IMAGING

Government of Ukraine to have access to ICEYE SAR satellite constellation

ICEYE has signed a contract with the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation, which will provide the Government of Ukraine with its Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite imaging capabilities. In addition, it will provide access to its constellation of SAR satellites, allowing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to receive radar satellite imagery on critical locations with a high revisit frequency. www.iceye.com

Pixxel’s hyperspectral satellite technology for Australian farmers

Pixxel has partnered with Australian cloudbased agritech company DataFarming. Using Pixxel’s hyperspectral dataset, Data Farming will be able to monitor crop health at new speeds and greater resolutions compared to the multispectral imaging on behalf of tens of thousands of farmers. The images allow for in-depth analysis of plant and soil biophysical and biochemical properties, allowing farmers to track these properties over the course of the growing season to improve their crop performance. www.datafarming.com.au

Space Norway to build radar satellite for real time maritime surveillance

On the 25th of August 2022 Space Norway AS signed contracts with vendors and will immediately start building a radar satellite system optimized for maritime surveillance in Norwegian areas of interest.

The satellite system named MicroSAR is unique in the way it can detect relatively small vessels in a very large area simultaneously. As of today we don’t know about any radar satellite systems with the same mix of capabilities.

Norway’s sea areas are seven times larger than the Norwegian land area. The Arctic and the High North is Norway’s most important strategic area of interest. This puts strong requirements on situational awareness in these areas. AIS(Automatic Identification System) has for many years been used for maritime surveillance. The challenge is that AIS is a system that requires the vessels themselves to send the required and correct AIS Information. Hence, AIS is a system based on cooperation. Today we estimate that 5 % of the vessels either does not send out AIS Information or are transmitting false information. Satellites with a radar, such as MicroSAR, will be able to detect these vessels independent of the use of AIS. MicroSAR satellites will bring an AIS Receiver to correlate radar detections with AIS Information.

Space Norway works closely with the Norwegian Armed Forces who will be the main customer and buy services and products from MicroSAR when in operation. www.sstl.co.uk

BlackSky awarded $1.7m NASA contract to advance Earth Science research

BlackSky Technology Inc. has received its first call order, worth $1.7 million, from NASA to evaluate accessibility, accuracy, quality and utility of the Company’s imaging data services for the Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program. This call order was issued under a five-year Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition Program, sole-source blanket purchase agreement announced in November 2021 to provide highrevisit satellite imaging data in support of NASA’s existing Earth System Science and applications development for the benefit of society. www.blacksky.com

Ursa Space Systems enter into pact to provide geospatial intelligence in Ukraine

Ursa Space will provide analytic services to EOS Data Analytics (EOSDA) in support of missions in Ukraine. The unique service built atop Ursa’s services and EOSDA’s capabilities will enable the delivery of critical insights over the country. www.ursaspace.com

South Korea’s first space launch to the moon

The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) lifted off on August 4 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, kicking off South Korea’s first-ever deep-space mission and setting the stage for more ambitious moon efforts down the road. KPLO, also known as Danuri, “will be the first step for ensuring and verifying [South Korea’s] capability of space exploration,” officials with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), which is managing the mission, said in a statement.

This first step will lead toward a robotic moon landing by 2030, if all goes according to plan — a milestone that will be huge for South Korea. “Lunar exploration will enhance the space technologies of Korea, increase the value of Korea and stimulate pride [in] Korean[s],” the KARI statement added. KPLO’s lunar arrival will come about a month after that of NASA’s tiny CAPSTONE probe, which launched in late June and is taking a similarly circuitous path to Earth’s nearest neighbor. www.space.com

Hydrosat secures NOAA license

Hydrosat has secured a license agreement with National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to operate a private remote sensing space system. The authorization represents a significant milestone for the fastgrowing startup as it grants Hydrosat the requisite licensing to capture and sell data to commercial and government clients, and provides regulatory support as the company continues to make progress towards the launch of its innovative VanZyl-1 satellite mission.

Russia launches Iranian satellite

A high-resolution Iranian-owned satellite has been launched into space from a base in Kazakhstan on board a Russian rocket. The remote-sensing Khayyam satellite, which Iran has said it wants to use for nonmilitary purposes. www.aljazeera.com