Satellites: Earth watchers.

The story of satellites began with the Soviets.

From first Satellite to the present

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the earth's first artificial satellite, Sputnik I. The successful launch came as a shock to experts and citizens in the United States.

The race is on!

On November 3, 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik-2, the first spacecraft to carry a living being into space—Laika, a female dog. However, they faced challenges in developing a re-entry strategy to bring the spacecraft back to Earth.

Under pressure to catch up with rivals, the Americans expedited satellite development. A year later, on January 31, 1958, Explorer 1 became the first U.S. satellite launched into space.

Since then, thousands of satellites have enhanced global communication, deepened our understanding of Earth's environment, and facilitated exploration of our galaxy, leading to many modern scientific discoveries

In 2021, there were around 6,000 orbiting our planet.

New Satellite Players Claim

The age of large, old satellites is over. Manufacturing these satellites poses challenges—design complexity, high cost, long development time, testing, and the risk of failure.

Traditional optical and radar satellites have never matched the frequency, clarity, and accuracy needed for operational decisions.

Shifting Trends in Satellite Size

Major constellation operators plan larger second-gen satellites, following a trend toward more substantial spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO).

Given Starlink's positive market reception, the company's move toward larger satellites to expand the market is unsurprising.

Companies that started out specializing in small satellites have also been gradually moving toward larger spacecraft to accommodate this demand.

I guess market needs and conditions dictate the satellite size

Problems Satellites Create in Orbit

With the growing number of satellites launched, a concerning problem arises: space junk. Satellites have a limited lifespan, running out of fuel, crashing, or malfunctioning, turning into giant debris circling the Earth. Currently, over 1,800 defunct satellites clutter lower orbit.

In my future posts, I will share about companies solving space junk.

Satellite Companies still thriving

Despite the satellite size debate and space-related challenges, ICEYE has emerged to manufacture, operate, and sell small-sized satellites.

Based in Espoo, Finland.

Founded in 2014.

Fund rasied is $140 Million.

ICEYE operates a high-resolution images radar satellite constellation designed to deliver monitoring capabilities for any location on earth.

Life on Earth is constantly changing. The ability to see and track these changes is key to understanding, predicting and responding to events around us.

ICEYE's new way of understanding Earth involves providing continuous monitoring of both large and small areas worldwide. This means gathering data every few hours, day and night, in any weather condition.

This technology can track things like fast-moving ships, address security issues, and even predict natural disasters by identifying small changes. ICEYE's monitoring helps reveal previously unseen changes in the environment and human activity.

An example of persistent monitoring

ICEYE's daily radar satellite images from March 16-28, 2021, showcase the Port of Rotterdam, Europe's largest seaport. These images capture vessel locations, oil tank floating roof movements, stockpile and container row changes, crane activities, and other site actions.

ICEYE Satellites features:

• Large constellation (group of satellites)

• High agility

• High coverage

• Fast revisit

• High resolution

• Fast delivery

Some of the data imaging monitoring applications ICEYE provides:

• Border monitoring

• Site activity monitoring

• Port monitoring

• Oil spill

• Deforesteration monitoring

• Maritime suspicious activities

Here is a brief case study:

In 2022, ICEYE imagery satellites detected two oil tankers in the Taiwan Strait as they began exhibiting a pattern of behavior suggesting an imminent transfer of oil. The window of time to detect the vessels in an expected ship-to-ship (STS) meeting was less than 12 hours.

Companies can have their own mission and purchase satellites from ICEYE; delivery and launch take 18 months instead of years. ICEYE will manages satellites according to their client’s mission.

ICEYE promises many advanced monitoring features and collaborates with multiple partners in two sectors: insurance and government.

The demand from large organizations for data image monitoring and analytics will grow, and the best satellite companies will play a crucial role in the future of strategic security and economic decisions, relying on capturing activities on Earth.

Thanks for reading!

I hope that brought some interesting tips. Any feedback or questions, please shoot them my way.