---
title: "How a Tiny Satellite Fleet Will Track Millions of Animals"
description: "French spacetech startup Kinéis says it will vastly expand the reach of the satellites that track livestock and wildlife animals."
date: "2018-09-10"
modified: "2018-09-10"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tiny-satellites-track-animals"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "Farming"
  - "nanosatellites"
  - "the digest"
  - "wildlife"
  - "wildlife tracking"
---

# How a Tiny Satellite Fleet Will Track Millions of Animals

![French spacetech startup Kinéis says it will vastly expand the reach of the satellites that track livestock and wildlife animals.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/tiny-satellites-track-animals.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="http://www.argos-system.org" target="\_blank"\>Argos/Victor Tangermann\</a\>\</em\>*

## YOU GET A SATELLITE! YOU GET A SATELLITE!

French spacetech startup Kinéis [says it will vastly expand](<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45473786>) the reach of satellites that track livestock and wildlife animals — from about 20,000 tracking devices at present to more than a million over the next ten years.

Kinéis has pledged to make Argos, a satellite tracking system that's currently [only accessible to researchers](<http://www.lapresse.ca/sciences/astronomie-et-espace/201809/10/01-5195923-des-satellites-pour-democratiser-lespace-et-localiser-des-objets-connectes.php>), available to the general public for as little as a [few euros per year.](<https://www.bfmtv.com/economie/ces-nanosatellites-pourront-localiser-en-temps-reel-une-multitude-d-objets-connectes-pour-quelques-euros-1520577.html>) Kinéis is hoping the low price will attract new swaths of customers, who don't have reliable internet connectivity (think: subsistence herders who would track livestock, or fishermen who need a reliable distress beacon).

## TINY SATELLITES? (RELATIVELY) YES.

To create the system, Kinéis plans to launch a "constellation" of 20 nanosatellites. They'll each weigh just 25 kilograms (55 lbs), and orbit at an altitude of 600 kilometers (372 miles). The platform will debut next year, but won't be at full capacity with the entire satellite fleet in place until 2021.

The company is [working with France's space agency](<http://www.nexeya.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/dossier_de_presse_lancement_kineis_uk.pdf>) to launch the shoebox-sized satellites. Once in position, the satellites will collect location or temperature data from whatever they're attached to—an animal, shipping container, or other movable objects.

## DEMOCRATIZING ORBIT.

Unlike the old Argos system, which collected new location data every four hours, the new system will update tracker locations every 15 minutes. The company claims that high-resolution data will be a huge boon to animal researchers who need to track the movements of endangered animals, and farmers who want to keep tabs on large or free-ranging herds of livestock.

"This is one of our main ambitions — to democratise these technologies," Kinéis director Alexandre Tisserant [told the *BBC*](<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45473786>). "It has to be this way to be successful, otherwise they will remain in the hands of a few rich institutions or for very specific needs."

**READ MORE:** ["Internet of Animals" Spreads its Wings](<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45473786>) \[*BBC*\]

***More on animal tagging: ["Cow FitBits" Won’t Make Cows Happier Because They’re Not Milk Robots](<https://futurism.com/ai-powered-cow-fitbits>)***

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)