NorthStar Earth & Space will be developing a prototype Earth Observation Monitoring System for Marine and Coastal Environments (EOMCE) in collaboration with the Canadian Coast Guard and with support from Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and Defence Research and Development Canada’s (DRDC).
EOMCE will be designed “to improve information quality and deliver critical knowledge on marine pollution, ice conditions, and coastal ecosystems directly impacted by climate change.”
The project has $2.7 million in funding of which $1.5 million is coming from the DRDC. The balance, $1.2 million, is coming from in-kind hardware and services from NorthStar and other partners according to a NorthStar media representative SpaceQ spoke with.
In October 2020 announced that it contracted with Thales Alenia Space to build the first three satellites of its initial 12 satellite constellation called SkyLark. The first three satellites were to be launched in 2022 but that’s now been pushed back to Q1 in 2023. As well, NorthStar had hoped to have the full constellation launched by 2024, they are now planning this by Q2 2025.
Stewart Bain, CEO of NorthStar Earth & Space said, “NorthStar is proud to be working with the Canadian Coast Guard and Quebec’s Institut national de la recherche scientifique to help safeguard Canada’s marine and coastal environments. This investment by a coalition of partners, including Defence Research and Development Canada, will enable resilient Canadian coastal communities with the means to respond to increasing environmental threats, and assist in strategies to adapt to climate change.”
“The initiative will see NorthStar, the Canadian Coast Guard and the INRS pool expertise to develop information services that will leverage data from multiple Earth Observation sources and be demonstrated via a prototype web-based information portal. The goal is to deliver near-real time information on the health of Canada’s marine and coastal environments, enabling active decision-making. NorthStar will continue its development of an automated processing pipeline by fusing its hyperspectral airborne data acquired over Canada with spaceborne optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data to realize unique and enhanced imaging products. NorthStar will combine Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data fused from multiple sources to deliver rich near real-time information services for marine pollution, coastal ecosystems, and ice conditions, which are all directly impacted by climate change.”
NorthStar said that EOMCE’s monitoring of coastal environments has the following benefits in support of:
- Assessment and refinement of climate change adaptation strategies.
- Risk assessment and emergency preparedness and response to coastal contamination, ice drift/jam, storm surges and flooding.
- Protection of coastal ecosystems and restoration of their environmental services.
The EOMCE initiative is set to run through Q1 2024. “The EOMCE will be fully integrated into a complete NorthStar commercial service designed to contextualize multiple forms of complex raw data sources, delivering more accessible information sets, and enabling real-time actionable decision-making to preserve our planet and our delicate ecosystems for future generations.”