Airbus-led consortium to provide European Union with seamless satellite-based coverage of Europe at unprecedented scale and speed
VANCOUVER, July 12, 2018 /CNW/ - UrtheCast Corp. (TSX: UR) ("UrtheCast" or the "Company") and its subsidiary, the Earth Observation company Deimos Imaging, announced today that they have been awarded a multi-million Euro contract through a consortium led by Airbus Defence and Space – and also including Planet, IGN-France and space4environment – to provide a very large set of Earth Observation products and services to the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA).
The contract, known as VHR IMAGE 2018, involves the collection, processing and supply of cloud-free, seamless, very-high resolution imagery of six million square kilometers over 39 European countries. The data will feed the geo-information services with which European institutions and governments implement their environmental, land and crisis management policies. This dataset will be available to institutional users on European and national levels, and will serve a large range of applications such as the monitoring of biodiversity in riparian zones, coastal areas, risk and protected areas, and the update of Land Parcel Identification Systems.
Deimos Imaging provides market-leading quality control processes, technical knowledge and significant expertise to the consortium. Additionally, Deimos Imaging's worldwide network of federated missions provides an exceptional capability to acquire very high-quality imagery with 1-meter or better resolution. Three of Deimos Imaging's core partners, Beijing Space View Ltd., SI Imaging Service and Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Co. Ltd., signed exclusive distribution agreements to contribute to this project through Deimos Imaging, providing significantly increased collection capabilities.
Donald Osborne, CEO of UrtheCast, commented, "We are pleased to enter into this contract as part of a consortium of world leaders in the field of Earth Observation. This serves not only as affirmation of the best-in-class nature of UrtheCast's Earth Observation technologies, but also as an important transitional step as we continue to advance our ground-breaking UrtheDaily Constellation following our recent success in securing financing. The contract is one of the largest ever awarded to Deimos demonstrating that UrtheCast is in an excellent position to cement our role as clear leaders in the next generation of geospatial and geoanalytics technology and services."
The VHR IMAGE 2018 dataset is part of the Copernicus Space Component Data Access (CSC-DA) service, financed by the European Union and operated by ESA, with the goal of granting to institutional users on a European and national level harmonised access to data for a large number of application domains such as land administration, forestry and environment, and security and public safety.
About UrtheCast
UrtheCast Corp. is a Vancouver-based technology company that serves the rapidly evolving geospatial and geoanalytics markets with a wide range of information-rich products and services. The Company operates Earth Observation (EO) sensors in space, through its subsidiary Deimos Imaging, including two satellites, Deimos-1 and Deimos-2, to produce imagery data for partners and customers in multiple markets. UrtheCast processes and distributes imagery data and value-added products acquired through a unique virtual constellation which includes 20 operational satellites with 1 meter or better resolution. UrtheCast is developing a satellite constellation designed to capture high-quality, medium resolution optical imagery of the Earth's entire landmass (excluding Antarctica) every day, called UrtheDaily™. UrtheCast is also developing the world's first fully-integrated constellation of sixteen multispectral optical and SAR satellites, called OptiSAR™. Common shares of UrtheCast trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ticker "UR".
Forward looking information
This release contains certain information which, as presented, constitutes "forward-looking information" or "forward-oriented financial information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information involves statements that relate to future events and often addresses expected future business and financial performance, containing words such as "anticipate", "plan", "explore" and "expect", statements that an action or event "may", "should" or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions and includes, but is not limited to, statements relating to: Deimos Imaging's expected ability to deliver data produced by Deimos-2 to the consortium and fulfil its other obligations under the consortium agreement with Airbus Defence and Space, the expected ability of Beijing Space View Ltd., SI Imaging Service and Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Co. Ltd. to deliver data to Deimos Imaging and fulfil their other obligations as required under the respective exclusive distribution agreements with Deimos Imaging; Deimos Imaging's expectations regarding Airbus Defence and Space complying with its payment obligations and other obligations under consortium agreement; Deimos Imaging's expectations regarding ESA complying with its payment obligations and other obligations under head contract with Airbus Defence and Space; and Deimos Imaging's expectations regarding the ability of Planet, IGN-France and space4environment to fulfil their obligations under the consortium agreement with Airbus Defence and Space. Such statements reflect UrtheCast's current views with respect to future events. Such statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by UrtheCast as at the date of this press release, are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors could cause UrtheCast's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others: Deimos Imaging or any other imaging provider supplying data to the consortium being unable to deliver imagery products meeting the minimum specifications required by the consortium agreement; interruptions to or failures of Deimos' infrastructure or the infrastructure of any other imaging provider supplying data to the consortium; Airbus Defence and Space's inability to satisfy its payment obligations under the consortium agreement; ESA's inability to satisfy its payments obligations under the head contract with Airbus Defence and Space; legal and regulatory changes; as well as those factors and assumptions discussed in UrtheCast's annual information form dated April 2, 2018, which is available under UrtheCast's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. UrtheCast cautions readers that such factors and uncertainties are not exhaustive and that should certain risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying estimates or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievements may vary significantly from those expected. There can be no assurance that the actual strategies, results, performance, events or activities anticipated by the Company will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. UrtheCast undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by Canadian securities laws. Readers are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.
SOURCE UrtheCast Corp.
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visit UrtheCast's website at www.urthecast.com or Deimos Imaging's website at www.deimos-imaging.com or contact: Sai Chu, Chief Financial Officer, UrtheCast Corp., +1 (604) 669-1788