The Canadian government's contracting arm is backing a proposed new satellite system that will use big data analytics to provide commercially available data about the Earth and its orbit amid growing concerns about the risks posed by space debris.
Support from the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) will allow Canadian start-up NorthStar Earth and Space to negotiate initial service agreements with the United States, Britain and other countries, NorthStar CEO Stewart Bain said. The deal with CCC will be signed on Monday at the Paris Airshow.
Bain cited strong international interest in the project given increasing levels of activity in space, and mounting concerns about the dangers posed to satellites by some 600,000 estimated pieces of debris floating in the Earth's orbit.