) carries the Eagle Hyperspectral Imager (192 bands, 465-940 nm, 25 m GSD, 40 km swath) and a Leopard DPU.^[2] The mission is funded by Poland's National Centre for Research and Development (2023-2027). ESA Phi-lab contributed machine learning pipeline development through the Genesis FutureEO activity, and ESA classifies Intuition-1 as a Phi-lab-enabled satellite.^[5] The Leopard DPU demonstrated uninterrupted deep-learning inference in orbit over its first year, reducing scene data volumes from approximately 7 GB to 70 MB through onboard AI processing.^[6]

On the software side, Oryx is KP Labs' mission and payload flight software stack, flown on Intuition-1. The Herd is an algorithm suite with flight heritage on Intuition-1 and ESA's Phi-sat-2 (launched August 2024); it covers CNN-based cloud detection, vegetation indices, semantic segmentation, object detection, hyperspectral classification, and satellite telemetry anomaly detection.^[7]

Smart Mission Lab (SML) is a Hardware-as-a-Service cloud platform developed under the ESA InCubed SMEaaS contract, launched commercially in March 2025. It provides remote access to flight-representative Antelope, Leopard, and Lion DPU hardware for pre-flight algorithm validation. The InCubed contract (prime contractor: KP Labs) closed on 28 May 2025 with all deliverables accepted.^[8]

KP Labs received the inaugural ESA Supplier Performance Award (Innovation) at ESA Industry Space Days in September 2024, recognising the high volume of innovative proposals submitted over three years.^[9] The company also contributes AI algorithms to ESA's M-Argo asteroid CubeSat mission and developed the GLOWS Lyman-alpha photometer instrument for NASA's IMAP heliosphere mission (in collaboration with CBK PAN) since 2021.^[1]