SAR Renaissance: Pandemic slows but doesn’t stop constellation progress
SAR Renaissance: Pandemic slows but doesn’t stop constellation progress Unlike optical satellites that capture reflected sunlight to produce detailed photos of Earth, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites bounce radar signals off the ground and record the reflections to create images. This allows radar satellites to collect imagery day or night, regardless of cloud cover. “We’re heading into a SAR renaissance,” said Mark Matossian, CEO of Iceye U.S., an Iceye subsidiary. Credit: SpaceNews/Robin McDowall Startups around the world continue building synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites even as the COVID-19 pandemic delays some launches. Since Finland’s Iceye proved in early 2018 that a small satellite can gather radar data and imagery, SAR startups have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for constellations. San-Francisco-based Capella Space, Iceye, Japan’s iQPS, PredaSAR of Boca Raton, Florida, Japan’s Synspective and Umbra Lab of Santa Barbara, California, have differe...