by Clarence Oxford
Gliwice, Poland (SPX) Sep 03, 2025
KP Labs has shown that satellites can do more than science alone. Engineers from Gliwice successfully ran the 1993 video game Doom aboard the Intuition-1 satellite, using the in-house Leopard Data Processing Unit. The test highlighted the system's ability to execute varied computational tasks in orbit.
Launched on November 11, 2023, Intuition-1 has remained fully operational after nearly two years in space. The satellite completes about 15 orbits daily and has circled Earth more than 9,800 times, consistently collecting hyperspectral imagery from multiple climate zones across the globe.
Recent captures include Mexico's Tamaulipas coast, Beijing's urban core, Phoenix's desert terrain, Miami's shoreline, Myanmar's mangrove reserves, Brazil's cerrado landscapes, and New Zealand's greenery. It has also documented its home country, Poland, showing snow-covered Lubawa during winter.
At the heart of Intuition-1 lies Leopard, a data processing unit designed to analyze imagery directly on board. This approach reduces downlink requirements and accelerates delivery of actionable data for applications such as environmental monitoring, agriculture, and resource management.
On August 12, 2025, engineers loaded a modified open-source version of Doom into Leopard, first verified on a ground-based FlatSat. While symbolic, the demonstration confirmed Leopard's resilience and adaptability under space conditions.
KP Labs has already used Intuition-1's onboard capabilities to classify vegetation and test environmental algorithms. The company also operates LeopardISS, another processor running on the International Space Station as part of ESA's IGNIS mission. There, the module supports AI experiments, including 3D terrain mapping work by Poznan University of Technology that could aid future planetary rovers.
Related Links
KP Labs
Space Technology News - Applications and Research