Orbital Eye Attends PTC 2023 in Berlin

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We are happy to announce that we will be attending the upcoming Pipeline Technology Conference (PTC) 2023 in Berlin, from 8th to 11th of May.


Last year, at the PTC 2022, Alexander Blauw and Arnaud van den Berg gave a presentation on the results of two operational deployments of satellite-based monitoring with CoSMiC-EYE: one deployment in Trinidad and Tobago, and one deployment in the Netherlands.

Since then, we have continued to grow at a fast pace, providing operational monitoring for several more pipeline operators worldwide – we are looking forward to sharing more about this with the pipeline community! And of course, we will be interested to learn more and discuss about the latest pipeline industry trends and innovations at the PTC.

We hope to see you there!

Farewell to Stijn: A Hummus-Fueled Celebration

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Yesterday, the Orbital Eye team had a fantastic dinner at a hummus restaurant located in the city center of Delft. The choice for a hummus restaurant was easy since it’s Stijn Hoefsloot’s favorite food. Legend says it runs through his veins. Sadly, Stijn’s time at Orbital Eye has come to an end, as he’s now embarking on a journey to explore more of the world and discover the most divine hummus recipes ever created by humankind.


We want to thank Stijn for his contributions to Orbital Eye, and for always bringing a positive spirit into the office. Best of luck on your future adventures!

Orbital Eye Monitors Pipeline Safety After Train Accident in the Netherlands

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Last week, a tragic train accident occurred in the Netherlands, caused by a collision with a small construction crane that was on the train track.
As a provider of advanced monitoring solutions, Orbital Eye is closely monitoring the affected area where some of our customers’ pipelines are located. With our satellite-based monitoring solution, we detected not only the derailed train wagons but also the aftermath of the train incident. This means that our customers can keep an eye on the repair works taking place and if these works are affecting their pipeline. For example, we detected that the vehicles and machines used for the repair works are brought on-site via a newly created access road, which runs over the pipeline.

Orbital Eye Partners with Climate Space NL to Combat Methane Emissions

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“Orbital Eye, a logical partner”

In this article, published by Climate Space NL, Arnaud explains why Orbital Eye has joined the Climate Space NL consortium.

Climate Space NL offers an independent emission monitoring system that uses satellite data to detect greenhouse gas emissions at the source level. The result: about 35 times more accurate observations than current observations, made possible by the special Dutch knowledge in this area.

For Orbital Eye it was logical to join the consortium, as many of our current customers are continuously looking for ways to locate and quantify methane emissions – in an attempt to reduce these emissions. Within the consortium, we can share the wishes and requirements of these customers, that will be end-users of the emission monitoring system, and in this way contribute to a solution that can help reduce global methane emissions!

Orbital Eye Ready to Support Hydrogen Infrastructure Transition with COSMIC-EYE

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In this article, it is described that EU countries have agreed on building a hydrogen-fueling infrastructure by 2030. TNO concludes that for the Netherlands this will result in substantial demand, requiring an average supply per fueling station of 2 tons per day.

Meeting this demand, in the long run, will only be sustainable with hydrogen supply by pipeline. Therefore, re-purposing the gas pipeline network for hydrogen in NL needs to be further accelerated to meet these new EU targets.

We can reassure that Orbital Eye is fully ready to fulfill the extended monitoring requirements associated with the transport of hydrogen through the existing natural gas infrastructure with our satellite-based monitoring solution CoSMiC-Eye and are committed to making this transition to hydrogen-driven transport possible in a safe and responsible way!

Orbital Eye Team Event Playing Padel

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This week the Orbital Eye team could be found at the padel courts. 🎾 This team event was a smashing success, with fierce competition and a fantastic display of teamwork. Whether we’re monitoring pipelines from space or playing padel on the ground, the teamwork and enthusiasm that we have at Orbital Eye is clearly visible!


Have a nice weekend all! 🥂

World Water Day: Orbital Eye Monitors Critical Water Transport Pipelines for Dutch Water Companies

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World Water Day! 💧

Orbital Eye is now monitoring the critical transport pipelines of three Dutch water companies – Dunea, PWN, and Waternet, providing clean drinking water to over 2.2 million households in the Netherlands.

These large pipelines transport pre-treated water from the rivers (Dunea), from the Lekkanaal (Waternet), and from the Ijsselmeer (PWN), to the Dutch water dunes, where the water is further cleared to be distributed to consumers. Besides, parts of these pipelines are directly connected to industrial consumers.

In general, the water companies are aware of all third-party activities that are going on around these pipelines. However, as the pipelines are typically located in remote areas, it can be challenging for the water companies to monitor each part of the pipeline frequently for unknown activities close to, or on top of the pipelines.

Orbital Eye informs the water companies on a frequent basis about the activities going on in the pipeline corridor – based on the analysis of SAR- and multispectral satellite imagery. Moreover, if an activity is detected, Orbital Eye also provides an optical image for the location of the activity, enabling the staff of the water companies to do a first assessment of the detected activities from the office.

An additional benefit of using satellite imagery to monitor these critical pipelines is that for every location along the pipeline, an archive is built up – with information about detected activities, and optical satellite imagery. In case a leakage occurs, the water companies can easily look back in time to see if any third-party activities took place at the location of the leakage.

Orbital Eye and National Fuel Gas Discuss Successful Pipeline Monitoring Results in Buffalo Meeting

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Yesterday Orbital Eye met in Buffalo with its customer from New York State: National Fuel Gas Company. 🇺🇸

Orbital Eye has monitored part of National Fuel’s pipeline network since summer 2022, and the promising results of this first monitoring period were discussed during the meeting at National Fuel’s headquarters. In this project, we worked together with GTI Energy and Energy Experts International, who also attended the meeting in Buffalo.

The meeting was concluded in style in a typical Buffalo restaurant with Michael Darr from National Fuel and Joseph Irwin, PE from GTI Energy. We are looking forward to the continued cooperation!

Orbital Eye Attends PRCI Conference in Houston

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And we’re here! 🤠

Today the PRCI – Pipeline Research Council International conference started in Houston, Texas. Orbital Eye is attending with Arnaud van den Berg and Joaquim Rosa to exchange information with pipeline operators from all over the world about satellite-based monitoring of pipelines.

In the opening session this morning, it was once again highlighted that excavation damage is still one of the main causes of pipeline failure – while this type of risk can be effectively mitigated when excavations are timeline detected. This is exactly what our satellite-based monitoring solution CoSMiC-EYE is great at and why more and more operators around the world adopt it as their method of choice to keep their pipelines, and the communities living around them, safe.

Drop us a note if you want to meet in Housten to learn more!

Orbital Eye and Sensar Meet-Up

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Last week, the Orbital Eye team met with our office neighbors – the Sensar team! As we are both providing monitoring services based on satellite data there was plenty of information and knowledge to exchange. Whereas Orbital Eye uses satellite data to detect activities at the earth’s surface, Sensar looks at movements of the earth’s surface by being able to detect millimeter-precise ground movements.


Information about ground movement is also of interest to pipeline operators – as ground movement can lead to for example increased stress on pipelines, pipeline exposure, or reduced depth-of-cover.

It was nice to catch up with the neighbors, both on the technology aspects during the technical sessions as well as on the social aspects during the drinks!