Halifax-based technology startup Galaxia has announced the release of Onyx Edge. This new onboard computing system is designed to shift low Earth orbit operations away from simple data collection and toward real-time intelligence gathering.
The hardware relies on a proprietary dual-framework design the company calls its Core and Blades architecture. The system physically separates the essential flight computer from the high-throughput processing units. The Core acts as the control plane. It manages spacecraft command, health monitoring, fault recovery, and secure operations. Meanwhile, the modular compute blades function as an onboard cluster to run artificial intelligence models and analyze detailed sensor data directly in space.
This architectural split is an important hardware development for the company. It aims to solve the bandwidth bottleneck in space by processing information on the satellite before beaming the intelligence down to Earth.
Onyx Edge operates as the physical hardware foundation for the company’s Virtual Satellite-as-a-Service platform. Known as VSaS, this software-defined environment lets clients deploy applications directly to orbit without building their own spacecraft. Users can leverage the compute resources on the modular blades for artificial intelligence workloads.
“The future of space will not be defined by how much data satellites collect, but by how quickly they can turn it into intelligence,” said Arad Gharagozli, chief executive officer of Galaxia.
The startup has already secured government support to develop its orbital technologies. Late last year, Galaxia received a $2.5 million contract from Defence Research and Development Canada to build a tactical satellite. The company also obtained regional federal funding to expand its engineering facilities and scale its workforce in Nova Scotia.