ICEYE, a global leader in persistent monitoring through radar imagery and an expert in flood and natural disaster solutions, has successfully launched, on May 26th 2022, five new SAR satellites, two of which will be operated by the Brazilian Air Force. All were launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 shared launch small satellite mission via SpaceX’s EXOLAUNCH from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Communication with each satellite has now been successfully established. As of 2018, ICEYE and ICEYE US have launched 21 satellites into orbit, including both commercial and customer-specific missions.

Two of the satellites launched were supplied directly to the Brazilian Government, and will be operated by the FAB in support of environmental and national security objectives, being dual-purpose, that is, civil and military. Due to the prevailing weather in Brazil, with up to eight months of cloudy skies per year, SAR satellites, which can “see” the ground at night or through clouds, have an important advantage in gathering information to enable subsequent actions. Due to its civil and military use, the images collected by the satellites will be useful for a number of institutions, such as the Ministry of Defense, Air Force Commands, Navy and Army, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. , Ministry of Infrastructure, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Mines and Energy, Federal Police, Federal Highway Police, etc.

The ICEYE satellite constellation is designed to provide customers with reliable, continuous imaging, with rapid detection and tracking of changes on the Earth’s surface, regardless of time or weather conditions. This capability is vital for government and commercial employment in a variety of sectors, including insurance, natural disaster response and recovery, national security, defense, humanitarian relief, and climate change monitoring.

The company believes that there is a worldwide trend on the part of governments to fully leverage and integrate remote sensing technologies into their information collection architectures. Brazil will benefit greatly from the ability of radars to “see” the ground regardless of time and weather conditions. Through the study of the changes in the terrestrial surface observed through the comparison of successive images of a determined area, it will be possible to obtain, in a short space of time, information that allows the rapid activation of the best response for each specific situation.

“In just a few years, the ICEYE team has launched 21 small radar imaging satellites, which is a remarkable achievement,” said Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and co-founder of ICEYE. “The world needs these sources of truthful and objective data more than ever. With this launch, we will have expanded performance and ability to provide additional support to our customers and the growth of our current and emerging vertical markets.”

“We want to bring Brazil to the leading role it deserves and democratize the use of space. We see a great intellectual potential in the region with several possibilities for the development of new technologies. We are fully interested in establishing ourselves in the country and making it a Hub for Latin America”, comments Ana Paula Cordeiro, ICEYE’s regional director for Latin America for business development and sales.

Later this year, ICEYE plans to add up to five new satellites to its constellation, including more satellites manufactured by ICEYE US.

The Lessonia Project consists of the acquisition of a constellation of low-orbit satellites. Dual-purpose, they aim to meet the operational needs of the Armed Forces of the Management and Operational Center of the Amazon Protection System (CENSIPAM), as well as government agencies.

The Lessonia Project’s imaging system uses an Active Detection Sensor capable of generating very high resolution images, which can be obtained at any time of the day or night, regardless of weather conditions, as the emitted signal crosses the clouds. In this way, continuous monitoring of areas of interest in Brazil is possible.

The images captured will be used to support the fight against drug trafficking and illegal mining, updating cartographic products, determining the navigability of rivers, viewing fires, monitoring natural disasters, monitoring the Exclusive Economic Zone (ZEE) and supporting surveillance and border control, among other capabilities.

The Lessonia Project is part of the Strategic Program for Space Systems (PESE). Executed by the Coordinating Committee of the Combat Aircraft Program (COPAC), it provides dual products (civilian and military) to be used in an integrated manner for the benefit of the entire Brazilian society.

Seeking to fully comply with the strategic program for space systems, in the future, the implementation of a set of nationally manufactured satellites to obtain optical images is also planned. It will complement the Ministry of Defense’s ability to image the national territory, thus meeting all government demands.

Satellites features
Dimension: 1 m³
Weight: 100kg
5 solar panels
Power: 300W