Inuvik Satellite Station Facility (ISSF). Photo: Natural Resources Canada

[Via Satellite 07-31-2015] The government of Canada has announced an investment of CA$3.7 million ($2.8 million) in the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility (ISSF) to improve and build roads granting access to the facility. Canada collaborated with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and PrioraNet Canada in 2010 to build the ISSF, and earlier this year awarded MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) a CA$7.4 million ($6 million) contract to support the facility.

ISSF receives geospatial data used to support emergency preparedness and response, shipping and navigation, environmental monitoring, northern sovereignty and resource development. The facility recently received a new antenna to connect with Earth observation and remote sensing satellites.

Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2012 allocated CA$38.9 million ($30 million) for the revitalization of Natural Resources Canada‘s satellite stations located in Inuvik, NWT, Gatineau, Quebec, and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. The government of Canada is working with the government of the Northwest Territories, the town of Inuvik, the private sector, and academia to continue to expand and improve the facility with the stated intention of making Inuvik one of the largest geospatial data receiving stations in the world.