{"title":"iQPS vs Umbra: Earth observation compared","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/compare/iqps-vs-umbra","comparison":"iQPS ranks 47 on the Space 100 with a score of 75; Umbra ranks 63 with 70. iQPS is ahead on deployment, firepower and leverage. Umbra is ahead on commercials and technology. Level on production, progress and positioning. iQPS is based in Fukuoka, Japan, Umbra in Santa Barbara, United States. iQPS: Public. iQPS is named in 32 signals and Umbra in 23.","companies":[{"name":"iQPS","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/companies/iqps","city":"Fukuoka","country":"Japan","stage":"Public","founded":null,"last_round":null,"positioning":"iQPS is a Japanese SAR operator (TSE-listed) running the QPS-SAR constellation (8+ satellites under JSAT operations contracts, QPS-SAR-15 first-light images in January 2026), which raised a JPY 15.2B PIPE in March 2026 (SKY Perfect JSAT, Mitsui Sumitomo taking 18.23%) for mass production and launches. It is a member of the winning Japanese MoD Satellite Constellation Project consortium (December 2025), the sovereign-SAR national team, carrying the same MoD-dependency flag as Synspective. Revenue is estimated at 10-100m class.","assessed_in":{"domain":"Space","list":"Space 100","rank":47,"score":75,"tier":"member","scores":{"gate_ne":["firepower"],"leverage":8,"position":8,"progress":9,"firepower":8,"commercial":4,"deployment":9,"production":6,"technology":6},"why":"iQPS operates the QPS-SAR constellation of small radar satellites, providing day-and-night Earth observation imagery with little sensitivity to cloud cover.","segment":"Earth observation","layer":"Satellites & spacecraft"},"signals_total":32,"facts_total":39},{"name":"Umbra","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/companies/umbra","city":"Santa Barbara","country":"United States","stage":null,"founded":null,"last_round":null,"positioning":"Umbra is a US SAR operator with 12+ satellites launched (Umbra-12 in January 2026) at 16cm resolution, the highest commercially available, built at low single-digit-millions cost (the cheapest per performance in the field), plus a satellite-sales line building SAR sats for customers. It holds an NRO triple-anchor: an operational Radar Commercial Augmentation contract (August 2026, one of only three survivors of the five-company CRC evaluation), SCE Stage III, and an RF-products award. Revenue is estimated at 10-100m from NRO and commercial streams.","assessed_in":{"domain":"Space","list":"Space 100","rank":63,"score":70,"tier":"member","scores":{"gate_ne":["firepower"],"leverage":6,"position":8,"progress":9,"firepower":6,"commercial":6,"deployment":6,"production":6,"technology":8},"why":"Umbra builds and operates radar-imaging satellites and sells high-resolution commercial SAR imagery for Earth observation customers.","segment":"Earth observation","layer":"Satellites & spacecraft"},"signals_total":23,"facts_total":28}],"note":"Assessment by Frontier Tech Intelligence; facts and signals carry their sources."}