UrtheCast Corp. (TSX:UR) (“UrtheCast” or the “Company”) today announces that will be awarded a technological Contribution Agreement (“CA”) of $2.0 million from the Space Technologies Development Program (“STDP”), implemented by the Canadian Space Agency (“CSA”).
This Contribution Agreement will aid UrtheCast in the development of its upcoming, unprecedented OptiSAR™ Constellation, currently slated for deployment in 2020-2021. The 16-satellite OptiSAR™ Constellation is expected to consist of eight X and L-band SAR satellites and eight high-resolution optical satellites, flying in a paired, tandem configuration. By capturing SAR and optical data in unison, each satellite pair is expected to help UrtheCast deliver Earth imagery regardless of weather conditions and with extremely high revisit rates — allowing for cloud-free imaging and improved identification of ground targets.
UrtheCast has been awarded this CA based on its experienced team of SAR and space-mission experts, its technology partner Nanowave, its successful technological track record, and the anticipated impact of OptiSAR™ technology upon the Earth Observation industry. Because this unprecedented technology continues to demonstrate increasing market interest, it is expected to greatly enhance Canada’s industry competitiveness, internationally.
“The award will help us maximize the utility and commercial advantage of what will be an extraordinary Constellation and we’re extremely proud that the CSA appreciates this revolutionary, industry-changing direction. We’re right now on the verge of harnessing what we expect will become one of our industry’s most powerful Earth-imaging systems,” explains UrtheCast President and Chief Executive Officer, Wade Larson.
The EO market has shown strong interest in the development of applications using dual-band data, and as such, the $2.0 million allotment is expected to assist UrtheCast in fulfilling this need in the marketplace. The development of this Earth-sensing system is expected to greatly augment UrtheCast’s competitive advantage, allowing it to serve a wider segment of the existing EO market, while creating new opportunities for our current and future data clients.
ABOUT URTHECAST CORP.
UrtheCast Corp. is a Vancouver-based technology company that serves the rapidly evolving geospatial and geoanalytics markets with a wide range of information-rich products and services. The Company currently operates four Earth Observation sensors in space, including two cameras aboard the International Space Station and two satellites, Deimos-1 and Deimos-2. Imagery and video data captured by these sensors is downlinked to ground stations across the planet and displayed on UrtheCast’s cloud-based web platform, or distributed directly to partners and customers. UrtheCast is also developing and anticipates launching the world’s first fully-integrated constellation of multispectral optical and SAR satellites, called OptiSAR™, which the Company believes will revolutionize monitoring of our planet with high-quality, high-resolution, and high-revisit imagery in all weather conditions, any time of day. Common shares of UrtheCast trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ticker ‘UR’.
For more information, visit UrtheCast’s website at www.urthecast.com.
