Its German subsidiary will manufacture satellite components, develop software, and establish an AI centre, says ICEYE.
Note that the Finnish company was already partnering with Rheinmetall in the country. This was through Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions (RISS), a joint venture for “sovereign space capability”.
Europe
The most recent ASD-Eurospace report highlighted Germany, after France, as having Europe’s second largest space industry in terms of employment. Its findings were that 125,000 people work in the space industry within the country.
“ICEYE is a European success story, founded by a Pole and a Finn who met through the Erasmus exchange programme and backed by EU horizon research funding – a European foundation that continues to shape our growth today,” said Rafał Modrzewski, co-founder and CEO of ICEYE.
“The establishment of ICEYE Germany strengthens a partnership that is already delivering and marks the next step in our long-term commitment to Germany.”
ICEYE Germany
The CEO of ICEYE Germany is Philipp Herkelmann, who emphasised the foundation of the company’s existing collaboration with Rheinmetall.
“Germany is central to Europe’s sovereign defence & space ambitions and to ICEYE’s identity as a technology company,” said Herkelmann. “It has the engineering talent, the industrial partners, and the imperative to become a cornerstone of Europe’s sovereign intelligence capability.”
“That is what we are here to build, delivered through our joint venture with Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions as the integrating platform,” said Philipp Herkelmann, CEO of ICEYE Germany.
Herkelmann has experience at Google, EU Inc and Entrepreneur First, said IECEYE.
The company already has extensive commercial links across the continent, having worked with Ukrainian, Swedish, Portuguese and Polish military, for example, as well as the ESA.
SAR
ICEYE owns the world’s largest SAR satellite constellation. Its software-defined satellites deliver commercial imagery with resolution up to 16 cm. Its high-resolution field of regard extends to 400 km.
The company highlights its “end-to-end sovereign intelligence system”. This spans satellites, ground infrastructure, AI-enabled processing and analytics.
Note that the advantage of SAR imaging is it provides persistent situational awareness: day or night, in any weather.