On Monday, September 9, 2024, the Polish-Finnish company ICEYE announced that its American subsidiary, ICEYE US, had signed an agreement to expand its cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the provision of satellite data delivery services under the Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) program.
Image: ICEYE
ICEYE US was selected by NASA as part of the 5-year CSDA program, under which an IDIQ (Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity) agreement was signed, meaning the provision of an unspecified number of services under unspecified conditions. Under this agreement, the company will provide satellite imaging services of the Earth’s surface using SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) technology.
Since 2020, as part of the CSDA program, NASA has been identifying, evaluating, and acquiring data from commercial sources, including ICEYE satellites, to support the scientific goals, analyses, and applications of NASA’s Earth Science Division (ESD).
“NASA’s Earth Science objectives are invaluable for exploring and protecting our planet. We remain grateful for the opportunity to continue supporting NASA’s mission with our data,” said Eric Jensen, CEO of ICEYE US. “NASA researchers, collaborating scientists and academic partners will enjoy expanded access to a reliable, accurate radar data stream from the world’s largest commercial SAR constellation. We look forward to enabling the scientific discoveries that lie ahead.”
NASA has long demonstrated the value of incorporating commercial satellite data into its own capabilities as a key tool for recording changes on the Earth’s surface. As the impact of climate change increases, these tools are more important than ever.
As the owner and operator of the world’s largest constellation of Earth observation satellites based on synthetic aperture radar, ICEYE provides proven solutions and data in this field. A large portion of the Earth’s surface is always covered by clouds or shrouded in darkness. Unlike traditional Earth observation satellites, ICEYE’s small radar-imaging satellites are capable of capturing high-resolution images of the Earth’s surface regardless of conditions—both day and night, and even in heavy cloud cover. In other words, they can collect images and data from any location on Earth multiple times a day, providing essential reliability for critical decision-making processes.
Importantly for science, radar sensors provide measurement accuracy of surface features on Earth down to the millimeter, enabling detailed scientific studies. A unique feature of ICEYE’s constellation capabilities is the ability to generate both extensive datasets, such as those covering glacier regions or deserts, and targeted areas, such as forests or coastlines, with a high revisit rate, which maximizes the value of the scientific data and supports groundbreaking research applications.
ICEYE is headquartered in Finland and collaborates with over 700 employees worldwide, with offices also located in Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
https://twitter.com/ICEYEfi/status/1833144021977370935
Based on the press release