NorthStar Earth & Space announced Monday it has promoted Peter Klimas, its engineering chief, to chief technology officer, effective Sept. 24. The Montreal company catalogs objects in orbit and dubs itself as a space intelligence and data analytics company for defence and civil customers including Canada’s 3 Canadian Space Division, the U.S. Space Force and the European Space Agency.
Klimas moves up from Executive Director of Engineering, a post he reached after working through Technical Director and Senior Director of Systems Engineering roles at NorthStar. As CTO he’ll oversee how the company’s satellite sensors, ground systems, data processing and orbital planning fit together, with a mandate to improve coverage, shorten revisit times and close observation gaps across its tracking network. Before joining NorthStar, he held senior engineering roles in aerospace and optical communications, including work on the James Webb Space Telescope.
“As CTO, my priority will be to help our teams translate their expertise into a clear and coordinated technology roadmap,” Klimas said in the release. “Together, we will make our system architecture more adaptable, scalable, and resilient while focusing our innovation on the capabilities that improve mission value for our customers.”
Recently, NorthStar turned to Kepler Communications for its next hosting payloads, agreeing to fly sensors on Kepler’s satellites rather than build dedicated spacecraft of its own. Neither company has said what the deal is worth or when the first Kepler-hosted sensor will launch.