Space Situational Awareness Services Partnership Announced
A partnership has been announced that will deliver high-precision ground and space Space Situational Awareness (SSA) services.
"Sustainability of the space environment is in everyone's interest."
Stewart Bain, Founder & CEO of NorthStar.
The agreement between SSA services company NorthStar Earth & Space and Axelspace, the Japan-based company in the Japanese microsatellite market goes into effect this month. The collaboration will allow NorthStar to leverage Axelspace's operational AxelGlobe constellation of 5 Earth Observation LEO satellites to provide complementary data for Space Situational Awareness, and deliver a more comprehensive coverage of the space domain.
NorthStar is the first commercial enterprise to monitor all near-Earth orbits from space and combine data from a variety of ground-based sensors to provide more extensive coverage. The company's high precision, next generation navigation and tracking services enable all satellite operators to manage their fleets more effectively, enhance spaceflight safety, avoid collisions, and promote space sustainability, the company says.
Space Situational Awareness is a Critical Issue
"Sustainability of the space environment is in everyone's interest. Making use of existing sensor data from AxelGlobe with NorthStar's proprietary algorithms is an extremely efficient means to improve the quality of commercial SSA services available to operators" said Stewart Bain, Founder & CEO of NorthStar. "NorthStar's ability to work with leading-edge companies such as Axelspace highlights our unique capabilities to combine data from ground and space sensors and emphasizes our commitment to work collaboratively to solve the most urgent environmental challenges in Space."
"The AxelGlobe constellation is composed of Axelspace's GRUS microsatellites. These are equipped with strong attitude control functionality to respond flexibly to diverse imaging needs. We were consequently able to meet NorthStar's request to capture near-Earth space data by updating the onboard software of the satellites," said Yuya Nakamura, the president and CEO of Axelspace. "I am very proud that the advanced capabilities of GRUS are utilized to monitor the orbital environment, a rapidly emerging need in today's space sector, through close collaboration with NorthStar. Axelspace will continue to contribute actively to expanding the use of microsatellites through partnerships with innovative companies and organizations."
(Source: NorthStar Earth & Space news release. Image from file)