The satellite, which was purchased by Serhiy Prytulaʼs charitable foundation, is already showing the first results: in two days, Russia lost armored vehicles for an amount greater than the cost of the entire satellite project.
Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov stated this on September 29.
Thus, during the first two days of the satelliteʼs operation, more than 60 units of military equipment were discovered, which the Russian army tried to disguise, in particular in forest areas. It was discovered because the ICEYE satellites collect information using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology. Reznikov noted that this technique would be very difficult or impossible to detect by means of optical satellites.
"Instead, the coordinates of the "hidden" were quickly transmitted for inflicting a fire damage. In particular, in the area of Khreshchenivka and Ukrainka villages in Kherson region, as well as near Novoselivka in Donetsk region. In fact, in just these two days, the enemy lost armored vehicles worth more than the cost of the entire project with satellites," Reznikov noted.
- On June 24, volunteer Serhiy Prytula reported that in three days, Ukrainians collected 600 million hryvnias through donations to purchase four Bayraktar drones. After that, the Baykar company announced that it would give three Bayraktar TB2s to the Armed Forces of Ukraine free of charge.
- On June 18, Serhiy Prytula reported that the money collected for Bayraktar TB2, which Ukraine ultimately received for free, was spent on the satellite. The ICEYE company will provide the government of Ukraine with all the capabilities of one of its search and rescue satellites, which are already in orbit. The SAR satellite will be operated by ICEYE. In addition, ICEYE will provide access to its group of SAR satellites, which will allow the Armed Forces of Ukraine to receive radar satellite images of critical locations with a high frequency of overflights.
- The company EOS Data Analytics, which was involved in the purchase of the satellite, reported that it will remain in the ownership of Ukraine until the end of its work in orbit.