ICEYE, renowned for owning and operating the world’s largest constellation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites, is set to play a pivotal role in offering crucial insights for government and enterprise needs across various sectors. These include but are not limited to insurance, natural catastrophe response and recovery, maritime activities, national security, humanitarian relief efforts, and climate change monitoring.
The partnership comes as a result of ICEYE being selected by the European Space Agency to actively participate in the Civil Security from Space Programme (CSS). This marks a significant milestone as the announcement declares the signing of the first CSS Partnership contract under the CSS program. The primary objective is to spearhead the development of an advanced suite of natural catastrophe monitoring services.
Launched in November 2022, the CSS program represents a novel, multi-disciplinary initiative by ESA. Its overarching goal is to facilitate the seamless integration of Europe’s diverse competencies and assets for the purpose of monitoring, mitigating, and resolving civil security and crisis events.
At its core, the CSS program presents European industries with a unique prospect to optimize the utilization of space capabilities in effectively tackling challenges related to civil security and crisis management. This initiative is designed to harness the power of space technology to enhance the continent’s preparedness and responsiveness in the face of various security and crisis scenarios.
ICEYE and ESA to leverage space tech to boost disaster preparedness
As ICEYE and ESA embark on this innovative venture, the joint efforts are poised to bring about transformative advancements in leveraging space-based technologies for enhanced disaster preparedness, response, and recovery on a global scale.
Josef Aschbacher, Director General of ESA, said: “I am delighted to sign the first ESA Partnership Project with ICEYE under the Civil Security from Space Programme, supporting European efforts to use space to monitor, mitigate and resolve civil security and crisis events to keep people, infrastructures and resources safe on Earth. We look forward to working with our Finnish partner on this project.”
The three-year collaboration will see collective efforts aim to create an extensive range of Disaster Management Solutions for efficient handling of natural catastrophes. Additionally, the partnership will establish an imaging service leveraging ICEYE’s satellite fleet.
It is hoped the move will propel the advancement of ICEYE’s cutting-edge hazard insights while concurrently developing and testing the next generation of Earth observation technology.
A pivotal aspect of the CSS program lies in providing European industries with a unique chance to maximize the utilisation of space capabilities. This presents a significant opportunity for addressing challenges inherent in civil security and crisis management, positioning space technology as a key asset in tackling and overcoming these pressing issues
Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and Co-Founder at ICEYE, commented: “This partnership is an opportunity to test the boundaries of natural catastrophe monitoring solutions, alongside ESA.
“The CSS programme demonstrates ESA and the European Space Sector’s commitment to building community resilience. We are proud to have been selected to participate in this programme, and to be at the forefront of the new space-based crisis observation and management era.”
Author: Joanna England
