MDA Space Announces New Satellite-To-Ship Services Will Be Added to MDA Chorus™
May 29, 2024
Addition of on-board processing to world leading Synthetic Aperture Radar services will accelerate rapid information delivery for defence, intelligence and security operations at sea
MDA Space, a trusted mission partner to the rapidly expanding global space industry, today unveiled a new vessel detection onboard processing system (VDOP) that will revolutionize how geointelligence information is disseminated at sea.
The new VDOP direct satellite-to-ship service will be a key feature of MDA CHORUS™, offering defence and intelligence organizations around the world rapid access to the data and insights they need to support critical and time-sensitive maritime defence and security missions – including countering piracy, narcotics smuggling, illegal fishing and human trafficking.
Traditionally, the processing of satellite radar data and vessel detection and analysis has been performed on the ground. With the new MDA CHORUS™ VDOP capability, raw signal data will be collected and processed onboard the satellite to better perform vessel detection and rapidly deliver geointelligence data and information direct to users at sea.
“Built on our legendary RADARSAT technology, the industry-leading capability of MDA CHORUS™ to process and exploit radar data onboard the satellite will significantly reduce the time required to get actionable maritime domain awareness information into the hands of our mission critical customers,” said Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA Space. “We invite defence and intelligence users globally to partner with us in this pre-launch period to customize configuration to meet their specific national and international mission objectives.”
A collaborative multi-sensor constellation launching in Q4 2025, MDA CHORUS™ will bring together diverse and unique imagery and data sources and provide a new level of near real-time insight and innovative Earth observation services. From an industry-leading 700km-wide imaging swath down to sub-metre high resolution, MDA CHORUS™ will provide the most extensive and unrivalled Earth observation radar imaging capacity available on the market in a single mission.
Operating in a unique mid-inclination orbit, MDA CHORUS™ will be able to image day or night, regardless of weather conditions, with daily access of up to 95% of the coverage area.
About MDA Space
Building the space between proven and possible, MDA Space (TSX:MDA) is a trusted mission partner to the global space industry. A robotics, satellite systems and geointelligence pioneer with a 55-year+ story of world firsts and more than 450 missions, MDA Space is a global leader in communications satellites, Earth and space observation, and space exploration
and infrastructure.
The MDA Space team of more than 3,000 space experts in Canada, the US and the UK has the knowledge and know-how to turn an audacious customer vision into an achievable mission – bringing to bear a one-of-a-kind mix of experience, engineering excellence and wide-eyed wonder that’s been in our DNA since day one. For those who dream big and push boundaries on the ground and in the stars to change the world for the better, we’ll take you
there.
More Information
For more information, visit mda.space.
Related Story
MDA Space Awarded $250m Contract Extension to Support Robotics Operations on the International Space Station
MDA Space, a trusted mission partner to the rapidly expanding global space industry, has announced it has received a $250 million contract extension from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to continue supporting robotics operations on the International Space Station (ISS) from 2025 to 2030. As part of the contract, MDA Space will now fulfil robotics flight controller duties to support mission operations on the ISS.
Since 2001, MDA Space has worked alongside the CSA and its international partners to provide operational readiness of the Mobile Servicing System (MSS), which comprises Canadarm2, Dextre and the Mobile Base System (MBS). MDA Space also provides training to the robotic operators and supports mission planning, engineering support and real-time operations.