Project Sapphire is the first dedicated space mission for Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND). COM DEV International Ltd. [TSX: CDV] has been awarded a $12.3 million contract by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) to deliver the payload, which will be carried out at the company’s facilities in Cambridge, Ontario, and is expected to be complete in approximately two years. Having previously received an Authorization to Proceed on this program, COM DEV has included approximately $1.2 million of the contract value among the new orders reported in prior periods.
The mission is to continuously monitor the location of man-made objects and space debris in medium to high earth orbits of 6,000 to 40,000 kilometers. COM DEV will develop the satellite’s optical payload consisting of a telescope for the imaging of distant objects, and a radiation resistant electronics sub-system that digitizes the images, performs computations and transmits the compressed data to a DND ground station. Through very low noise electronics and a compact, efficient telescope, the Sapphire payload will amazingly be able to view and image objects that are far fainter than the dimmest object detectable by the human eye.
