Image what matters to you, on your own tasking, on your own schedule
Observation satellites
Overview
Electro-optical and radar observation satellites for imagery, change detection and intelligence. Tasking and downlink supported through partnered ground segments.
Electro-optical and radar Earth-observation satellites tasked on your national priorities, delivering imagery, change detection and intelligence, built for defence ministries and national agencies who need a wide-area intelligence layer accountable to their own flag rather than filtered through a foreign government's release queue.
Key capabilities
- Electro-optical and radar Earth observation tasked on the buyer's national priorities, on the buyer's own schedule.
- Imagery, change detection and intelligence products drawn from repeat imaging over time.
- Synthetic-aperture radar sensing through cloud and darkness, complementing electro-optical detail so coverage does not stop with the weather.
- Synthetic-aperture radar, hyperspectral and radio-frequency payloads available as distinct payloads, flown on your satellite or procured as a sensing service.
- Tasking and downlink through a partnered ground segment, with a structured path toward a national ground segment.
- A growth path from assured tasking on existing constellations to dedicated or sovereign spacecraft.
- Change built over time into an intelligence record of what has moved, been built or been disturbed at a site of interest.
Performance envelope
| Sensor types | EO, SAR, hyperspectral and RF, configuration-dependent |
| Resolution classes | Multiple classes available |
| Revisit and tasking cadence | Subject to mission profile |
| All-weather sensing | Radar available for cloud and darkness |
| Ground segment | Partnered, with a path to national |
| Acquisition model | Sensing service through sovereign spacecraft |
| Exploitation products | Imagery, change detection and intelligence |
| Data custody | Available under controlled briefing |
| Detailed figures | Shared under briefing, not published |
Qualitative envelope only. Exact figures are configuration-dependent and shared under a controlled briefing against your requirement: never published.
In depth
Observation satellites are not a single spacecraft but a sensing capability tasked, downlinked and exploited as a chain: the sensor in orbit, the tasking that points it, the ground segment that receives it and the analysis that turns imagery into intelligence. The whole is represented and sustained through one accountable team, and can begin as a sensing service and grow toward sovereign spacecraft.
Sensors
Electro-optical payloads for detail and synthetic-aperture radar for all-weather, day-and-night sensing, with synthetic-aperture radar, hyperspectral and radio-frequency payloads available as distinct sensing types, flown on the buyer's satellite or procured as a service.
Tasking
The queue that decides what gets imaged and when. This is the sovereignty question: the capability is structured so the buyer's standing and time-sensitive requirements set the tasking rather than waiting behind another owner's priorities.
Ground segment
Tasking uplink and imagery downlink through a partnered ground segment, with a path toward a national ground segment so tasking and data can land on national soil first.
Exploitation
Change detection, mapping and intelligence products derived from the imagery, with repeat imaging built into an intelligence record rather than read as isolated frames.
Operators and analysts
National operators and analysts who task the sensor and exploit the product, developed so the intelligence work stays in national hands.
Integrations
Interfaces to existing intelligence, command and geospatial systems so observation imagery feeds the picture a force already maintains rather than sitting in a separate silo.
Operational problems it addresses
- Monitoring borders, coastlines and approaches for change, incursion and activity over wide areas no aircraft can persistently cover.
- Detecting change at sites of interest, whether construction, movement or disturbance, by comparing repeat imagery over time into an intelligence record.
- Maintaining awareness through cloud and darkness, where radar sensing sees what electro-optical alone cannot.
- Supporting mapping, infrastructure monitoring and disaster response with imagery on national schedule.
- Removing the release lag and priority conflicts that come with depending on an ally's imagery in a crisis.
- Building an intelligence picture over time that turns isolated frames into a monitored record of a border or critical facility.
Deployment configurations
Why Unstrat: the difference
Unstrat is the authorised global representative and distributor for this capability. It is already in service with a track record behind it, so you are buying something that has done the job elsewhere, not funding a first attempt. You are not the test bed.
Versus depending on an ally's imagery
Nations that rely on allied imagery see what the ally chooses to release, after the ally has seen it first. Regional crises have repeatedly shown release lag and priority conflicts at exactly the wrong moment. Tasking accountable to your own flag removes the queue.
Versus a major-power sensing subscription
Buying imagery as a subscription from a major power deepens dependency with every renewal and attaches the owner's conditions to the tasking. A structured path toward sovereign spacecraft builds toward ownership instead of a longer lease.
Versus airborne reconnaissance alone
Aircraft cannot match orbit for persistence or reach over wide areas, and they place crews and platforms in contested airspace. Observation satellites provide the wide-area layer that airborne assets complement rather than replace.
Versus electro-optical imagery on its own
Electro-optical sensing stops at cloud and darkness. Adding radar keeps coverage running through weather and night, so an adversary cannot simply wait for cloud to move unobserved.
Versus reading single frames in isolation
One image is a snapshot; the intelligence is in the change. Repeat imaging turned into a record reveals what has moved, been built or been disturbed, the pattern a single pass cannot show.
Versus a foreign-controlled ground segment
Owning the spacecraft but renting the ground segment leaves data landing on someone else's infrastructure first. A path to a national ground segment keeps tasking and imagery under domestic custody and control.
How it reaches you
Sovereignty & localisation
- Tasking accountable to the buyer's national priorities rather than a foreign release queue.
- A structured path from a sensing service to dedicated and then sovereign spacecraft.
- A path toward a national ground segment so tasking and data can land on national soil first.
- Buyer ownership of the imagery, derived products and the intelligence record they build.
- National operators and analysts developed to task the sensor and exploit the product.
- In-region exploitation and sustainment rather than remote, supplier-gated processing.
- Progressive transfer so the observation capability is run and grown under national authority.
Integration
- Existing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, so observation imagery feeds the common picture.
- National geospatial and mapping systems, augmenting current holdings rather than replacing them.
- Command and intelligence-analysis workflows already in use, so change-detection products land where analysts work.
- Existing and future ground-segment infrastructure, with a path from a partnered to a national segment.
- Other sensing layers, whether maritime, airborne or terrestrial, cued by and cueing satellite imagery.
- National infrastructure, including ground sites, communications and processing, assessed as part of configuration.
Procurement & delivery
- Engagement begins with a requirement discussion covering the areas, sensing types and revisit cadence the national mission needs, then structures the acquisition around them.
- Export-control position and end-user-certificate chain are confirmed before any configuration is represented.
- Buyers can start with assured tasking and grow toward dedicated or sovereign spacecraft, each stage structured to build toward ownership rather than deeper subscription.
- Operator and analyst training, ground-segment scoping, exploitation support and in-region sustainment are part of the same accountable engagement.
Observation satellites: questions
Who controls the tasking queue once the capability is in service?
The buyer's priorities set the tasking. The sovereignty question is not who owns the spacecraft but who controls the queue, and the capability is structured so standing and time-sensitive national requirements are imaged on your schedule rather than waiting behind another owner's priorities.
Can we start without buying our own satellites?
Yes. Buyers can begin with assured tasking on existing constellations and grow toward dedicated or sovereign spacecraft with a national ground segment. Each stage is structured to build toward ownership rather than deeper subscription, so the entry point does not become a permanent dependency.
How do you maintain coverage through cloud and darkness?
Radar sensing sees through cloud and darkness where electro-optical cannot, so coverage does not stop when the weather does. Synthetic-aperture radar, hyperspectral and radio-frequency payloads are available as distinct sensing types, flown on your satellite or procured as a service, alongside electro-optical detail.
What is the difference between buying imagery and building an intelligence record?
A single image is a snapshot; the intelligence is in the change. Repeat imaging over the same border or facility, exploited as a record, reveals what has moved, been built or been disturbed, turning isolated frames into a monitored intelligence picture a single pass cannot provide.
Where does our imagery and data land, and who processes it?
Tasking and downlink run through a partnered ground segment today, with a structured path toward a national ground segment so tasking and data can land on national soil first. Ownership of the imagery, derived products and in-region exploitation are all in scope so custody stays under your control.
What resolution and revisit performance can we expect?
Multiple resolution classes are available and revisit and tasking cadence are subject to the mission profile. Detailed figures are shared under a controlled briefing against your specific areas and requirements rather than published, so the discussion is matched to your mission.
Why an independent supplier rather than an allied imagery arrangement?
Allied imagery means seeing what the ally releases, when the ally releases it, and a major-power subscription deepens that dependency with every renewal. An independent, non-aligned origin keeps tasking accountable to your flag, through one team responsible from the first sensing service to sovereign spacecraft.
Next step on this capability
Related capability
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Applications it supports
Capability comparisons
Questions buyers ask
Who is the best supplier of Earth observation satellites?
It depends on whether you are buying imagery specification or tasking authority. Satellogic publishes 70 cm native imagery on a roughly 48 kg spacecraft and sells outright, ICEYE publishes SAR down to 25 cm in its Dwell mode, and both are credible. We do not publish resolution figures yet, so score us down for that in a technical evaluation and ask for measured performance in trials. What our offer carries that theirs does not is payload breadth from one non-aligned supplier: electro-optical, SAR, hyperspectral and RF, on your spacecraft or as a sensing service.
See: Side-by-side with Satellogic and ICEYEObservation satellites in the catalogue
Optical or radar satellites: which does a national programme need?
Optical gives interpretable colour imagery at high resolution, which is where most intelligence and mapping work begins. Radar images through cloud, smoke and darkness, which is why it dominates disaster and maritime tasking. Most national programmes end up needing both, and buying them from two vendors means two tasking chains, two export licences and two sustainment queues. We supply both payload types under one contract, which is as much a procurement argument as a technical one.
What resolution do commercial Earth observation satellites reach?
The published figures are worth knowing before you write a requirement. Satellogic states 70 cm native across all colour bands with no pan sharpening, and 50 cm after super-resolution processing. ICEYE publishes 25 cm, 50 cm and 1 m in Dwell, 3 m in Strip and 15 m in Scan. We do not publish a ground sample distance, so hold us to a measured figure during evaluation rather than accepting a description.
How many satellites do you need for daily revisit?
More than most first-time buyers assume. Satellogic states that a single satellite reaches a given point of interest about every 5 days, and that intra-day revisit is a matter of buying more capacity. ICEYE reports 4 or more daily revisits across a constellation of 30 or more satellites. Revisit is a budget decision rather than a design breakthrough, so specify how often you actually need a look, then size the fleet against it.
Earth observation satellite for national border and infrastructure monitoring
Border work is a change detection problem, so revisit and consistency matter more than headline resolution. Our observation payloads deliver imagery, change detection and intelligence with tasking set on national priorities, and they are flown assets in service rather than laboratory articles. Where cloud or night coverage would otherwise leave predictable blind windows, the SAR payload closes them.
See: Observation satellitesElectro-optical satellites capability
Buying our own satellite compared with buying imagery as a service
A service costs less in year one, needs no engineers and starts immediately. Ownership costs capital and time, and it only repays over a long requirement or under conditions where access could be denied. The middle route several countries take is to subscribe for immediate needs while a national programme is built, then drop the subscription once the fleet is flying. What ownership buys that no subscription does is that every tasking request stops telling a foreign provider what you want to know.
See: Satellite intelligence capabilityTasking authority compared
Hyperspectral and RF payloads alongside optical imaging
Few suppliers offer more than one sensor family, which is how national programmes end up with three vendor relationships to build one picture. Satellogic's published Mark V specification is multispectral optical with four bands and a bay for customer payloads; ICEYE flies X-band SAR. We offer electro-optical, SAR, hyperspectral and RF as distinct payloads, flown on your satellite or procured as a sensing service.
Can imagery processing stay inside our own country?
Yes, and this is one area where the field is converging. Satellogic offers an in-country command centre with customer-managed on-premise processing, and ICEYE sells ground segment as an option in national programmes. Our observation programme treats in-country tasking and downlink as the default rather than an upgrade, through a partnered ground segment that can sit on your territory.
Satellite imaging through persistent cloud and monsoon season
Optical sensors have predictable blind windows during a monsoon, and adversaries schedule around them. Radar does not care about cloud, rain or darkness, which is why a serious observation programme pairs the two rather than choosing. Our SAR payload is available alongside the electro-optical layer within the same programme, so the coverage gap closes without a second supplier relationship.
Our ministry wants imagery of its own border without telling a foreign provider what it is looking for. What should we buy?
Every tasking request to a commercial provider is a statement of intelligence interest, and it is logged. The only structural fix is dedicated tasking with reception and processing you control, which is why our observation programme is written around tasking on your national priorities and downlink through a ground segment that can sit on your soil. Satellogic offers a comparable ownership route with an in-country command centre, so evaluate both; the residual difference is that their export chain runs through Washington and Buenos Aires and ours does not.
See: Observation satellitesCompared with Satellogic and ICEYESatellite intelligence capability
Can a country with no space agency actually operate its own observation satellite?
Yes, provided the ground segment, the software and the training are procured as part of the same programme rather than bolted on afterwards. Tasking, downlink and change detection run as a working chain in our deliveries, and operator training is delivered alongside the system. The failure mode to avoid is buying a spacecraft first and discovering afterwards that the console, the antennas and the trained shift roster were somebody else's assumption.
What should an Earth observation tender specify so we can compare vendors honestly?
Ground sample distance per imaging mode, swath or scene size, revisit over a named area, downlink band and data rate, spacecraft design life, and where the data is received and processed. Satellogic and ICEYE publish most of those figures, which makes them easy to score. We do not publish all of them yet, so require written, measured answers from every bidder including us, and refuse to compare a published number against a descriptive claim.
If we buy a satellite from a US or EU supplier, what still needs a licence afterwards?
The parts nobody costs at signature: spares, the next software load, payload upgrades and constellation expansion. Satellogic operates under United States and Argentine authority, ICEYE within the EU export chain, and both describe their national offers as sovereign with justification. Sovereign control of the spacecraft you already own is not the same as sovereign control of the ones you want to add in year six. Our origin is non-aligned, which keeps a third capital out of that loop.
How do we grow from one satellite to a constellation without rebuilding the ground segment?
By buying the ground layer for the fleet you intend to have rather than the spacecraft you are signing for. Mission-control software that is independent of any single satellite vendor lets you add spacecraft from a different supplier without retraining operators or rewriting procedures. Our control layer is sold separately from the satellites for that reason, and the ground stations are specified as the terrestrial backbone of the programme rather than an accessory to one launch.
See: Mission-control softwareGround stationsSovereign space solution
We need both wide-area survey and detailed looks. Is that one satellite or two?
Usually two collection modes rather than two spacecraft, but the published numbers show how far apart the extremes sit. ICEYE's Scan mode covers 100 x 100 km in a single image while its Dwell mode reaches 25 cm over a small footprint, and Satellogic publishes a 6.7 km swath at 470 km altitude. We do not publish swath or scene size per mode, so define the survey area and the target size you need to resolve, then require each bidder to show which mode meets each requirement.