Photo: ARO and Aurora (CNW Group/MDA Ltd.)

MDA is working with Thoth Technology to create a made-in-Canada deep space radar surveillance and space domain awareness (SDA) capability. The companies announced a strategic agreement on Wednesday to combine MDA’s commercial data services with Thoth’s ground-based radar technology for sovereign monitoring in deep space over Canada. 

Thoth has a ground-based radar technology called Earthfence that can characterize objects in Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO), including a radar facility in northern Ontario. MDA will provide a web platform tool to evaluate and store data from Earthfence, and provide customer interface for all data requests. 

The companies said Earthfence gives more accurate information than current optical systems, and by working together the companies will develop “transformative” capabilities in deep space surveillance and SDA. 

“MDA currently operates [Canada’s] Department of National Defence Sapphire spacecraft, the only non-U.S. space-based contributor to the U.S. Space Surveillance Network, and with this agreement with Thoth, we are well positioned to continue to provide critical space domain awareness capabilities that are an essential part of space surveillance and space security,” commented MDA CEO Mike Greenley.

Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Thoth Technology in the headline.