Rendering of AxelSpace’s GRUS constellation. Photo: AxelSpace

Axelspace is contributing to NorthStar Earth & Space’s space situational awareness (SSA) data under a new agreement announced Jan. 11. 

Axelspace is a Japanese smallsat manufacturer and Earth observation (EO) company. The company announced that five of its AxelGlobe EO satellites, called GRUS, will provide complementary satellite imaging data for NorthStar’s SSA efforts.

NorthStar is a Canadian startup working to deploy a constellation of 24 satellites through the Spire space infrastructure to monitor all near-Earth orbits from space. Last week the company closed a $35 million Series C funding round. 

NorthStar founder and CEO Stewart Bain said that using existing sensor data from AxelGlobe with NorthStar’s proprietary algorithms is an “extremely efficient” way to improve SSA services for operators. 

“We were consequently able to meet NorthStar’s request to capture near-Earth space data by updating the onboard software of the satellites,” commented Yuya Nakamura, president and CEO of Axelspace. “I am very proud that the advanced capabilities of GRUS are utilized to monitor the orbital environment, a rapidly emerging need in today’s space sector, through close collaboration with NorthStar. Axelspace will continue to contribute actively to expanding the use of microsatellites through partnerships with innovative companies and organizations.”