AI-Powered Earth Observation
πŸ›°οΈ ISU Advanced Studies 2026

AI-Powered
Earth Observation

Build intelligent web applications that combine satellite data with AI to solve real-world sustainability challenges. Go beyond dashboards. Build the future.

πŸ“ Strasbourg, France
πŸ“… 8 - 19 June 2026
🧠 AI + Satellite Data
πŸš€ 90% Hands-On
Live Status: Week 1 - Ideation Phase
Next: Internal Ideation Pitch

Latest Updates

πŸ“’ New Announcement

From Dashboards to Intelligent Agents

You've mastered HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and LeafletJS. You've built Earth Observation dashboards. Now it's time to take everything to the next level.

In this intensive 10-day course, you will integrate AI directly into your web applications. Imagine an EO platform where users ask questions in plain language and the AI autonomously queries satellite data, interprets NDVI maps, detects coastline changes, and generates actionable insights.

This is Agentic Geospatial AI. Companies like Planet and Google are doing it. Now you will too.

AI-Powered EO Concept

10 Days. Two Weeks. One Mission.

Morning sessions (10:00-12:00) and afternoon sessions (14:00-16:00). Mondays are afternoon-only. Click on any day for details.

Week 1 : Foundations + Factory 2026
Mon, Jun 8
1
Welcome + Ideation + Teams
πŸŒ… 10:00 - 12:00
No morning session (Monday)
β˜€οΈ 14:00 - 16:00
Welcome to AS26. Course overview, the Factory 2026 pitch opportunity, project tracks (Insurance, CubeSat, ESG). Team formation + ideation workshop.
Workshop Ideation πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
πŸ“ Required Submissions
  • Team Registration (names, track choice)
  • One-Page Concept Sketch
Tue, Jun 9
2
AI Fundamentals + Dev Setup
πŸŒ… 10:00 - 12:00
How LLMs work (high level). Free AI APIs: Gemini, Groq, Puter.js. Prompt engineering basics.
Lecture πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
β˜€οΈ 14:00 - 16:00
Dev Setup + First Build. VS Code, Git, GitHub, API keys. TerraX case study. First API call from JavaScript. Build a simple AI chat interface.
Lab πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
πŸ“ Required Submissions
  • End of Day Reflection (via PM session)
  • Complete AM & PM Interactive Quizzes
Wed, Jun 10
3
AI Meets Maps
πŸŒ… 10:00 - 12:00
Connecting AI chatbots to Leaflet/MapLibre. Making AI "understand" NDVI, land cover, and satellite bands.
Lecture πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
β˜€οΈ 14:00 - 16:00
Internal Ideation Pitch: Present your concepts and mockups to the faculty. The strongest teams will be selected to pitch on the main stage at Factory 2026 tomorrow.
Pitch Qualifiers πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
πŸ“ Required Submissions
  • Submit Concept Pitch Deck & Mockup
  • End of Day Reflection (via PM session)
  • Complete AM & PM Interactive Quizzes
Thu, Jun 11
4
πŸš€ #Factory2026 Conference
πŸŒ… 10:00 - 12:00
Pitch Rehearsals & Final Polish: Selected teams rehearse for the main stage. All teams prep for the exhibition table.
Rehearsal πŸ“– Pitch Day Guide β†’
πŸŽͺ 12:00 - 14:00
Startup Village, innovations, food trucks. Student Exhibition Table begins.
Open Access Student Table
🎀 14:00 - 15:00
Opening Ceremony: Keynote by FranΓ§oise Pierrot (European Space Affairs Office, Prime Minister's Office)
Keynote
🌍 15:15 - 16:15
TERRA Workshop (Salle 1401): Led by Dr. Sounny. AI + Digital Twins for Earth Observation. Interactive demos.
Workshop
β˜• 16:15 - 16:45
Coffee Break & Exhibition continuation.
🎯 16:45 - 17:45
Laureates Pitch (Amphitheatre Galaxy): Selected teams present mockups on the main stage to investors and industry professionals.
Pitch
πŸ† 17:45+
Closing Ceremony & VIP Networking Evening. Trophies & student business simulation pitches.
Networking
Fri, Jun 12
5
Sprint: MVP Building
πŸŒ… 10:00 - 12:00
Post-Factory debrief. Refine ideas based on investor feedback. Architecture planning.
Sprint πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
β˜€οΈ 14:00 - 16:00
Begin building your AI-powered EO web application.
Sprint πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
πŸ“ Required Submissions
  • End of Day Reflection (via PM session)
  • Complete AM & PM Interactive Quizzes
Week 2 : Hackathon Sprints + Final Presentations
Mon, Jun 15
6
Hackathon Sprint: Data Pipelines
πŸŒ… 10:00 - 12:00
No morning session (Monday)
β˜€οΈ 14:00 - 16:00
30-min Lecture: Copernicus/Sentinel APIs & Earth Engine integration.

Sprint Focus: Hooking up live data feeds for your Insurance, CubeSat, or ESG projects.
Sprint πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
πŸ“ Required Submissions
  • End of Day Reflection (via PM session)
  • Complete AM & PM Interactive Quizzes
Tue, Jun 16
7
Hackathon Sprint: UI/UX
πŸŒ… 10:00 - 12:00
30-min Lecture: Designing intuitive AI interactions and map layers.

Sprint Focus: Building out the UI logic for your Insurance, CubeSat, or ESG dashboards.
Sprint πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
β˜€οΈ 14:00 - 16:00
Sprint Focus: Integrating Leaflet.js mapping with your frontend dashboard templates.
Sprint πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
πŸ“ Required Submissions
  • End of Day Reflection (via PM session)
  • Complete AM & PM Interactive Quizzes
Wed, Jun 17
8
Hackathon Sprint: AI Integration
πŸŒ… 10:00 - 12:00
30-min Lecture: Error handling and making AI responses reliable.

Sprint Focus: Finalizing the Gemini API prompts to process your satellite/ESG/Insurance logic seamlessly.
Sprint πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
β˜€οΈ 14:00 - 16:00
Sprint Focus: Full-stack integration and end-to-end testing of the AI and Map modules.
Sprint πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
πŸ“ Required Submissions
  • End of Day Reflection (via PM session)
  • Complete AM & PM Interactive Quizzes
Thu, Jun 18
9
Pitch Rehearsal
πŸŒ… 10:00 - 12:00
Presentation coaching. Storytelling for tech demos. Preparing your pitch deck.
Lecture πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
β˜€οΈ 14:00 - 16:00
Final polish. Automated CI/CD deployment. Rehearse presentations.
Sprint πŸ“– Open Materials β†’
πŸ“ Required Submissions
  • End of Day Reflection (via PM session)
  • Complete AM & PM Interactive Quizzes
Fri, Jun 19
10
πŸ† Final Presentations
πŸŒ… 10:00 - 12:00
Team/individual final presentations to faculty and guests. Live demos of AI-powered EO applications.
Final πŸ† Finals Guide β†’
β˜€οΈ 14:00 - 16:00
Awards ceremony. Course wrap-up. Certificates and celebration.
Awards

#Factory2026 : L'Orbite, la nouvelle opportunite

Factory 2026
Thu Jun 11, 2026 | 12:00 - 19:00 | ISU Campus

How space technologies transform industry and health

The event that challenges your convictions and explores how orbital innovation meets our terrestrial challenges. Students will have an exhibition table to showcase their projects all day and will pitch on stage to 300+ decision-makers.

14:00 - 14:45
Opening Keynote
Barbara Belvisi, CEO of Interstellar Lab, on biospheric systems for life on Earth and in space.
15:15 - 16:15
Table ronde: De l'orbite a la terre
How the low-orbit economy transforms industry and creates new markets.
15:15 - 17:45
TERRA Project Workshop
Led by Dr. Sounny. Hands-on with the TERRA Horizon platform for climate services.
16:45 - 17:45
ISU Student Pitch Session
Present your mockups and concepts to investors and industry professionals for real feedback.
18:15 - 19:00
ISU AS Laureate Pitch
Advanced Studies finalist pitches, followed by #Factory2026 trophy ceremony.
12:00 - 18:00
Startup Village + Planetarium
NewSpace innovations, immersive dome experiences, and networking with the Alsatian space ecosystem.

πŸ“… Full Conference Programme

Factory 2026 Programme

Click the image to view the high-resolution, complete agenda of Factory 2026.

πŸ“ ISU Campus Access Plan

Factory 2026 Access Plan

Click the map to view directions and parking information for the International Space University campus.

Your AI Toolkit

Free, Powerful, No Credit Card Required

Every tool in your stack is free for educational use. Choose the APIs that work best for your project.

🧠
Google Gemini API
Multimodal AI. 1,500 free requests/day. Understands images, text, and code.
Recommended
⚑
Groq
Ultra-fast inference. 14,400 req/day. Llama 3, Mixtral, DeepSeek models.
Free Tier
πŸ”Œ
Puter.js
Zero-backend AI. No API keys. Works directly from HTML. Perfect for prototyping.
No Setup
πŸ€—
Hugging Face
Specialized models: sentiment, translation, image classification. Free inference API.
Free Tier
πŸ—ΊοΈ
LeafletJS / MapLibre
Interactive maps. Vector tiles. GPU-accelerated rendering. Your EO frontend.
Open Source
πŸ›°οΈ
Copernicus / Sentinel Hub
Free satellite data: Sentinel-1 (radar), Sentinel-2 (optical). REST APIs.
Free Data
🌎
Google Earth Engine
Petabytes of Landsat, MODIS, Sentinel data. JS and Python APIs.
Free for Research
πŸš€
GitHub Pages
Free static hosting. Deploy your app live from your repository. CI/CD included.
Free Hosting
Course Lead

Meet Your Instructor

Dr. Sounny

Dr. Sounny

Course Director, ISU Advanced Studies
Assistant Professor

Leading the intersection of geospatial technology, AI, web development, and sustainability education at ISU. His research focuses on GIS as Art, Spatial Reasoning, and Megafans. TERRA project workshop lead at Factory 2026.