Alberta-based Eagle Flight Network (EFN) and Newfoundland-based C-CORE have announced that they will be working together to build a new ground station in Canada. They have “entered into a MOU (memorandum of understanding) to advance both company’s interests in the satellite ground station services business,” and will “work together to build a robust industry-led satellite ground segment in Canada.”
Paul Adlakha, C-CORE Business Development, and EFN’s CEO Scott Brass corresponded by email with SpaceQ about the deal.
Specifically, they will initially be working together to build a new ground station to provide coverage of the Canadian North. C-CORE already has two ground stations: one in Inuvik, Northwest Territories (NWT), and one in Labrador (Happy Valley-Goose Bay), both focused on remote sensing and Earth observation (EO) satellites. They’re looking to add a third to provide increased coverage and redundancy. The new station will be owned by EFN and “integrate seamlessly with C-CORE’s current stations,” Brass said, “thereby expanding the combined network’s capacity to meet the demands of new clients.”
The stations’ high latitude allows them to support satellites that are out of coverage range from other ground stations, particularly those in smallsat constellations. This is particularly useful for remote sensing and EO satellites, which often operate in polar or inclined orbits, and are therefore regularly over northern Canada. Their stations can send command transmissions, receive telemetry and tracking information, and download EO data, where C-CORE can use high-speed optical links to pass the data along to third parties or to their Coresight analytical platform.
EFN, in turn, is an Indigenous-owned and operated business that’s focused on developing “Ground Stations as a Service” through a planned network of Indigenous-owned and operated ground stations. The network will (Brass told SpaceQ) forward “EFN’s vision of using Earth observation remote sensing infrastructure for the business case for economic development using communications in First Nation communities.” Brass envisions having their services manage everything from licensing, to network operations, to data management, to compliance, turning EFN into a “comprehensive service provider” for satellite operators using their ground station services.
The location is still being discussed, but will presumably be on Indigenous territory in Western Canada, as Brass said that he is originally from The Key First Nation in Saskatchewan (Treaty 4, Saulteaux), and currently resides in Calgary, Alberta (Treaty 7 Territory), so a western location is likely. That said, as C-CORE’s Labrador-based station is currently the only ground station serving the high north eastern part of North America, it may be that C-CORE is looking to develop redundancy there, or it may be somewhere else entirely.
Either way, Adlakha sees it as a “win-win situation,” he explained to SpaceQ. In the announcement, he said that “this initiative allows us to provide our clients with more options for their growing ground station services needs while allowing both companies to pursue new markets.” In his comments to SpaceQ, he elaborated, saying that creating the larger network “allows us to provide more capacity to our clients and for our marketing efforts.” He noted that redundancy is a key advantage: as “wildfires or other events can impact the ability of a ground station to deliver operational services,” having a partner station “that can seamlessly take over any satellite passes needed provides fantastic back-up for C-CORE.” He said that they are “working with EFN on refining the business case,” as well as the operational model and site location.
The process is still in early stages, and no firm timeline has been made available. Adlakha said that he’s optimistic that they’ll be able to move comparatively quickly, however, as they have already “been through the business case process, the challenges associated with installation and operation of remote ground stations, the licensing processes, and the marketing approach.”
Adlakha said that this will establish “a seamless Canadian industry led ground segment in Canada, and both EFN and C-CORE can leverage it to support the overall business.”
For Brass, all this is just the beginning. In the announcement, he said that this MOU “gets us off the bench and into the game.” In his comments to SpaceQ, he elaborated, saying that he sees this as the first step in a process that will “establish Canada’s exclusive Indigenous satellite ground station network,” and also “opens the door to broader cooperation and potential synergies between the two organizations.”
Brass noted that the MOU “outlines the intention to develop a network that encompasses both remote sensing and communication ground stations,” including “LEO communication ground stations in addition to the remote sensing ones,” meaning that the stations will not just provide employment and revenue for Indigenous communities, but could also provide high-speed, low-latency, low-cost networking for those communities, granting them the “equitable internet access” that has so often been a challenge.
He also sees an opportunity for EFN to “lend its expertise and resources to support C-CORE with its existing stations,” including “knowledge sharing, best practices, and operational collaboration.” He sees the agreement as the first step in “a symbiotic relationship that drives mutually beneficial outcomes and reinforces the position of both organizations in the space sector.”
For his part, Adlakha said that they have been investigating other opportunities beyond remote sensing, and are still looking for “the right business model.” He said that a key focus for C-CORE will be emissions monitoring, pointing to GHGSat data and other greenhouse gas emissions monitoring data as a key focus, in order to “support the challenges we face due to climate change impacts.” He added that they could also assist with satellite-based “maritime surveillance solutions for oil spill, iceberg, or suspicious vessel detection.”
C-CORE is also investigating opportunities for developing networks with international partners, with Adlakha saying that they continue to seek out partners in order to “investigate opportunities to make our ground stations part of a larger network internationally.”