NorthStar Earth & Space (NorthStar), the a space-based situational awareness startup, has signed satellite operator SES as its first major commercial client.
Under the deal, “NorthStar will provide services to ensure the safety of the SES satellite fleet by monitoring and tracking resident space objects (RSO) that could be potential collision threats,” said Fawaz Islam, NorthStar’s Executive Director of Sales and Global Business Development.
At present, SES obtains this collision avoidance data from ground-based sensors, which are not as precise as space-based sensors. Since the company’s financial fortunes are tied to its satellites providing connectivity to its clients, anything that improves SES’ Space Situational Awareness (SSA) is good for its business.
“SES has an existing fleet of operational satellites in different orbital regimes, and are planning to launch more in the coming year,” Islam explained. “Only space-based monitoring systems can provide enhanced space situational and traffic management services for all orbital regimes. NorthStar’s system is space-based: It can not only monitor SES satellites in different orbital regimes but also simultaneously monitor all known and unknown objects in space due to its unique concept of operations.”
The announcement of the NorthStar/SES deal follows on last year’s commitment between the two companies “to collaborate and contribute to the realization of a more sustainable space environment,” said a June 26, 2023 SES news release. “At SES, we recognize the fundamental importance of space sustainability, and we consider it a core pillar of our ESG [Environmental, Social and Governance] strategy,” said Ruy Pinto, SES’ CEO Designate, in that release. “In this regard, Space Situational Awareness is fundamental to managing the increasingly crowded and dynamic space environment. By partnering with NorthStar, we aim to combine our extensive experience in space operations and space safety, with their state-of-the-art products to deliver a more comprehensive and reliable SSA.”
Although NorthStar has yet to launch its own SSA satellites, the company “is already monitoring space from space-based sensors with our Japanese partner AxelSpace,” Islam told SpaceQ, “and we are actively working to kick off our service in the coming days. Furthermore, we are launching our own first constellation in fall this year, which will significantly enhance our SSA service capabilities.”
This initial NorthStar constellation will consist of four satellites built by Spire Global, and is to be launched by RocketLab this fall. “Our agreement with Spire is to build and launch up to 30 satellites,” said Islam. “We are planning to launch next batches of satellites as early as next year. Our team is already working on improved capabilities on next satellites such as inter-satellite links, on-board processing, and tasking capabilities.”
Having an anchor client such as SES is certainly a boost to NorthStar’s business reputation as well as the credibility of its space-based monitoring services. “Our agreement represents a significant milestone in the advancement of commercial SSA services,” said NorthStar CEO Stewart Bain in the SES news release. “By combining NorthStar’s innovative SSA services with SES’s extensive satellite fleet operations experience, the partnership will deliver unparalleled insights and solutions to transform the way we operate safely in space.”