ITHACA, NEW YORK, October 5th, 2020 — AFWERX, the catalyst for fostering innovation within the U.S. Air Force, announced Ursa Space as one of the top 26 participating teams out of 809 total teams selected from across the globe competing in the EngageSpace challenge, working to revolutionize how the space ecosystem works, dismantle the walls between sectors and close the “believability gap” for what’s possible in space.
The EngageSpace Challenge is centered around four key topics – Department of Defense Commercial Space Partnerships, Global Space Transport and Delivery, Persistent ISR and Space Asset Resiliency.
Located in Ithaca, NY, Ursa Space Systems competed in the Department of Defense Commercial Space Partnership Challenge alongside a diverse group of teams – originating from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil and other allied countries – that represent entrepreneurial startups, small businesses, large enterprises, academic institutions and research labs all vying to enable government buyers to pursue the most promising solutions to the most pressing challenges in the space domain.
“The AFWERX EngageSpace Challenge is critical to the future of industrial development in space,” stated Mark Rowland of AFWERX. “On behalf of AFWERX and the Department of Defense, we congratulate the teams advancing to the next phase. Their contributions are invaluable and have the potential to create game-changing results across the Air Force enterprise.”
The Department of Defense Commercial Space Partnership Challenge focuses on magnifying the capabilities of the Department of Defense (DoD) by expanding and strengthening its commercial portfolio. Teams competed to identify cutting-edge commercial satellite technology and uncover new payload ideas, designs, and prototypes to expand the DoD’s capabilities.
The solution Ursa Space submitted leverages the best systems currently operating in the world to cost-effectively monitor large areas, increase resiliency, and improve the time to mission readiness. Ursa Space uses its platform to provide unified access to these systems to allow standardized tasking of SAR satellites with additional layers of fused data.
Ursa Space enables operators anywhere, with little to no training, to securely monitor sites and activities and place new tasking orders, such as watching more than 10,000 AOIs for vehicle activity, retrieving detailed measurements at more than 100 sites, or tracking vessels across the ocean.
“Ursa Space is incredibly excited to move on to the next round in the AFWERX Engage Space Challenge this year. Our team is dedicated to exploring new solutions for complex questions, and we are honored to be a leader in the future of the space and satellite industries,” said Adam Maher, CEO & Founder of Ursa Space Systems.
The AFWERX EngageSpace Challenges attracted 809 solutions and featured over 50 space subject matter experts from the U.S. government to review the submissions. Throughout the event teams showcased virtual booth’s complete with video links, their challenge submission, digital brochures. The top 171 teams were invited to pitch their solutions to a panel of subject matter experts, followed by a Q&A from the evaluation team. The top 31 solutions from a total of 26 teams were then identified and invited to further engage with the Air Force with the hope of obtaining contracts. For a complete list of participating teams visit Engage.Space/exhibitors.
About Ursa Space Systems
Ursa Space Systems is a U.S.-based satellite intelligence company that provides business and government decision-makers access to on-demand analytic solutions. Through its radar satellite network and data fusion expertise, Ursa Space detects real-time changes in the physical world to expand transparency. The company’s subscription and custom services enable clients to access satellite imagery and analytic results with no geographic, political, or weather-related limitations.
About AFWERX
Established in 2017, AFWERX is a product of the U.S. Air Force, directly envisioned by former Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson. Her vision of AFWERX — to solve some of the toughest challenges that the Air Force faces through innovation and collaboration amongst our nation’s top subject matter experts. AFWERX serves as a catalyst to unleash new approaches for the warfighter through a growing ecosystem of innovators. AFWERX and the U.S. Air Force are committed to exploring viable solutions and partnerships to further strengthen the Air Force, which could lead to additional prototyping, R&D, and follow-on production contracts.
Media Contacts:
Ursa Space Systems:
-
laura@bamtheagency.com
-
george.flick@ursaspace.com
AFWERX:
-
AFWERX@kirvindoak.com
-
Marketing@afwerx.af.mil
