ESA to Integrate Iceye’s SAR Data into Copernicus Mission
Rendering of an Iceye SAR satellite. Photo: Iceye
Iceye’s Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery will be integrated into Europe’s Copernicus imagery program, the company announced with the European Space Agency (ESA) on Tuesday. Iceye is the first European New Space company to take part in this program.
Copernicus is the world’s largest Earth Observation (EO) program and it is managed by ESA for the European Commission. It consists of the Sentinel satellites and contributing missions from commercial and government providers that make their data available to Copernicus. The data is used for monitoring land use, marine and international border surveillance, and improving public security.
As a contributing mission, Iceye will provide imaging data to Copernicus. This new partnership will be funded by the European Commission and operated by ESA. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Toni Tolker-Nielsen, acting director of Earth Observation Programmes at ESA said the agency is proud to work with a European EO provider and add to the program with Iceye’s innovative SAR data.
“ICEYE’s mission is to help our customers make informed, data-driven decisions to address time-critical challenges,” commented Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and co-founder of Iceye. “This program is a phenomenal tool for data users and shows European collaboration at its best.”