UrtheCast Corp. – a geospatial and geo-analytics company developing two Earth observation (EO) satellite constellations (OptiSARTM and UrtheDailyTM) – recently announced that it has reached a binding agreement with a confidential government customer for the sale and shared operation of the first two OptiSARTM satellites. It represents the world’s first commercial EO constellation with integrated optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors worth EUR 168 million.
This milestone for the winner of the T-Systems Challenge of the Copernicus Masters 2011 is a major boost for its thriving and innovative business. Ever since being victorious in the Copernicus Masters EO competition, the company has kicked off a series of success. The pioneering company shows impressively how commercial demand for this kind of technology exists and has to be exploited.
Canada’s UrtheCast Corp. has been one of the pioneers in leveraging the commercial synergies between satellite data and the instruments on board the International Space Station (ISS). The company’s own ultra-HD cameras have been installed on the ISS, where they see use in monitoring environmental protection efforts, humanitarian aid, social events, agriculture, and many other areas. The resulting high-resolution images and videos are also provided to developers along with analytical tools. For the premiere of the most recent James Bond film Spectre, Heineken® also used UrtheCast’s cameras to take the world’s first selfie from space as part of an advertising campaign.
UrtheCast Corp.
UrtheCast’s team aims at bringing the world a powerful perspective on our evolving planet. The company consists of ground segment operators, software developers, designers, map lovers, GIS experts, functional support experts, and space geeks. UrtheCast provides cloud-based APIs, services, and tools to power applications and derive answers from geospatial data. Thereby it enables more efficient monitoring of the Earth for its clients.
Copernicus Masters
Take the chance to write your own chapter of the Copernicus Masters success story. Geared towards entrants from all over the world, the sixth edition of the biggest international competition in the commercial use of Earth observation data is on the hunt for outstanding ideas, applications, and business concepts that use such information in everyday life. Renowned partners, including the European Space Agency (ESA), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), T-Systems International GmbH, Satellite Applications Catapult Ltd., the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI), and Stevenson Astrosat Ltd, sponsored prizes in seven topic-specific challenges of the 2016 edition. Along with cash prizes, the winners received access to a leading international network, corresponding data, startup funding, and other support valued at more than EUR 600,000 in total. Furthermore, the Top 40 of the competition entered the unique Copernicus Accelerator programme to boost their ideas to the next level.
Pre-register now for the submission phase which runs from 1 April until 30 June 2017 at www.copernicus-masters.com.
