In this weeks Short Cuts, Canada funds an instrument which will be key in conducting first-ever global survey of Earth’s surface water, exactEarth announces the results of its first year of operations as a public company, UrtheCast signs binding agreement with a government customer to buy two satellites in its OptiSAR constellation and more.
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exactEarth Reports Fiscal 2016 Financial Results
Today exactEarth reported its first year revenues as a public company. Revenue was $18.9 million and order bookings were $27.2 million compared to $10.0M in 2015. The launch last Saturday of the first 10 Iridium NEXT satellites included four hosted AIS payloads which will be brought online in the near future. Throughout the year Iridium will be launch more satellites until the Iridium NEXT constellation is complete in 2018. This will include the remainder of the exactEarth AIS hosted payloads. Importantly, revenue from these new sensors will have a greater impact from 2018 onwards.
2016 Operational Highlights
- Formed partnership with EV Image Inc. for distribution of exactEarth’s S-AIS solutions in China
- Renewed contract with the Government of Canada to be their provider of S-AIS services
- Awarded four-year contract with the French Navy for S-AIS services
- Entered into an alliance with Larus Technologies to develop Big Data analytics applications for the broader maritime market
- Established partnership with DigitalGlobe to combat illegal and unreported fishing
- Signed initial Small-Vessel Tracking contract with the Government of Ghana
- Expanded collaboration with Genscape for S-AIS and Maritime Data services
- Increased satellite constellation to nine with the launch of the M3MSat
Related: As SpaceX Returns to Flight There’s a Lot Riding on the Flight for Many Companies
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UrtheCast Enters into Binding Agreement Worth US$180 Million to Sell and Operate Two Satellites in the OptiSAR™ Constellation
UrtheCast has sold the first two satellites of the OptiSAR constellation of satellites it wants to build. The unnamed government will own the two satellites and operate them directly in their area of interest (AOI) while UrtheCast will operate and commercialize the satellites outside the AOI.
The OptiSAR constellation will consist of 16 satellites, eight optical and eight SAR (synthetic aperture radar) in two orbital planes. UrtheCast says “each pair will fly in tandem and consist of a high-resolution optical satellite offering video and pushbroom imaging and a dual-band, high-resolution SAR satellite comprised of X and L radar bands.”
The customer had previously entered into a memoranda of understanding (MOU) with UrtheCast and this the successful conversion of that MOU. UrtheCast had previously signed two other MOU’s with government customers.
UrtheCast is looking to get further commitments by the end of the year so that the project can move forward to the build phase with the first satellites to be launched in 2021.
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Roberta Bondar Marks 25 Years since Becoming Canada’s First Woman in Space
The morning of January 22, 1992, was chilly along the east coast of Florida.
NASA officials watched the temperatures closely — just six years earlier, cold temperatures contributed to the Challenger disaster, claiming the lives of seven astronauts and grounding the shuttle fleet for three years.
On launch pad 39A, Roberta Bondar was strapped in aboard the Shuttle Discovery, waiting to become Canada’s first woman in space.
Related: Roberta Bondar Looks Back on History-Making Space Flight
Perimeter Achieves Double-Hat-Trick at Buchalter Cosmology Prize
For the third time in the award’s three years, Perimeter researchers have won two of the three Buchalter Cosmology Prizes on offer.
In something of a cosmology double-hat-trick, Perimeter Institute researchers have won two awards in the Buchalter Cosmology Prize. It’s the third time since the prize’s launch three years ago that Perimeter has been a double finalist.
SEDS Canada Receives 21 University Team Applications for the CAN-RGX Challenge and Selects Four
SEDS Canada, the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), have selected four university applications to participate in the Canadian Reduced Gravity Experiment Design Challenge (CAN-RGX) competition. It is the inaugural year for the competition which received 21 applications from universities across the country, a sure sign that SEDS Canada’s goal of growing its membership is working.
Video: Science Advice in a Troubled World Lecture by Sir Peter Gluckman
The first lecture of the Canadian Science Policy Lecture Series featured Sir Peter Gluckman, Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, who gave a presentation titled Science Advice in a Troubled World on Monday, January 16. The Canadian Science Policy Lecture Series was created by the Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC).
Canada Commits Next Round of Funds for Mission Which Will Conduct the First-Ever Global Survey of Earth’s Surface Water
Everyone knows how critical water is in the daily lives of everyone on our planet. That’s why the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission which will conduct the first-ever global survey of Earth’s surface water is important and why Canada is contributing to the mission.
PCI Geomatics Marks Milestone in Cloud-Based Image Processing
PCI Geomatics, a world-leading developer of remote sensing and photogrammetric software and systems, announced today that it is six years since it began providing clients with cloud-based processing.
Big data is a challenge that the remote sensing industry has grappled with for several years, given the flood of imagery increasingly available. Governments and commercial agencies around the world use satellite Earth-observation missions to capture large amounts of data that provides high temporal and spatial coverage of the Earth for many applications. The imagery is also used increasingly to provide near-real-time geo-analytics.
Upcoming Events
- 14th Annual ASX Symposium, January 27, Toronto
- Queens Space Conference, “The Next Giant Leap”, February 3-5, Kingston
- SEDS Ascension 2017 – Canada’s National Space Conference For Students, March 3-5, Toronto
- NASA Space Apps Challenge – April 29-30, Kitchener-Waterloo
- Earth Observation Summit 2017, June 20-22, Montreal
- 2017 CARIC National Research Forum , August 8-9, Vancouver
- Canadian SmallSat Symposium, October 17-19, Toronto