Partnership between the Montreal satellite start-up NorthStar Earth & Space

The Montreal satellite start-up NorthStar Earth & Space Inc. has signed a key partnership in the field of space research to help set up a network of satellites and ground stations which, hopefully, It will change the monitoring of the environment by detecting events such as chemical changes in farmland soils and undetected pipeline leaks.

NorthStar will announce a partnership on Thursday with the Space Alliance of Europe, which represents major Italian and French aerospace industry groups, to strengthen its expertise in satellite manufacturing and development of ground stations for data reception. The Montreal startup announced $ 52 million in funding in August, including from the Government of Quebec, and said this week that the Space Alliance and the federal government's Strategic Innovation Fund have also contributed to this event. of funds.

The company plans to launch a "constellation" of 40 satellites around the Earth in the next 30 to 36 months, each equipped with a series of sensors – hyperspectral, infrared and optical – that would perform a chemical analysis of the surface of the Earth. Earth at night and in the evening. day. "All of these elements combine to deliver higher levels of information at a time when demand is increasingly demanding the size, accuracy, richness, and timeliness of data," said Stewart Bain, President and CEO. CEO of NorthStar, during a telephone interview.

It describes NorthStar's mission as a "continuous environmental management", providing a platform, open to application developers, to use predictive analytics to relay the consequences of data to customers. Potential end-users, according to the company, could include farmers, who would like to know about field contaminants to be taken before crop deaths, oil and gas companies that can detect small and damaging leaks in pipelines and fix them before they become catastrophic, and forest groups can be warned of extreme dry conditions Satellites would also examine the planet's orbit for asteroids and potentially dangerous space debris.

The company would collect data at three "earth stations" in Canada's North; Bain said NorthStar had spotted six locations in the north of the country, some of which already have existing stations.

"Northstar is a great example of how Canada's space sector uses game-changing technologies," said Danielle Keenan, spokesperson for Navdeep Bains, Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. . The ministry oversees the Ottawa Strategic Innovation Fund, which is funding $ 13 million for the company – part of the $ 52 million originally announced in August, but which does not include $ 12 million in funding. have not been revealed until this week. "This project will result in more research and development and more advanced technology training for Canadian workers and Canadian businesses. students, "Ms. Keenan wrote in an email.

Telesystem Space Inc., which is owned jointly by Telesystem Ltd., the multimedia and technology holding company chaired by veteran entrepreneur Charles Sirois and a subsidiary of Rogers Telecommunications Ltd., is NorthStar's largest shareholder. Arizona Aerospace Corporation KinetX Inc. is a founding shareholder.