ICEYE has launched six new SAR satellites aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-16 mission from California. The satellites will support commercial and national missions, expanding imaging capacity for defence, intelligence and monitoring applications.
Global defence revenues surged to a record $679 billion in 2024, driven by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and rising geopolitical tensions, according to new SIPRI data. The world’s 100 biggest arms makers saw sales grow 5.9 percent, with strong increases in Europe and steady dominance by U.S. firms. SpaceX entered the Top 100 for the first time, while China posted a rare decline due to procurement disruptions.
The European Space Agency (ESA) described the operation as a success, as Europe seeks to recover from a crisis in its launch sector, although an auxiliary drive in the upper stage, which was supposed to burn up on the way back to Earth, stopped shortly after ignition, with the two re-entry capsules not being released and the upper stage now remaining in space with the two capsules.
