Iceye has appointed Yasuhiro “Pete” Tsukahara as its new CEO of Iceye Japan. With the establishment of Iceye Japan and the appointment of Tsukahara, Iceye is targeting a more prominent role in Japan’s lucrative space industry. The company announced the appointment, Sept. 5.

Iceye Japan aims to play a pivotal role in advancing Japan’s vision of becoming a major space nation. Tsukahara previously worked at the Japan Space Imaging Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation. He has worked in the space sector for almost 30 years.

“Earth observation satellites are entering a new era. By building large constellations, our satellites will provide entirely new functions previously unavailable. I believe Iceye Japan can become the leading space company to contribute to the national security of Japan and lead internationally to develop regional security throughout Asia,” Tsukahara, said in a statement.

It has been a busy week for the company. Earlier this week, it revealed details of an interesting new AI initiative. Iceye, alongside SATIM, a provider of solutions for SAR data analytics, announced the launch of Detect & Classify – an AI-powered product that accelerates the transformation of satellite imagery into actionable intelligence.

The Detect & Classify product bundles Iceye imagery with SATIM’s AI-based imagery derivatives, delivering both the SAR image and detections and classifications of objects in the image in a single, high-confidence package. This product aims to deliver a new level of rapid situational awareness across maritime, air, and land domains, providing powerful support to SAR analysts and their missions within the armed forces and intelligence agencies.