ICEYE
ICEYE radar satellite imagery that has been acquired and processed at 0.5m ground sample distance, featuring a port container terminal near Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Credit: ICEYE.

Earth observation company ICEYE has released radar imagery with resolutions less than 1m from synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) microsatellites.

Besides some of the satellites yet to be launched this year, ICEYE further continues to develop and optimise imaging capabilities for customers in both commercial and government sectors.

ICEYE co-founder and CEO Rafal Modrzewski said: “Offering satellite imagery day and night, regardless of cloud cover, and at these very high resolutions, makes small SAR the new standard for reliable and timely imaging.

“The imagery we’ve released today shows that the previously perceived limits of small satellite SAR continue to be solved by our extremely talented teams at ICEYE.”

The newly developed Spotlight imaging mode from ICEYE enables under 1m radar imaging from the company’s satellites.

With the help of Spotlight imaging, the satellite lays its energy focus on a smaller area for a longer time, resulting in more data received from the same location to process detailed imagery.

These additional capabilities of ICEYE’s SAR satellites are used to resolve challenges in sectors such as emergency response, finance, maritime security and civil government.

ICEYE co-founder and CSO Pekka Laurila said: “ICEYE continues to provide commercial SAR data to its customers while developing new and improved capabilities.

“We are continually working with our customers to help turn these unique capabilities into the industry-specific solutions that they need.”

Last November, the company announced the launch of its second synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US.

The ICEYE-X2 satellite was launched onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of Spaceflight’s SSO-A: SmallSat Express mission last December.

In November 2017, the company raised additional funding through a new financing round to support the development of its synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) microsatellite constellation.