VANCOUVER, Canada - UrtheCast Corp. has entered into a contract with a confidential customer for the development and delivery of a dual-frequency stand-alone Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) operational-class satellite as an "accelerator" for the OptiSAR Constellation. The exact amount of the contract is not being disclosed at this time for confidentiality and competitive reasons, but the Company can confirm that it is a substantial contract worth in excess of one hundred million Canadian dollars.
The contract is for the delivery of the SAR spacecraft, key elements of the ground segment, namely the mission control and planning system and the SAR processor, and in-orbit operations support, but does not include the price of the launch or insurance (which are the customer's responsibilities). This confidential customer has previously signed an MOU with the Company for the OptiSAR Constellation.
The contract is subject to the customer obtaining final government appropriation approval and to UrtheCast and its suppliers obtaining technology transfer export permits on terms agreeable to the customer. Subject to these conditions being met, work on the program is anticipated to begin in early 2018, for launch in late 2020. Payments by the customer to UrtheCast under the contract are conditional on the Company successfully reaching various program delivery milestones. As part of the deliverables under the contract, UrtheCast has also agreed to provide elements of the satellite ground segment and post-launch maintenance and operational support, each to be further detailed and extended in separate definitive contracts.
Using the same SAR technology that the Company has been developing for the OptiSAR constellation, this contract will allow UrtheCast to accelerate both the operationalization of its SAR technology and the start of our SAR data services business. The contract enables the Company to build and launch a SAR satellite as a precursor mission (or "accelerator") to the OptiSAR Constellation and to thereby demonstrate its high-capacity, high-throughput, fully-operational class capability with an unprecedented range of imaging modes and scientific-grade data quality. Under the contract, the parties have agreed to enter into a separate definitive contract to provide UrtheCast with the exclusive commercial distribution rights to the customer's unused satellite imaging capacity outside specified regions on a shared 50/50 net revenue basis, allowing the Company to sell the SAR-XL data and SAR-derived services in advance of the deployment of the OptiSAR constellation-the date of which is now pushed out by at least a year.
UrtheCast is part of a trend toward building and launching networks of small satellites. The field has become crowded in recent years as more companies attempt to build massive networks of relatively small remote sensing satellites. While competition is fierce, UrtheCast has a number of advantages. It is unique in offering a constellation that provides both optical and radar imagery data. It has also been successful in signing agreements with government agencies in the U.S. and Canada, and possibly elsewhere. The latest contract will enable UrtheCast to test its technology before deploying the entire network.
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