GHGSat receives $14 million investment from Quebec

Stephane Germain (left), CEO of GHGSat and Pierre Fitzgibbon (right), Minister of Economy, Government of Quebec, at the announcement of $14 M grant to GHGSat. Credit: Government of Quebec.

The launch of GHGSat’s next satellite, Iris, may have been delayed a couple of days, but that didn’t delay the announcement of an investment from the Government of Quebec.

At a news conference in Montreal yesterday morning, Quebec Minister of Economy and Innovation Pierre Fitzgibbon announced that the Government of Quebec was providing a $14 million equity investment.

In making the announcement, Minister Fitzgibbon said it was “to strengthen Québec’s position among the major aerospace companies around the world and to preserve its business environment favorable to investment” and that “we must support the realization of new promising projects like that of GHGSat.”

With the announcement GHGSat will move forward with building two new satellites in its bid to build a constellation of 10 satellites to track global greenhouse gas emissions.

GHGSat is also planning on deploying three airborne sensors on planes and this funding will allow them to proceed with one additional sensor.

The company has already built an analytics platform for the data it is currently getting from its Claire satellite and open data sources. That platform will now be expanded.

A news release by the Quebec government states the investment “will create 173 well-paying jobs” in two phases with 52 new jobs at the completion of the first phase.

GHGSat pre-launch chat with guests

After the morning news conference, and in the early afternoon, GHGSat hosted a live “fireside” chat with CEO Stephane Germain and guests.

Guests included Eric Laliberté, Director, Space Utilization, Canadian Space Agency, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and Dr. Alice Bunn, International Director, UK Space Agency. A replay is available below.

Launch day

The launch of GHGSat’s Iris satellite was scheduled for yesterday. However, weather at the launch centre in Kourou, French Guiana has delayed the launch until at least Sunday. You can watch the live commentary Saturday evening on SpaceQ.

Editor’s note 1:30 pm EDT: The original story said the investment was a grant, we have been notified that it is in fact an equity investment with details to follow in the coming weeks.

About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and CEO and co-founder of SpaceRef Interactive LLC. Boucher has 20+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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