Étienne Schneider, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy of Luxembourg, left, and Stewart Bain, CEO and Co-Founder of NorthStar Earth & Space Photo: CNW Group/NorthStar Earth & Space Inc.

The government of Luxembourg and Canadian technology company NorthStar Earth and Space signed a letter of intent on Thursday to create a Centre of Excellence for Clean Space in Luxembourg. The entities also agreed to consider a contribution to NorthStar with the goal of promoting the safe and sustainable use of outer space.

The Centre will be operated by NorthStar, which plans to deliver space traffic management and space situational awareness information services. The Centre of Excellence for Clean Space will aim to enable collaboration between international academic, industrial, and governmental partners from the space and data analytics sectors in Luxembourg, with the goal of promoting safe and sustainable use of outer space.

Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister Étienne Schneider said in a statement: “The establishment of this Centre … is in line with the country’s efforts to stimulate innovation and technological development in the data space sector. The project fits perfectly into our national data-based innovation strategy that aims at building a sustainable and reliable digital economy in general and the sustainable commercialization of space activities in particular.”