Receives $52M in federal, provincial funding
MONTREAL – The governments of Canada and Quebec are throwing their support behind the development of NorthStar, a new global environment information platform that aims to help humanity track our impact on Earth and its natural resources.
The NorthStar platform is being developed by Montreal-based satellite technology start-up NorthStar Earth & Space, which has now received C$52 million in additional financing from strategic partners.
Based on a 40-satellite constellation with sophisticated sensors and information delivery capability, NorthStar will enable new advances in continuous environmental management including pollution detection, charting the health of the world's oceans and rivers, enhancing the productivity of agriculture, wildfire alerts, and pipeline oil and gas monitoring to prevent spills and contamination, reads Thursday’s news release.
Around and above the planet, NorthStar's sensors will track orbital debris to reduce the probability of collisions and protect high-value assets in space, information deemed critical for an expanding satellite industry owned and operated by both the private and public sectors.
"Our goal is to empower humanity to preserve our planet," said NorthStar E&S CEO Stewart Bain, in the release. "Information provided by NorthStar will enable citizens, industry and governments to measure and manage our impact on the natural resources of Earth, creating a more sustainable world for now and for future generations. As a Canadian enterprise along with Telesystem Space, we welcome the participation of the governments of Canada and Quebec, and the Space Alliance, all critical to the success of our mission".
Bain added that NorthStar's first data centre will be located in Montréal, and its Earth stations deployed in Canada’s northern communities.
Of the $13 million federal investment, $9.5 million comes through the Strategic Innovation Fund and $3.5 million through the Quebec Economic Development Program. The Government of Quebec, via Le Fonds du développement économique (FDE), also invested $13 million.
"NorthStar's project demonstrates how Canada's space sector is driving game-changing innovations and developing solutions for real-world problems”, added Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions. “Our government's investment will help ensure that Quebec remains at the forefront of advanced information technology, creating good jobs for the middle-class and positioning Canada’s economy to be globally competitive."
When fully operational, NorthStar E&S said that it expects to create an estimated 400 highly-skilled direct jobs and 1200 indirect jobs related to big data and information analytics, plus support the expansion of aerospace, satellite design and sensor technology industries in Canada and abroad.
Private partners include majority shareholder Telesystem Space Inc. of Montreal, a Canadian company jointly owned by Telesystem Ltd and an affiliate of Rogers Telecommunications Limited (RTL), and the Space Alliance of Europe. Formed by Telespazio and Thales Alenia Space, the Space Alliance is a strategic partnership between Leonardo and Thales, the major industrial groups in the aerospace industry of Italy and France.
In photo, l to r: Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy and Innovation (Quebec); Stewart Bain, NorthStar CEO; and Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development
