NorthStar Earth & Space announced its membership in the Space Industry Association of Australia and signed a strategic agreement with the Saudi Space Agency on Monday to advance space situational awareness capabilities to the Middle East.
What a way to kick off a week!
The news comes on the heels of the successful launch of its first four Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites into orbit on January 31, 2024.
🇨🇦🛰️ Montreal-based @NorthStarEandS launched their first 4 satellites into orbit this morning via @RocketLab's "Four of A Kind" mission
The space situational awareness (SSA) satellites will observe objects in near-Earth LEO, MEO & GEO
Check out the condensed launch &… pic.twitter.com/ERUP52BTk0
— rory 🍁 (@rory_mg) January 31, 2024
Space Industry Association membership
The Space Industry Association of Australia (SIAA) is an organization that represents Australia’s space industry. It aims to promote the growth of the space industry in Australia while facilitating collaboration.
It appears that February 12th wasn’t the actual day of the partnership, as the Space Industry Association of Australia announced NorthStar’s membership earlier in February. Furthermore, it looks like the announcement was a scheduled post as it incorrectly listed February 27th as the NorthStar launch date, and not February 31st. The mission was originally scheduled for the 27th but was postponed due to weather issues.
Strategic Agreement with Saudi Space Agency
Per NorthStar Earth & Space’s LinkedIn post, the satellite provider and Saudi Space Agency signed a strategic agreement to “advance the global reach of SSA capabilities to the Middle East, improve resident space object tracking, and promote sustainable, innovative SSA solutions to space operations.”
The agreement between NorthStar and the Saudi Space Agency was formalized at the Space Debris Conference in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh.
The partnership supports the growth of Saudi Arabia’s space industry, with focuses directed towards sensing technologies, (optical, radar, and radio frequencies) together with data analytics. Per NorthStar’s press release, attention will also be given to possible collaboration in the manufacturing of satellites to advance SSA and Space Traffic Management.