IonQ has announced the commercial launch of interferometric synthetic aperture radar services.

The quantum technology company says the InSAR offering — enabled through its Capella satellite subsidiary — provides ground deformation monitoring with millimetre-scale precision and fully automated tasking and data delivery.

IonQ claims that its ability to consistently detect and track physical change on the Earth’s surface will be at a frequency and scale not previously available from a commercial SAR provider.

The company says the service is suited to sectors such as infrastructure and environmental monitoring, energy, insurance, urban development and national security.

3D deformation analysis

The announcement of the automated InSAR service comes 10 months after IonQ acquired Capella Space Corporation, a US space tech company that offers SAR and other satellite solutions for government and commercial applications.

Capella currently operates eight Acadia SAR satellites in a mix of mid-inclination and sun-synchronous orbits.

IonQ says the satellite fleet provides consistent, repeatable acquisition geometry, enabling more accurate detection of the surface movement over time and improved separation of vertical and horizontal motion for 3D deformation analysis.

The company cites the example of a 2025 study of Mexico City, which demonstrated measured deformation rates exceeding 70 centimetres per year using 18 acquisitions over a seven-week period.