[Satellite TODAY 03-30-11] MDA received an $11.9 million contract from Canada’s Department of National Defense (DND) to operate and maintain its Sapphire System for five years following the system’s launch in late 2011, MDA announced March 29.
    MDA’s responsibilities under the contract include: relaying assigned taskings from DND to the supporting satellite, processing the collected information and sending the data to the Sensor System Operations Center (SSOC) operated by DND. Upon receipt of the processed data, the SSOC correlates, identifies, archives and transmits the information to the U.S. Joint Space Operations Center.
    The Sapphire System was developed by MDA as an information solution that monitors thousands of space objects and provides data on several hundred objects of interest within hours of observation on a daily basis. After it is launched, the system will be the largest part of the Canadian Space Surveillance System and the newest space-based sensor of the Space Surveillance Network.