Canadian Space Agency awards over $3M for Earth observation applications

St Hubert, QC June 13, 2003 The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has awarded over C$3 million in contracts to nine Canadian companies to develop leading-edge uses of space-based Earth observation data and applications. Marc Garneau, president of the CSA, made the announcement during CSA Industry Days at their headquarters in St Hubert.

The 12 contracts were awarded through the CSA’s Earth Observation Application Development Program. The program is designed as a single-window channel to support industry initiatives focused on the development of earth observation applications.

“By promoting Earth observation applications, the CSA is contributing to a better understanding of the Earth’s environment and of global climate change,” says Garneau. “It also reinforces the strong partnerships that exist between government, industry and academic institutions in the project development process.”

The contract were announced with the following companies:

– Atlantis Scientific (Nepean, ON) will monitor infrastructure in urban areas associated with petroleum production. atlantis’ coherent target monitoring (CTM) system will be used with ERS-1 and 2, RADARSAT (Standard and Fine mode) and Envisat data. Subsidence maps will be created of the City of Long Beach in California. This contract is valued at C$570,889 of which the CSA is contributing $236,843.

– Atlantis Scientific (Nepean, ON) will develop finishing tools for spaceborne radar-derived digital elevation models. This will provide a mechanism to merge several DEMs together, correcting for processing anomalies such as “spikes” and “wells”. It will also support void filling, water body flattening, and maintenance of proper land/water relationships for rivers. This contract is valued at $535,361, of which the CSA is contributing $325,000.

– Dendron Resource Surveys (Ottawa, ON) will work to establish RADARSAT, and related Canadian products and services, as key components of topographic maps to be used for Regional planning purposes. The project will mainly take place in Chile, and some other parts of Latin America. This contract is valued at $550,905, of which the CSA is contributing $254,765.

– Enfotec Technical Services (Ottawa, ON) will advance the development of the IceNav virtual marine radar system to a product ready for market diffusion, by building the linkage of RADARSAT SAR imagery to the marine radar system. This contract is valued at $501,415, of which the CSA is contributing $324,912.

– Geographic Resources & Integrated Data Solutions (Kingston, ON) is bringing together American and Canadian researchers to create a three-dimensional interactive globe that provides anyone with Internet connectivity the ability to display and manipulate global geospatial data. This contract is valued at $1,622,280, of which the CSA is contributing $325,000.

– Hatfield Consultants (Vancouver, BC) will develop a series of Earth observation decision support tools and training in the use of EO data, in order to facilitate sustainable management of aquatic resources throughout the Mekong River Basin. This contract is valued at $540,000, of which the CSA is contributing $325,000.

– Macdonald Dettwiler And Associates (Richmond, BC) in collaboration with PCI, Noranda, Pacific Forestry Centre and York University, will develop a generic hyperspectral data scrubber. This software application tool will reduce or eliminate many defects that diminish data quality of airborne and spaceborne hyperspectral sensors. This contract is valued at $473,151, of which the CSA is contributing $294,465.

– Macdonald Dettwiler And Associates in collaboration with RADARSAT International, Triathlon, DigitalGlobe and Jeppesen, will develop a multi-source image digital elevation model generator. This contract is valued at $523,270, of which the CSA is contributing $321,830.

– MIR TELEDETECTION (Longueuil, QC) will be developing a method for the integration of geological information derived from RADARSAT-1 data and geoscience data into a diamond potential assessment system; and intends to commercialize the products generated by this system. This contract is valued at $256,850, of which the CSA’s is contributing $159,700.

– PCI Geomatics Group (Richmond Hill, ON) will develop innovative capabilities for data format support, visualization, and analysis of synthetic aperture radar imagery. This contract is valued at $428,344, of which the CSA is contributing $278,424.

– Vantage Point International (VPI) (Ottawa, ON) will develop a web-enabled tool to facilitate the planning and ordering of synthetic aperture radar data from RADARSAT 1 and 2, ENVISAT and other spaceborne sensors. This contract is valued at $228,560, of which the CSA is contributing $148,560.

– Vantage Point International will establish a national disaster management portal for earth observation. It will provisionally be termed the disaster earth observation network. This contract is valued at $171,000, of which the CSA is contributing $111,000.