Space Exploration SAR Contract Awarded to Space Alpha
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has awarded a $1.7 million (CAD) contract to Space Alpha for the development of space exploration SAR technology.
“Alpha is working to change the way we see the world, collecting vast repositories of untapped data for critical missions and applications around the planet. The financial support from the CSA helps us get closer to achieving that aim."
Scott Larson, Alpha Insight’s Co-founder and CEO.
Space Alpha Insights Corp. (“Alpha”), based in Vancouver, is a developer of high-resolution, dual-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology. The contract will facilitate the development of high-speed onboard processing enabled by the company’s patented SAR-XL processing technology.
As a part of the twenty-month contract, the funds will be used to complete the development of Alpha’s on-orbit space exploration SAR processing technology. This includes real-time onboard SAR image processing of both L and X-band SAR, to be implemented in future missions to low-Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars.
“Alpha is working to change the way we see the world, collecting vast repositories of untapped data for critical missions and applications around the planet," said Scott Larson, Alpha Insight’s Co-founder and CEO. "The financial support from the CSA helps us get closer to achieving that aim, while demonstrating further confidence in our ability to push the state of the art in radar remote sensing.”
The contract follows Alpha’s seed investment in early 2021, led by Prime Movers Lab, and a recent customer contract for over $4 million. Alpha is on track to deliver flight-ready SAR-XL satellite hardware in 2022, to provide data and analysis for applications related to infrastructure, maritime monitoring, defense, and environmental assessment.
According to the company website, with Alpha's SAR-XL, the X and L bands work simultaneously to capture richer data. It's completely software defined, with a large phased array antenna that forms and steers the digital beams.
SAR-XL is generations ahead of contemporary SAR missions, the company says, resulting in ultra-high-resolution, wide-swath data with technology that penetrates biomass, soil, and sand.
(Source: Space Alpha Insights news release. Image provided)