Satellogic will sell you the spacecraft. ICEYE will sell you the radar. Neither sells you the tasking authority.
Both vendors publish detailed and credible specifications, and both now offer satellites to national customers. The difference sits in what happens on the day your imaging priority conflicts with someone else's.
Our observation payloads are flown assets in service rather than laboratory articles, supplied by a firm that has built and launched satellites and the ground segments behind them. Tasking, downlink and change detection run as a working chain, with sensing available either on your own satellite or as a service.
Side by side
| Attribute | Represented by UnstratObservation satellites | SatellogicNewSat Mark V (Space Systems)12United States and Argentina | ICEYESAR constellation and tasking products345Finland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensing types offered13 | Electro-optical, SAR, hyperspectral and RF, available as distinct payloads flown on your satellite or procured as a sensing service | Multispectral electro-optical, 4 bands (R, G, B, NIR), with an additional payload bay for customer-furnished payloads | X-band synthetic aperture radar |
| Published ground resolution134 | Not published | 70 cm native GSD on all colour bands with no pan sharpening; 50 cm after super-resolution post-processing | Dwell 25 cm, 50 cm and 1 m; Spot 1 x 1 m ground (0.5 x 0.25 m slant); Strip 3 x 3 m ground; Scan 15 x 15 m ground |
| Scene size or swath13 | Not published | 6.7 km swath at 470 km altitude, with multiple collection modes | Spot 5 x 5 km standard and 15 x 15 km extended area; Strip 30 x 50 km, extendable in 50 km increments to 600 km; Scan 100 x 100 km |
| Weather and darkness16 | SAR payload available for all-weather sensing alongside electro-optical | Optical only in the published Mark V specification | Radar imaging regardless of cloud, fog or darkness |
| Spacecraft mass1 | Not published | About 48 kg wet, including about 3 kg of propellant | Not published in the cited documents |
| Design life12 | Not published | Up to 5 years for a purchased Mark V; the service constellation is flown on a 3-year lifecycle with a third refreshed each year | Not published in the cited documents |
| Communications bands13 | Not published | X-band downlink, S-band uplink | X-band imaging radar; downlink band not published in the cited documents |
| Revisit over a point of interest27 | Not published | A single satellite accesses a single point of interest about every 5 days; intra-day revisit requires additional capacity | ICEYE states 4 or more daily revisits across a constellation of 30 or more satellites |
| Who holds tasking authority125 | Tasking set on your national priorities | Sovereign control of your own satellites is offered with a purchased Mark V; service customers get priority tasking access to the wider constellation | Poland's agreement is described as delivering full independence in radar reconnaissance, with cross-tasking and capacity sharing with other nations available if desired |
| Ground segment15 | Tasking and downlink through a partnered ground segment | Integration of customer-selected ground stations for TT&C and downlink, an in-country command centre, and customer-managed processing on cloud or on-premise | Ground segment capability offered as a purchasable option in the Polish programme |
| Origin and export chain15 | Independent and non-aligned | United States and Argentina | Finland, within the EU export chain |
Competitor values are quoted from the vendor documents listed under Sources, as published on the date shown. Configurations vary, so treat every row as a starting point for the evaluation rather than a like-for-like test result.
What the table means
Read the resolution row honestly
Satellogic publishes 70 cm native and 50 cm after processing. ICEYE publishes 25 cm in Dwell Precise. We publish neither, and a technical evaluation board is right to mark us down for it until we put a measured figure on paper. What our specification does carry that theirs does not is payload breadth in one supplier relationship: electro-optical, SAR, hyperspectral and RF, flown on your spacecraft or bought as a sensing service, rather than one sensor family per vendor.
Sovereign control has a definition, and it is not a marketing word
Satellogic uses the phrase and backs it with substance: a purchased spacecraft, an in-country command centre, customer-selected ground stations and processing you manage. ICEYE's Polish deal is described by the Polish defence minister as independence in radar reconnaissance. Both statements are fair. The residual question is the export licence behind the next spare, the next software load and the next constellation expansion, which remains with Washington, Buenos Aires or Helsinki. Our origin does not put a third capital in that loop.
Revisit is bought, not designed
One Satellogic satellite reaches a given point about every 5 days. ICEYE's 30-plus constellation supports 4 or more revisits a day. Those two numbers describe the same physics with different fleet sizes, and the honest conclusion is that revisit is a budget decision. Before comparing spacecraft, decide how often you actually need a look at your border, your ports and your reservoirs, then price the fleet that produces it.
Questions buyers ask
What is the best alternative to Satellogic for a government that wants its own Earth observation satellite?
If your requirement is sub-metre optical imagery today and you can accept a US and Argentine supply chain, Satellogic's Mark V is a documented and credible answer at about 48 kg with 70 cm native imagery. Our alternative is a broader payload set from one non-aligned supplier: electro-optical, SAR, hyperspectral and RF, tasked on your priorities. We do not yet publish resolution figures, so insist on a measured comparison during evaluation rather than accepting either claim on trust.
How do optical and SAR observation satellites compare for national security tasking?
Optical gives you interpretable colour imagery at high resolution: Satellogic publishes 70 cm native and 50 cm processed. Radar gives you imagery through cloud, smoke and night, which is why ICEYE's constellation dominates disaster and maritime work. Most national programmes end up needing both, and buying them from two vendors means two tasking chains, two licences and two sustainment queues. We offer both payload types under one contract, which is a procurement argument as much as a technical one.
How many satellites does a country need for daily revisit?
Satellogic states that one 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 from a constellation of 30 or more. The lesson for a national programme is to specify revisit as a requirement, then size the fleet, rather than buying two satellites and hoping.
Can we keep imagery processing inside our own country?
Yes, and this is one axis where the field is converging. Satellogic offers an in-country command centre and customer-managed on-premise processing. ICEYE sells ground segment as an option. Our observation programme is designed around it as the default rather than an upgrade, with tasking on your priorities and downlink through a partnered ground segment that can sit on your territory.
Sources
- 1. Satellogic, Space Systems: NewSat Mark V (datasheet, May 2024) (copy held on this site)Retrieved: 2026-07-31
- 2. Satellogic, Constellation-as-a-Service data sheet (July 2023) (copy held on this site)Retrieved: 2026-07-31
- 3. ICEYE, ICEYE Tasking Imaging Modes (copy held on this site)Retrieved: 2026-07-31
- 4. ICEYE, Imaging modes: See more with modesRetrieved: 2026-07-31
- 5. ICEYE, ICEYE to provide SAR satellites for the Armed Forces of Poland (press release, 14 May 2025)Retrieved: 2026-07-31
- 6. ICEYE, Use cases: Port monitoringRetrieved: 2026-07-31
- 7. ICEYE, ICEYE Flood Insights (government solutions)Retrieved: 2026-07-31