MDA Ltd. announced it is working with Thoth Technology Inc. to create a made-in-Canada deep space radar surveillance and space domain awareness capability. As part of a strategic cooperation agreement, MDA commercial data services will be integrated with Thoth's ground-based radar technology to provide unprecedented levels of sovereign monitoring in deep space over Canada, providing both detection and characterization of space objects. Thoth uses a unique ground-based radar to characterize objects in geosynchronous orbit (GEO).

This new radar technology, called Earthfence, detects and characterizes Resident Space Objects (RSOs) in GEO to provide situational awareness for a region 36,000 km away from Earth. As part of the agreement, MDA will utilize its extensive experience to provide web-based data services through its industry leading observation web platform tool to evaluate and store data collected from Earthfence. MDA will also serve as the customer interface for all data requests.

Located in northern Ontario, Thoth's radar facility provides more accurate range and other characterization information than the current optical systems used for GEO. Combined with MDA's expertise, it will advance, develop and deliver transformative capabilities in deep space radar surveillance and SDA.