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COM DEV Awarded AIS Micro-Satellite Contract with Canadian Government

 

June 23

COM DEV International Ltd. has been awarded an $8.6 million contract to design, build and launch a
micro-satellite for the Government of Canada. The Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Micro-satellite (M3MSat) is a technology demonstration mission jointly funded and managed by Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The spacecraft will support Canadian sovereignty, security, safety and communications needs within the territorial and maritime regions of Canada and beyond.

M3MSat will make use of the multi-mission micro-satellite bus concept recently defined by the CSA. COM DEV has announced the commencement of an internally funded program to develop a class of micro-satellites capable of meeting the CSA's objective of launching a range of missions using a common platform.

M3MSat is expected to demonstrate the full capability of advanced spaced-based AIS (Automatic Identification System) technology developed by COM DEV. AIS signals are broadcast from the world's major marine vessels for navigation and identification purposes, but currently they are only collected
by other ships and land-based receivers within a 50 nautical mile range. Collection of the signals from space using COM DEV's unique AIS technology, which exceeds the performance of any other known system, would enable an unprecedented global view of the world's shipping traffic.

 A secondary communications payload will be operated on M3MSat to demonstrate a range of low data rate applications that can support Canadian civil needs as well as commercial requirements. The micro-satellite is expected to be launched in 2010.

"We believe micro-satellites will prove to be a very useful platform for meeting some of the fundamental national priorities of a country like Canada, where geography dictates that many applications are more effectively undertaken from space than they can be from the ground," said John Keating, CEO of COM DEV International Ltd. "We are very excited to be involved at the beginning stages of the CSA's micro-satellite initiative as well as DRDC's space systems R&D effort, and we view our selection for this mission as an important endorsement of our AIS technology."