[amsat-bb] SSTL Wins Canadian Deal (from Satellite Today)

[Eric Rosenberg]

Congratulations to Martin, Jeff and SSTL!

Eric W3DQ
Washington, DC

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SSTL Wins Canadian Deal

February 1, 2008

[Satellite Today – 2-1-08] Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) won a contract from MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) to deliver a satellite platform as part of the Sapphire space object surveillance program, SSTL announced Feb. 1.

   The two-year program is part of a contract from Canada's Department of National Defence valued at 65 million Canadian dollars ($65.2 million). The contract has options that cover mission support, operations and maintenance.

   The mission will provide a satellite-based resident space object observing service that will provide accurate tracking data on deep space orbiting objects. Sapphire will feature a space-based data collection platform for continuous surveillance of man-made objects in medium- to high-Earth orbits (6,000 to 40,000 kilometers). The data collected will be processed by a ground-based system and the results will be used to update the U.S. Satellite Catalogue used by North American Aerospace Defense Command and Canada to provide space situational awareness. 

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