Iceye

ICEYE Oy is a Poland and Finland microsatellite manufacturer.^[1][2] ICEYE was founded in 2014 as a spin-off of the Aalto University University Radio Technology Department, and is based in Espoo.^[3]

History

In 2015, ICEYE demonstrated that synthetic-aperture radar could be used to monitor hazardous ice features such as pack ice.^[4]

In 2019, the founders of ICEYE and Aalto staff involved were awarded the Finnish Engineering Award.^[5][6] The achievement was called "a breakthrough in Finnish space technology" in the award citation.^[7] The award is given annually by the Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK (TEK), the main trade union and learned society for university graduates in Finland, and comes with a cash prize of 30,000 euros.^[5]

In October 2019, ICEYE started offering commercial access to its 1-meter resolution SAR-imagery. At the time, ICEYE operated 3 SAR satellites.^[8]

Leadership

The CEO and co-founder of ICEYE is Rafał Modrzewski.^[2][1]

Financing

In August 2017, ICEYE raised $13 million in capital, including from the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovations.^[2]

Satellites

On January 12, 2018, a PSLV-XL rocket on PSLV-C40 mission carried ICEYE-X1 (also known as ICEYE POC1, COSPAR 2018-004D; POC stands for "Proof Of Concept") into orbit from the Sriharikota Launching Range.^[2] ICEYE-X1 was the first satellite under 100 kilograms to carry a synthetic-aperture radar, and was the first Finnish commercial satellite.^[2][1][9]

The second satellite, ICEYE-X2 (also known as ICEYE POC2, COSPAR 2018-099AU) was launched into orbit 3 December 2018 18:34 UTC by a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket. The launch took place from the Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC-4E. ^[10]

The third ICEYE X payload was launched 05.05.2019 on an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, New Zealand. The payload, called ICEYE-X3, was integrated into the Harbinger satellite (the satellite is also known as ICEYE X3, ICEYE POC3, COSPAR 2019-026E), a proof-of-concept prototype for a York Space Systems' S-class satellite bus. The Harbinger was launched on its demonstration mission, and the payloads integrated into the satellite included the ICEYE X3, BridgeSat’s optical communications payload and Enpulsion of Austria’s Field Emission Electric Propulsion system. The launch was conducted as the STP-27RD mission of the Space Test Program (STP) of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, who sponsored the launch. The ICEYE-X3 radar payload failed shortly into the mission.^[11]

The fourth and fifth satellite, ICEYE-X4 (ICEYE POC4, COSPAR 2019-038D) and ICEYE-X5 (ICEYE POC5, COSPAR 2019-038C) were launched 05 July 2019 by a Soyuz-2-1b rocket from Vostochny Cosmodrome Site 1S.^[12]

ICEYE is attempting to develop a satellite constellation of 18 microsatellites equipped with synthetic-aperture radars in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA).^[13] Iceye uses commercially available off-the-shelf components as much as possible, despite increased risk of hardware failure.^[1]

References

External links

• Official website

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