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Ukrainians bought a satellite on crowdfunded money to provide Ukrainian army with high-quality earth observation data for better planning of military operations

August 18, 2022

Ukrainians bought a satellite on crowdfunded money to provide Ukrainian army with high-quality earth observation data for better planning of military operations

The Serhiy Prytula Foundation, a Ukrainian charitable fundraising for Ukraine’s military and humanitarian needs, has raised 600 million hryvnias (approximately $17 million) to purchase the access to a database of satellite images for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

“Ukrainians, you rock. We bought a satellite…From now on, our army will be able to access high-quality satellite images as quickly as possible, which will help us plan timely operations. There will be a lot of noise,” Serhiy Prytula said in his video address.
ICEYE, the global leader in persistent monitoring with radar satellite imaging, also confirmed the information and said it had signed a contract with the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation which will provide the Government of Ukraine with ICEYE’s Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite imaging capabilities.

As part of the agreement, ICEYE will transfer full capabilities of one of its SAR satellites already in orbit for the Government of Ukraine’s use over the region. The SAR satellite will be operated by ICEYE. In addition, ICEYE will provide access to its constellation of SAR satellites, allowing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to receive radar satellite imagery on critical locations with a high revisit frequency.

“ICEYE owns the most developed radar satellite imaging technology in the world as of today,” says Serhiy Prytula, founder of the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation. “This agreement is a significant step in responding to the Government of Ukraine’s urgent request for critical earth observation data and it will greatly benefit our Armed Forces.”

The money were raised during the People’s Bayraktar project. Ukrainians raised money to buy three Bayraktar drones for the Ukrainian army. Later the Baykar company decided to donate three Bayraktar TB-2 UAVs for free. This allowed Ukrainians to use the saved 600 million UAH to purchase the satellite.

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