It is hard to imagine a situation without satellite navigation now. Technology that uses satellites to grasp changes around the globe in near real time can also become an information infrastructure that supports everyday life and national operations.
Pekka Laurila, co-founder and chief strategy officer (CSO) of ICEYE, said this at SMARTCLOUD SHOW 2026, the country's largest tech conference, held on the 26th at the Westin Josun Hotel in Jung District, Seoul.
ICEYE, a Finnish space company founded in 2015, observes Earth with small satellites equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Unlike ordinary optical satellites that use sunlight to photograph the surface, it sends radar to the ground and analyzes the returning signal to create images. Because of this, it can observe the ground at night and obtain data even when the view is obscured by clouds or smoke.
ICEYE combines this with a satellite constellation that operates multiple small satellites like a single network. Laurila said, "A single low Earth orbit satellite circles the Earth about once every 90 minutes, but since the Earth also rotates, it can take about two days to photograph a specific area again," adding, "Operating multiple satellites simultaneously can greatly reduce this interval."
SAR technologies are particularly useful at disaster sites. When floods or wildfires occur, it can be difficult to quickly confirm the damage with optical imagery alone due to clouds or smoke. In contrast, SAR satellites can identify flooded areas and affected regions under such conditions, helping response agencies and insurers quickly assess the scale of the damage.
Laurila said, "By using high-resolution radar imagery, you can distinguish down to the shape whether an object in a port is an oil tanker or another vessel," adding, "If you apply artificial intelligence (AI), you can automatically analyze objects and movements in the imagery to extract meaningful information."
ICEYE is already using satellite data in the fields of floods and wildfires and is expanding its business into insurance. It is a parametric insurance product that uses objective data to confirm whether damage occurred and its scale for paying claims.
Laurila said, "The uses of satellites are expanding beyond disasters into national security and public safety," adding, "Since Russia attacked Ukraine, it has become clear that our technology is important in the defense field as well."
She added, "In the defense field, as important as the stable supply of data is who controls the satellites and the data, and each country needs to have control over satellite operations and data," adding, "We need to move to a 'sovereign system' that goes beyond simply purchasing satellite data."
ICEYE is rapidly increasing the number of satellites to support this. ICEYE has launched 76 satellites so far and plans to launch about 60 more by 2027. The resolution of satellite imagery is also being advanced, from 1 meter in the second generation to 50 centimeters in the third generation, and to 25 centimeters from the 3.5th to the fourth generation.
Laurila explained, "Just as satellite navigation used by everyone today was initially a technology researched and developed by the military, high-performance Earth observation technology, which is used mainly by the military and governments, will also become a universal infrastructure."