MDA and Thoth team up for greater space domain awareness above Canada

MDA and Thoth team up for greater space domain awareness above Canada
by Staff Writers
Brampton, Canada (SPX) Jun 06, 2023

In a new development aimed at boosting Canada's space domain awareness (SDA) capability, MDA Ltd., a global leader in space industry technology and services, has announced its partnership with Thoth Technology Inc. T

he collaboration will bring together MDA's commercial data services and Thoth's unique ground-based radar technology to enable deep space radar surveillance over Canada, enhancing detection and characterization of space objects.

Thoth's state-of-the-art Earthfence radar technology plays a critical role in this endeavor. By characterizing Resident Space Objects (RSOs) in geosynchronous orbit (GEO), Earthfence delivers situational awareness for a region situated 36,000 km from Earth.

Under this strategic cooperation agreement, MDA will utilize its extensive experience to offer web-based data services via its top-tier observation web platform tool. The tool will evaluate and store data collected from Earthfence. Moreover, MDA will be the primary point of contact for all data inquiries.

Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA, remarked, "This collaboration is a natural fit for MDA, and we're excited to be part of bringing Thoth's unique deep space radar technology to build this space domain awareness capability in Canada."

Greenley emphasized MDA's current role in operating the Department of National Defence Sapphire spacecraft, the only non-US space-based contributor to the US Space Surveillance Network. He added, "with this agreement with Thoth, we are well positioned to continue to provide critical space domain awareness capabilities that are an essential part of space surveillance and space security."

Thoth's radar facility is based in northern Ontario. Its unique offering delivers more accurate range and other characterization data than the currently utilized optical systems for GEO. When amalgamated with MDA's expertise, this partnership is expected to foster significant advancements in deep space radar surveillance and SDA.

Discussing the partnership, Dr. Caroline Roberts, Thoth Technology President and CEO, highlighted the growing need for space traffic awareness in an increasingly congested space environment.

Roberts added, "Leveraging the innovative work of Dr. Brendan Quine, CEO of ThothX and an expert in radar technologies, our Earthfence technology provides unprecedented levels of space traffic awareness day or night and Thoth is the only commercial provider of this service. As a growing Canadian business, we are thrilled to have the support and data expertise of an established company like MDA."