Radar image of Strait of Gibraltar, captured with an ICEYE SAR satellite using the recently developed imaging mode. (Photo: ICEYE)

NASA has awarded Iceye US a five-year blanket purchase agreement to buy the company’s synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, Iceye announced Wednesday. 

This will give NASA centers broad access to the company’s SAR data. The BPA is funded by NASA’s Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate. The award is part of NASA’s Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program which evaluates and acquires data from commercial sources. 

“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.”

Iceye, based in Finland, operates its own constellation of SAR satellites that can collect data in the dark and through clouds. Iceye US is its subsidiary based in the United States.