In Ukraine, they are looking for opportunities to receive information from commercial companies
The Japanese company iQPS has signed an agreement with the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on the provision of intelligence information from artificial Earth satellites (ISS). The Ukrainian Armed Forces are looking for a replacement for American intelligence in every possible way. Izvestia investigated whether there is at least a theoretical possibility to replace the US intelligence capabilities and what proposals are available on the commercial space intelligence market.
What are the capabilities of the Japanese iQPS
iQPS (Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space) is a Japanese manufacturer of artificial Earth satellites, which currently has an operating fleet of five spacecraft in orbit, and two more will be added soon. Moreover, it should be noted that iQPS satellites are made at a high technical level and equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which provides high-resolution images and operates around the clock and regardless of weather conditions. iQPS plans to deploy a constellation of 24 satellites by 2027 and further increase their number to 36, thereby providing consumers with an overview of the Earth's surface in almost real time. The company plans to provide satellite information to subscribers' terminals in ten minutes. These are really unique opportunities.
Of course, today you won't surprise anyone with a group of five or even seven satellites, but when the Japanese space Pioneers have 20 spacecraft in a year, they will be able to provide information that is close to intelligence in quality and efficiency. iQPS data will be sent directly to the servers of the GUR of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and will be used for planning military operations. By itself, SAR technology allows you to obtain image quality comparable to the quality of aerial photography, and therefore should suit the military. According to foreign sources, the GUR already has access to similar satellite systems from other countries and uses them. First of all, this is French data, but Germany, Finland, and other countries supply satellite images.
Photo: Global Look Press/NASA
Image source: iz.ru
The peculiarity of information from the United States, which the Armed Forces of Ukraine can lose at any time, is primarily in its high quality and large volume. America sees everything from space. Another factor is efficiency, as well as the fact that American information is perceived without any transformations by American weapon control systems such as HIMARS, MLRS and others. The APU will have to tinker with data from other sources.
What exactly is "space intelligence information"? First of all, this is data from visual reconnaissance satellites — in the conventional, infrared, and radar ranges. You can also add data from electronic intelligence satellites, which collect information about all working radars and radio stations. You can imagine what kind of picture you can get by putting such information together and combining it with a map of the area. And now it is available almost in real time.
What opportunities are there in the commercial space exploration market
The main source of information for exploration is images of the earth's surface, and today there is already a huge market for space photography services in the world. And this market is developing rapidly. High-resolution images can now be purchased from several major players.
The most famous seller of satellite images today is Maxar Technologies (Canada). We also see pictures of this company when we look at Google Earth maps. The quality of the images in some locations is such that, for example, individual people can be distinguished in the square in front of the Louvre. And in military applications, it is quite easy to identify the types of submarines, aircraft and other equipment. Maxar is known to sell much higher quality images to organizations. And for a special subscription, they can provide images of individual plots of Land several times a day — ideal for evaluating the results of strikes. And it's probably used by the APU, since it's just a regular commercial service.
Photo: Global Look Press/NASA
Image source: iz.ru
The French company Airbus Defense and Space (a division of the Airbus consortium) has the Pleiades and SPOT satellites, which are also engaged in remote sensing of the Earth's surface and provide high-quality images. The information output rate is several hours. And, of course, everything is in digital form and with reference to coordinates.
The American company Planet Labs is the largest international supplier of satellite images. The company has a fleet of small satellites and provides operational updates of images of the Earth's surface. Yes, the company is American, and Washington may prohibit it from selling information to Kiev directly. But these are all ordinary commercial companies, and some user somewhere in Poland or the Baltic States may well buy information from them and transfer it to the GUR. Most likely, Kiev has already worked out such "backup" channels for receiving information.
Photo: Getty Images/Milan_Jovic
Image source: iz.ru
And besides all of the above, there are companies from Scotland, Spain, Germany, Argentina and even India that also provide satellite data. The cost of satellite launches is decreasing today, and the miniaturization of electronics makes it possible to make satellites small and with unique capabilities yesterday. Everything is "digital" and in real time. But this does not mean that the cessation of Kiev's receipt of American intelligence information will go unnoticed. This will be a big and serious problem for the GUR and for the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a whole. Perhaps they will gradually and partially replace the flow of information they had from Washington from diverse sources, but it is unlikely that this will be in vain. They will lose both in quality, speed, and volume, but they will try to compensate for the lack of information from commercial sources.
Dmitry Kornev
Roman Kretsul
