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TAMPA, Fla. — Emirati operator Space42 said Jan. 15 it has established communications with its recently launched Foresight-2 satellite, the second synthetic aperture radar (SAR) payload for the hybrid imaging and connectivity provider.
Provided by Finnish SAR operator Iceye, Foresight-2 was one of 131 payloads SpaceX sent to sun-synchronous orbit Jan. 14 on a Falcon 9 rocket.
Iceye also said it successfully made contact with three other SAR satellites on the Transporter-12 rideshare mission, which will join the Finnish operator’s constellation to provide services to government and commercial customers.
All four satellites are designed to provide imagery with 25-centimeter resolution using radar signals, which are unaffected by cloud cover, weather, or lighting conditions.
United Arab Emirates-based satellite operator Yahsat and geospatial artificial intelligence provider Bayanat, which merged last year to form Space42, announced an agreement with Iceye in 2023 for at least five low Earth orbit (LEO) SAR satellites.
While Iceye aims to deploy more than 20 new satellites annually starting in 2025, it has not disclosed how many Space42 will own or the specific timelines for these deployments.
In December, four months after SpaceX launched Foresight-1, Space42 announced a knowledge-sharing joint venture with Iceye to build SAR satellites within the UAE.
Space42 said newly established Assembly, Integration, and Testing (AIT) facilities, along with its LEO mission operations center in Abu Dhabi, will play a pivotal role in advancing the country’s SAR capabilities.
The Emirati fleet operator said it views the partnership as a stepping stone toward enhancing its artificial intelligence ambitions, enabling the development of sophisticated tools for analyzing SAR data.
Backed by the UAE sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, Space42 aims to play a significant role in advancing space technology by integrating satellite communications with georeferenced data — capabilities the company says will be needed for emerging markets such as autonomous vehicles.
Space42 also operates six geostationary communications satellites, including Thuraya-4, a voice and data connectivity spacecraft that SpaceX launched earlier in January.
The operator has two additional GEO satellites on order from Airbus to expand broadband services across the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.
In addition, Airbus is contracted to deliver two LEO satellites for Space42. However, the specifics of this agreement, including the satellites’ intended applications or launch timelines, remain undisclosed.
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