Orbital Eye's migration and modernization on AWS

Orbital Eye was ready to scale and needed the right tech foundation to do it

Orbital Eye uses satellite data to keep an eye on what’s happening on the ground - from new construction and shifts in nature to potential risks for critical infrastructure. Until recently, this powerful system was running on custom infrastructure hosted at Hetzner. However, as the company began to scale, this setup started to create bottlenecks. It wasn’t managed through code, making it less scalable and harder to maintain. The lack of automation limited their ability to grow quickly. By migrating to AWS, Orbital Eye now benefits from a more flexible, scalable environment, making extensive use of managed services like Amazon RDS Aurora instead of operating their own databases. 

To support their growth and focus on their core mission, Orbital Eye decided to migrate to AWS. 

Their goal? 

Modernize their satellite data processing pipelines, automatically select, download, and compare new satellite data with historical data using AI models, on a platform that could grow with them. 

The migration to AWS unlocked several key benefits: 

• Scalability on demand – So they can serve more customers without delays or bottlenecks. 
• Cost efficiency through autoscaling – Resources scale up when needed, and scale down when not, saving money. Furthermore, Orbital Eye now uses the pay-per-use model, so they only pay for the processing they are using.  
• Clear insights into costs – No more guessing. With pay-as-you-go and cost tracking, they have full control. 
• Less time spent managing infrastructure – By using managed AWS services, their team can focus on what matters: providing smart solutions for their customers instead of maintaining infrastructure.
• Faster Delivery to Customers 
  By leveraging AWS, Orbital Eye can now deliver value to their customers much faster. With a modern, scalable infrastructure in place, new features and improvements reach users more quickly, accelerating innovation and customer satisfaction. 
• Knowledge building and self-reliance – With coaching and support, Orbital Eye’s own team is now ready to manage and expand their AWS environment confidently. 

This wasn’t just a tech upgrade: it was a strategic move to support growth and build long-term capability. 

The solution

We worked closely with their team to rebuild their satellite data processing systems using AWS. Instead of scripts and manual steps, the new setup runs as an automated workflow using AWS Step Functions, making the process faster, more reliable, and easier to manage.  

We also helped integrate key AWS services into the new architecture, like S3 for storage and ECS for running containers. At the same time, we made sure the Orbital Eye team was set up for long-term success. 

This wasn’t a “drop and run” project. 
We provided hands-on coaching, helped them build a scalable Terraform setup, and supported the team in using GitHub and Infrastructure-as-Code best practices. Together, we chose the AWS services that fit best with their existing code, making the transition smooth and future-proof. 

A big part of our work was knowledge sharing: 
We didn’t just build a solution for them, we helped them learn how to manage it themselves. Today, the Orbital Eye team is fully capable of creating new processing pipelines on their own, including for other types of satellite data. Having hands-on support from experts accelerated their learning far beyond what they could achieve alone from scratch.  
 

CloudNation now supports them in a lighter role, as advisors and sparring partners when needed, while Orbital Eye confidently builds and runs their cloud environment independently

The results

Their satellite data processing runs in the cloud using Infrastructure as Code (IaC). This means their system is fully automated, easy to update, and ready to grow when needed. 

The new setup is both scalable and cost-efficient. Thanks to a pay-per-use model, they only pay for what they actually use. No more, no less. This makes it much easier for Orbital Eye to predict their costs, especially when processing large amounts of satellite data. Costs per km are more easily measured.  

The real win? Orbital Eye is no longer restricted by infrastructure limitations. They can focus on delivering cutting-edge monitoring for critical infrastructure, without worrying about scaling issues. 

Want to see it in action? Check out real-world customer cases on their website. 

Technologies used

• Terraform
• AWS Step Functions
• AWS ECS
• AWS S3
• AWS Lambda
• GitHub Actions
  
  

By implementing this modernized AWS infrastructure, Orbital Eye has achieved improved efficiency, scalability, and cost predictability, setting a foundation for future innovation in satellite image analysis.