MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. [TSX: MDA] has won an approximately $65 million contract from Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND) to deliver an information solution called SAPPHIRE for the surveillance of space objects. SAPPHIRE is DND’s first dedicated space mission and will support Canada’s NORAD commitments with the delivery of critical information. SAPPHIRE will feature a space-based data collection platform for continuous surveillance of man made and natural objects in medium to high Earth orbits (6,000 to 40,000 km). The data collected will be processed by a ground-based system and the results will be used to update the U.S. Satellite Catalog that is used by both NORAD and Canada to provide space situational awareness.
MDA will lead a team comprised of COMDEV of Cambridge, Ontario, and SSTL of Surrey, England. The four-year contract has the potential for a future extension for mission support, operations, and maintenance and follows a design phase previously awarded to MDA—Richmond, British Columbia
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