One of the best known and well-established North American businesses providing scalable solutions to process and extract critical information using Earth Observation (EO) satellites and aerial platforms, has established a hub in the UK.
CATALYST, a recent rebrand of PCI Geomatics, works closely with satellite data providers to support their delivery of foundational image products and actionable insights to a wide range of customers across multiple sectors, leveraging the benefits of being positioned in Low Earth Orbit to provide fast and efficient data that can not only save money, but save lives.
Recent operational implementations of CATALYST technology span image processing and delivery of actionable data layers. These solutions have helped assess and address several applications including severe pipeline leaks, identifying pre-cursory motion at tailings storage facilities in mines, and the stability of structures surrounding large hydroelectric dams. This information, along with the millions of images processed each day for satellite operators have helped to better characterize the impacts of accelerating climate change effects globally and assist with operational risk reduction for critical asset owners and operators.
The firm has set up a presence in Harwell, known as the UK’s “space gateway”, alongside around more than 100 organisations linked to the commercial space industry, one of the UK’s fastest growing sectors. In addition, the company is exploring a supplementary location in Edinburgh, due to the city’s heritage in space data and artificial intelligence, underpinned by academic strength, access to skills and a thriving EO start-up community.
During this week’s Space-Comm Expo taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, CATALYST’s President and CEO June McAlarey was joined by the first of the company’s new UK employees, Yusuf Ibrahim-Zai, to meet with several existing industry partners, as well as forging new relationships with future partners. June explained her reasons for selecting the UK, stating, “There’s no doubt that having a footprint in the UK will help us better serve our local and Europe-wide partners, both the satellite data providers that use our image processing technology and the end-user customers accessing our analyzed data to help with their decision making.
“We’ve received a warm welcome into the UK space ecosystem - it has been a pleasure to meet with commercial firms, universities and government officials to talk about our vast experience and the game-changing applications for our data. I’m confident we’ve found the right place to build visibility in our work and grow our business across Europe and further afield.”
Colin Baldwin, Executive Director of UKspace, the official trade association of the UK space industry, said: "We welcome CATALYST's decision to establish a formal presence in the UK, and are delighted that they have joined UKspace as a way of connecting with the UK industry and contributing to our work growing the UK space sector."
Comments