New Delhi 23 Aug, 2025 – As India commemorates its second National Space Day, marking two years since Chandrayaan-3’s historic landing near the lunar south pole, the nation is rightly proud of its exploration milestones. Yet, behind the high-profile lunar missions, and human spaceflight ambitions, another revolution is quietly reshaping India’s security landscape: the rise of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology.
For defence planners and security strategists, SAR offers capabilities unmatched by traditional optical imaging. By harnessing radar pulses instead of sunlight, SAR delivers uninterrupted, high-fidelity imagery regardless of cloud cover, darkness, or adverse weather. In a country like India, where the monsoon season, persistent cloud cover, and evolving security threats demand constant vigilance – SAR is not just an asset; it is a necessity.
The Indian Ocean remains both a lifeline for global trade and a threat of contestation. It is also a zone vulnerable to illegal fishing, smuggling, and “dark vessels” that disable their Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) to evade detection. Wide-area surveillance has long been the Achilles’ heel of maritime security, where covering vast expanses without losing the ability to track individual targets is a constant challenge.
This is where last week’s announcement from ICEYE; the world’s largest operator of SAR satellites marks a watershed. The company’s new Scan Wide mode enables imaging of 60,000 square kilometers in a single pass, with multi-frame acquisitions doubling that footprint to 120,000 square kilometers nearly the size of Tamil Nadu in one sweep. With a resolution of 27 meters over a 200 x 300 km footprint, this capability is tailor-made for persistent maritime domain awareness.
Analysts can first detect suspicious activity over vast swaths of ocean and then pivot seamlessly to ultra-high-resolution imaging modes down to 25 cm, capable of identifying individual vessels or vehicles. This “zoom out, zoom in” approach is a force multiplier for naval and border forces, offering the ability to maintain wide-area situational awareness while retaining the option for tactical-level analysis.
The relevance of SAR extends well beyond defence. Oil spill detection, flood mapping, and rapid cyclone impact assessment are vital for civil agencies. As climate change accelerates extreme weather events, SAR’s all-weather monitoring ensures decision-makers have access to reliable data during the very conditions when optical satellites are least effective. For India’s disaster management authorities, this is the difference between delayed response and real-time action.
ISRO’s indigenous SAR investments, highlighted by the upcoming NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, are central to India’s long-term space strategy. NISAR will deliver valuable insights into tectonic movements, natural hazards, reinforcing India’s scientific and operational base. At the same time, collaborations with global leaders like ICEYE, and the rise of domestic NewSpace firms, open the door to operational capabilities that directly serve national security and sovereignty.
National Space Day reflets India’s success in space exploration, while signaling how critical persistent surveillance and rapid response have become for safeguarding security at home. SAR technology sits at the intersection of defence and disaster management supporting Atmanirbhar Bharat, bolstering India’s leadership in the Indi-Pacific, and ensuring resilience against natural and man-made threats alike. To stay ahead in this game, India must not only strengthen its indigenous capabilities but also collaborate with leading global companies, ensuing access to the most advanced technologies in this fast-evolving domain.
As ICEYE’s latest innovation underscores, the future belongs to nations that can combine reach with watchfulness. For India, the Chandrayan symbolizes how far the nation can go; SAR ensures nothing escapes its sight. Together, they define the next era of India’s space-enabled security and defence story!
