This is a major milestone for the company, which launched its first satellite in January 2018, and also highlights the growing sophistication of the small satellite industry, particularly in the area of remote sensing.
For Iceye, the ability to get those SAR images to resolutions of less than a meter is “one more milestone achievement, effectively pushing through the boundaries of capabilities you might not have thought you could reach with a small satellite,” says Pekka Laurila, the company’s cofounder and chief strategy officer.
Comparison of two satellite images of the same Nigerian port, one with the Sentinel-2 imaging satellite and one with Iceye's SAR.Although those larger satellites, which are typically in sun synchronous orbit, can typically achieve higher resolutions than smaller satellites, the latter have the advantage of being able to be deployed more quickly and in lower orbits, meaning that parts of the planet can be revisited on a more regular basis—sometimes as often as twice a day.
In 2018, revenues for companies providing data from remote sensing satellites, which includes imaging satellites as well as satellites that are capable of tracking other surface activities such as ship movements or weather patterns, exceeded $2 billion, according to a report from Bryce Space and Technology.
I have a small satellite in my pants