ICEYE US Inc., a subsidiary of ICEYE, the global leader in persistent Earth monitoring with radar satellite imaging, announced today a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) with NASA. The contract is a five-year agreement for the purchase of synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) data for evaluation to determine their suitability for advancing NASA’s science and application goals. The BPA is funded by the Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate.
Since 2020, NASA’s Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program has been identifying, evaluating, and acquiring data from commercial sources aligned to NASA’s Earth Science Division objectives.
“It’s our privilege to support NASA’s objectives related to advancing Earth Science with commercial data sources,” said Eric Jensen, CEO of ICEYE US. “We are delighted that researchers at NASA centers across the country will gain access to the reliable data stream from our constellation of small radar satellites and in doing so, demonstrate the value of commercial SAR for the Scientific community.”
“NASA is excited to evaluate ICEYE data in the context of our Earth Science Research, Analysis, and Applications portfolios,” said Will McCarty, NASA CSDA Program Scientist. “With the advent of SAR from commercial sources like ICEYE, we are interested in how these small satellite constellations can complement existing NASA datasets and capabilities. Ultimately, we aim to utilize these data to provide new perspectives to the science priorities of the Earth Science Division.”
This agreement between ICEYE US and NASA represents an important milestone for commercial SAR in the United States. Various types of satellite data from commercial remote sensing systems have proven to be an important complement to existing NASA capabilities and today represent a critical tool for understanding Earth’s changes. ICEYE SAR data is being provided with broad licensing authority to maximize the collaborative utility for research.
At any given time, about 70% of the Earth is covered in clouds or darkness. Unlike traditional Earth observation satellites, SAR satellites can collect high-value datasets of areas of the Earth in daylight, at night, and through cloud cover. SAR data from the ICEYE constellation can be produced over wide areas, such as glacial regions or coastlines, with frequent revisit to optimize scientific value and support novel research applications.
