Riverside Research and NorthStar Earth & Space to rapidly advance Space Domain Awareness (SDA) capabilities

Under the DARPA Space-WATCH program, Riverside Research’s advanced processing algorithms correlate NorthStar’s unique commercial space-based observations and state vectors to automatically detect and track anomalous maneuvers.

Maui, Hawaii, Sept. 17, 2024 – NorthStar Earth & Space Systems (“NorthStar”), a private enterprise with United States headquarters in McLean, Virginia, with unique space-based Space Situational Awareness (SSA) capabilities, has been selected by Riverside Research, a national security nonprofit supporting the U.S. government for over 58 years, to team on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Space-WATCH program to improve and enhance capabilities to detect threats in space from unexpected events or maneuvers (“anomalies”).

Riverside Research will use deep learning methods on new observations and state vectors generated from NorthStar’s “always on,” space-based Wide Field of View (WFOV) SSA collection, its synthetic simulations, and its patented processing routines to deliver more advanced commercial SSA tools for automated detection, tracking, and characterization of Resident Space Object (RSO) maneuvers and space object separation events for improved space navigation and safety-of-flight. The Riverside Research solution is containerized and cloud-based for secure integration into existing software systems and scalable to allow extensibility to emerging sensors and proliferated space architectures.

“Advanced decision-making tools are an essential feature to ensure the security of space,” said Tim Waltz, Vice President of Sensors & Systems at Riverside Research. “NorthStar’s cutting-edge technology and innovative approach to collecting space-based observations serve as game-changers to unlocking the full potential of our advanced algorithms. NorthStar’s expertise complements our ability to detect and track space objects and debris with unprecedented accuracy, driving forward our mission to achieving assured Space Domain Awareness and to addressing the growing challenges of space congestion at speed and scale.”

Riverside Research and NorthStar are also developing an enhanced automated tip-and-cue solution that leverages NorthStar’s discovery of anomalous events to drive tasking of an orchestrated collection with auxiliary sensors for providing detailed object characterization and actionable domain awareness and insights for end users.

“Space is congested and contested. It is critical to provide defense and commercial space operators with accurate and timely space situational awareness,” emphasized Will Woods, Director of Technology for NorthStar. “The partnership between Riverside Research and NorthStar will directly address this urgent challenge.”

About Riverside Research:

Riverside Research is a national security nonprofit serving the DoD and Intelligence Community. Through the company’s Open Innovation Center (OIC), it invests in multidisciplinary research and development and encourages collaboration. Riverside Research’s areas of expertise include Object and Activity Detection, Accelerated AI/ML, Zero Trust, Open Architectures, Computational Electromagnetics, Plasma Physics, Terahertz Imaging, Commercial ISR, Collection Planning, and more. Learn more at www.riversideresearch.org.

About NorthStar:

NorthStar Earth & Space was founded in 2015 by Telesystem, based in Montreal, and KinetX, a specialized engineering firm located in Arizona. NorthStar is the first commercial service to monitor near-Earth orbits from space.

NorthStar’s precise information services identify and anticipate the position of space objects to enhance spaceflight safety.   With headquarters in Montreal, Canada, a European headquarters in Luxembourg, and a dedicated U.S. operation in McLean, Virginia, NorthStar addresses the ever-growing threat of space collisions as a major contribution to empower humanity to preserve our planet.

For more information about NorthStar, visit northstar-data.com
For media inquiries, please contact media@northstar-data.com