NorthStar lands C$2M grant to build modular space sensors
What's the deal? NorthStar Earth & Space, a Montreal-based space surveillance company with European headquarters in Luxembourg, has secured a grant of up to C$2 million (about $1.24 million) from the National Research Council of Canada's Industrial Research Assistance Programme (NRC IRAPDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →). The package also includes consultancy services.
What's the endgame? NorthStar will use the funding to develop a new generation of space-based sensors built on advanced aperture technologies. Their modular architecture is designed to slot into various platforms, including existing or future telecommunications constellations.
Why now? The company aims to cut the cost and time needed to deploy new observation capabilities, using standardised interfaces and off-the-shelf hardware. The sensors will feed its space situational awareness services, which detect, track, and characterise objects and threats in orbit.
NorthStar will work with LuqiaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the Canadian lab formed from the merger of INODealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and CRIMDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, as a subcontractor. That collaboration focuses on payload design, systems integration, and space-based observation technologies.
What's the context? This is a Canadian-funded project, four years after the Luxembourg government backed NorthStar's arrival in the Grand Duchy. In December 2021, the Luxembourg Future FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → co-invested €10 million alongside TelesystemDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to establish its European base.
NorthStar says it now runs a constellation of space-based sensors that automatically catalogue objects in Earth orbit. Its Si² platform fuses multiple observation sources into an up-to-date picture of the space environment. Clients and partners include the Canadian Armed Forces, the US Space Force, Darpa, the Luxembourg Space Agency, and the European Space Agency.
The signal: Rising demand for "turnkey, permanent and resilient space domain awareness services" is drawing public money into orbital tracking, as CEO and founder Stewart Bain framed it. With this grant sitting in the 32nd percentile by size, it points less to a big-ticket bet than to steady, government-backed support for protecting critical space assets.
Read more: en.paperjam.lu
Image credit: NorthStar Earth & Space
