Manifest Space with Morgan Brennan MDA Space Strikes $1.1B CAD Partnership with Globalstar with MDA Space CEO Mike Greenley 02/11/25
Feb 12, 2025
Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA Space, leads a Canadian company at the forefront of satellite innovation. He discusses MDA's significant $770 million contract with Globalstar to enhance satellite communication capabilities, vital for emergency services. Greenley also emphasizes the surge in satellite production and international collaboration in lunar exploration. The conversation touches on the evolving space economy and the competitive landscape, including insights on T-Mobile's Starlink beta and its potential to improve connectivity in underserved regions.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Previous Globalstar Partnership
- MDA Space previously built 17 satellites for Globalstar, with an option for 9 more, to expand their analog direct-to-device communication capabilities.
- This new contract is for a new constellation with over 50 MDA Aurora digital satellites, offering enhanced capabilities.
Aurora Satellite Capabilities
- The Aurora satellite is software-defined with digital beamforming, enabling dynamic reconfiguration of communication beams.
- This allows operators to target customers efficiently, aggregate or divide beams for optimized capacity and monetization.
Aurora Variants
- The MDA Aurora product has two variants: one for broadband communications (like Telesat's Lightspeed) and one for direct-to-device communications (like Globalstar).
- The variants share about 70% commonality but have differences based on their applications.