The only thing better than a bird’s eye view is a satellite’s eye view. Companies, governments and institutions around the globe rely on satellites to give them fast, accurate and reliable images of the Earth. ICEYE has created a solution, putting Synthetic-Aperture Radar (SAR) into microsatellites.

“ICEYE offers very high-resolution SAR imagery, which was not previously possible,” says Jamil Kawar, ICEYE’s Director of Global Sales. “This is due to our world-leading technology and revolutionary radar design which minimised the size and weight of satellites.”

Radar satellites reflect energy off the ground to create images, even in the dark or through cloud cover. ICEYE’s design is flexible, allowing multiple imaging modes from a resolution of 25 cm up to 10,000 km2. With their fleet of 14 satellites ICEYE can get images of a location within a few hours, not in days or weeks.

“ICEYE’s mission is to help our customers to make informed, data-driven decisions to address time-critical challenges,” Kawar continues. “These include industries such as security, maritime, disaster management, insurance and finance.”

For example, in the spring of 2021 the world’s largest reinsurer, Swiss Re, partnered with ICEYE to improve flood risk management, assist disaster response and expedite claims payments. ICEYE’s near real-time images of flood areas could not only save money, but lives.

ICEYE’s technology and large constellation of satellites allowed them to accomplish another world first: what they term “persistent monitoring”. Satellites have always been limited by the timing and rate of target imaging. ICEYE’s solution goes a great way to solving this old problem. Their growing constellation of satellites is designed to rapidly revisit any area on the globe.

“No other company can provide this highly frequent persistence, allowing coherent change detection of clients’ targets,” Kawar explains. “Examples of its use are to view what was present one day and not the next, such as boats at a jetty or planes on an airfield; or changes to land surfaces like tyre tracks or flattened grass where a helicopter landed.”

The Middle East is already an important market for the company. Industries like security, disaster management, energy and space have already been shown interest in ICEYE’s services.

“For example, ICEYE turns SAR data into actionable information for monitoring oil and gas pipelines in the region,” says Kawar. “This enables our clients to monitor the pipeline right of way for third-party interference and geohazards. Satellite SAR data is a reliable and timely source of information that can also be used for proactive oil spill detection. ICEYE in the Middle East helps our customers detect potential oil slicks from platforms, FPSOs, passing vessels, pipelines and related infrastructure.”

The company has already delivered over 40,000 images to their clients, but they are continuing to improve their offering. In 2022 they plan to be serving customers with 18 or more satellites, providing unrivalled global access, revisit frequency and delivery speed.