Radar Satellites Growing Fast
Countries and companies are launching more radar satellites because there’s a big demand for them.
In August, Iceye from Finland put four new radar satellites into space, Japan’s Synspective added its fifth one, and Capella Space from the U.S. sent up two more. Military groups are the main users of these images and data.
Capella Space CEO Frank Backes said, “From a national security perspective, our systems are used seven days a week, 24 hours a day on a continuous basis,” during the World Space Business Week in Paris. He mentioned that their August satellites were working within days to show defense clients that new satellites can be fast.
More government agencies and businesses now see how useful radar satellites are since they work all the time, even through clouds and smoke.
We always find it fascinating how quickly technology evolves to meet needs.
In September, NASA said it will start using data from Iceye US for Earth science research. Before signing a five-year contract, scientists checked if Iceye’s data was good enough.
Tracking Water Problems
Utilities, infrastructure firms, and governments are using radar data to check soil moisture levels. Jasmin Inbar from Asterra said, “Water where it shouldn’t be is the number one reason for infrastructure failure.” Asterra uses radar data to help insurance companies, infrastructure operators, and disaster-management teams.
Asterra wants more frequent satellite data to get new customers. Inbar noted, “There are only three L-band satellites operated by space agencies. In order to penetrate better into the defense market, we need higher revisit time.”
Making More Satellites
Synspective is increasing satellite production with money from their recent Series C funding round, said CEO Motoyuki Ara. They aim to have 30 radar satellites by the late 2020s.
