NorthStar’s Skylark

NorthStar’s Skylark constellation services deliver precise and timely Navigation Assistance from Launch to De-Orbit Change Detection Services, Space Object Tracking, Space Object Identification, and custom services to meet the challenges of the New Space Economy. With near-synoptic coverage of all orbit regimes, NorthStar will track, monitor, and catalogue hundreds of thousands of resident space objects to deliver precise collision warnings, detect events as they occur, and provide secure agile information services to subscribers.

With unobstructed views of the near-Earth environment from space, NorthStar’s always-on system provides continuous custody of all tracked objects within the expanded NorthStar catalogue. NorthStar delivers secure subscription and pay-per-use services for private and government clients, insurers, regulators, and investors to facilitate the New Space Economy with timely, precise, and verifiable data. LEO tracking today relies entirely on ground-based RADAR and a few commercial optical sensors. Optimal Space Domain Awareness requires continuous tracking. No matter how much ground systems are scaled up, 71% of the globe remains water and unsuitable for monitoring. The only way to cover this huge gap is to go to space. From a geographic perspective, NorthStar has no gaps.

NorthStar Earth & Space was founded in 2015 by Telesystem, based in Montreal, and KinetX, a specialized engineering firm located in Arizona. It has 70 employees, including 50 in Canada. NorthStar is the first commercial service to monitor near-Earth orbits from space. NorthStar’s precise information services identify and anticipate the position of space objects to enhance spaceflight safety. With headquarters in Montreal, Canada, a European headquarters in Luxembourg, and a dedicated US operation in McLean, Virginia, NorthStar addresses the ever-growing threat of space collisions as a major contribution to empower humanity to preserve our planet.

NorthStar paved the way to the delivery of commercial space-based SSA observations of over 128 million resident space objects with a concept of operations that will provide more precise and comprehensive coverage simultaneously in all near-Earth LEO, MEO, and GEO regimes. NorthStar is the world’s first dedicated space-based SSA satellites, part of a movement towards a new era of space safety, sustainability, and security, radically changing humanity’s interaction with the fragile space environment. NorthStar’s unique services are the result of a highly challenging technical collaboration across multiple disciplines including astrophysics, orbit dynamics, systems engineering, computer science, artificial intelligence, algorithm and software development. This endeavour has drawn talent from around the world to NorthStar’s head office in Montreal and subsidiaries in McLean, Virginia and their European HQ in Luxembourg.

NorthStar Earth & Space Inc. (“NorthStar”), a first-in-class leader in the delivery of commercial space-based SSA (Space Situational Awareness) services to enhance space sustainability and security, announced the successful launch of NorthStar-1, the first four of its SSA satellites from the Rocket Lab Launch Complex in Mahia, New Zealand on January 31st, 2024, at 19:34 NZDT / 06:34 UTC with an imposed shortened launch window to avoid other space objects during the early launch phase. Aboard Rocket Lab’s second ‘return to flight’ launch and first launch of 2024.

“I am intensely proud of our NorthStar team on this landmark occasion,” said Stewart Bain, CEO and Founder of NorthStar. “This mission is the first of its kind and is the physical manifestation of a decade long dream to deliver hope to future generations of space enthusiasts and to all of us who every day depend on a sustainable and clean space environment for the wellbeing of our planet. Special thanks are owed to the NorthStar team, our stakeholders, and partners at Rocket Lab, Spire, and ExoLaunch for achieving this smooth ride into orbit. Shortening the launch window to avoid other space objects heightens the importance of our mission. Now, the work begins at NorthStar to deliver the services to our eagerly awaiting clients. Our industry can start now to change the way we manage our essential space environment.”

Rocket Lab USA, a global leader in launch services and space systems, announced February 08, 2024 it had set the launch window for its first mission of 2024. The ‘Four of a Kind’ mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than January 18 between 19:15-20:00 NZT (January 18 between 06:15-07:00 UTC) from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. The mission would deploy four Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites for Spire Global, Inc’s (Spire) customer NorthStar Earth & Space (NorthStar). NorthStar´s satellites, built and operated by Spire, would be the first to simultaneously monitor all near-Earth orbits from space, delivering a radically enhanced level of SSA services to the global satellite community, with timely and precise information for space object detection, tracking, orbit determination, collision avoidance, navigation, and proximity alerts.

As a secondary mission, Rocket Lab would be attempting to splash down and retrieve Electron’s first stage as part of the Company’s plan to evolve Electron into a reusable rocket. After launch and stage separation, Electron’s first stage would return to Earth under a parachute and splash down in the Pacific Ocean several hundred kilometers down range from Launch Complex 1. Rocket Lab’s recovery vessel would extract the stage from the water for transportation back to Rocket Lab’s production complex where it would undergo detailed analysis. Rocket Lab is not launching any pre-flown engines as part of this mission.

“With each recovery mission we iterate toward Electron reusability and with recent launches we’ve made significant leaps forward with more successful splashdowns, recoveries and the first launch of a pre-flown Rutherford engine,” said Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck. “We’re looking forward to putting advanced heat-shielding and waterproofing systems to the test on this mission as one of the final steps before re-flying an entire first stage. To launch an advanced mission like this with Spire as a mission partner is a real privilege, as they were on our very first orbital mission in 2018. To be partnered up again and both still pushing boundaries with new technology and capabilities all these years later is a great full circle moment.”

Spire Global co-founder and CEO, Peter Platzer, says: "As we approach the launch of NorthStar's SSA satellites, this moment not only signifies a technological milestone but also underscores the meticulous collaboration that has shaped this mission. Through our joint efforts with Rocket Lab, we've been able to offer the flexibility of a dedicated launch tailored precisely to NorthStar's mission requirements. In tandem, Spire's Space Services team, working closely with Rocket Lab, has played a pivotal role in constructing and customizing all mission components, ensuring seamless alignment with NorthStar's unique needs. This collaboration is a testament to our commitment to removing barriers in space business and contributing to a more sustainable future in space.”

‘Four of a Kind’ would be Rocket Lab’s first launch as part of a sold-out launch manifest for 2024 and would be the Company’s 43rd Electron mission overall.

Spire was formed by founders from three countries scattered across the globe, united by a common desire to build a better planet. While information about the earth and its environment has traditionally been collected from ground networks and satellite imagery, Spire set out to do something different: create a vast network of affordable nanosatellites that orbit just above Earth’s atmosphere, collecting rich, granular data from the ultimate vantage point. “Spire is poised for a strong finish to the year,” Leo Basola, Spire CFO, said November 8, 2023. “After exceeding our revenue expectations for the last three quarters, raising our full year earnings guidance in the last two quarters, and reaffirming our expectations of positive operating cash flow in the fourth quarter of this year, positive adjusted EBITDA in Q1 or Q2 2024 and positive free cash flow in Q2 or Q3 2024, the business is continuing a strong progression toward profitability.”

NorthStar Earth & Space is a Canadian space company that aims to improve sustainability by providing Earth Observation and Space Object Tracking information. The company's goal is to empower humanity to preserve the Earth and Space environments. NorthStar Earth & Space uses space-based sensors to create information services, Space Information & Intelligence (Si2) and Earth Information & Intelligence (Ei2). The company's Skylark constellation focuses on Space Situational Awareness (SSA), Earth Observation, Infrared, and Hyperspectral. In January 2023, NorthStar Earth & Space announced that it had raised $35 million to deploy its first three satellites for tracking objects in orbit. In December 2023, the company announced that it had raised $20 million Canadian dollars ($14.7 million) in a Series D funding round.