NorthStar Earth & Space

NorthStar Earth & Space provides satellite-based data and monitoring services with a focus on Space Situational Awareness (SSA). The company's primary mission is to monitor near-Earth orbits from space to address the challenges of space traffic management, collision avoidance, and orbital sustainability. NorthStar delivers secure subscription and pay-per-use services to commercial and government clients, satellite operators, insurers, and regulators. Founded in 2015 by Stewart Bain, along with co-founders Telesystem and KinetX, the company is headquartered in Montreal, Canada, with additional offices in Luxembourg and the United States. Stewart Bain, who also serves as CEO, has an extensive background in aerospace engineering and business development, having contributed to projects like the RadarSat 1 and 2 antennas and led the creation of an optical systems center of excellence at CAL Corporation (now Honeywell). His experience in commercializing aerospace technologies underpins NorthStar's strategy. NorthStar's core offering is its Space Information & Intelligence (Si²) services, delivered via its Skylark satellite constellation. This system is the first commercial service to monitor space from space, providing a significant advantage over ground-based systems by offering more frequent, precise, and comprehensive coverage of resident space objects (RSOs). The initial deployment consisted of four satellites launched in January 2024, with plans to expand the constellation to 12 satellites by 2026 and eventually 24. The Skylark constellation can track objects as small as 5 cm in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Services include Navigation Assistance (collision avoidance, launch support), Change Detection (high-precision conjunction warnings), and Information Data Services (space object cataloging and tracking). The company has raised a total of $134 million over six funding rounds, with its latest Series D round in July 2024. Key investors include Telesystem Space, the Governments of Canada and Quebec, Cartesian Capital Group, and the Space Alliance (a partnership between Thales and Leonardo). NorthStar has established strategic partnerships with companies like Spire Global for satellite manufacturing, Exolaunch for mission management, and Telespazio for distribution in Europe. In April 2026, NorthStar announced plans to go public through a merger with Viking Acquisition Corp. at a pre-money valuation of $300 million. Keywords: Space Situational Awareness, SSA, Space Domain Awareness, SDA, orbital debris, space traffic management, satellite tracking, collision avoidance, resident space objects, space sustainability, LEO, MEO, GEO, earth observation, Skylark constellation, space intelligence, aerospace, geospatial intelligence, remote sensing, satellite operations, New Space economy, debris monitoring, space safety, conjunction analysis, launch support