MDA Space Opens MDA CHORUS™ Control Centre in Québec
Press Release + Noah Note
New control centre marks a major milestone in operational readiness as momentum builds for constellation's launch in late 2026
MONTRÉAL, Aug. 11, 2026 /CNW/ -- MDA Space Ltd. (TSX:MDA) (NYSE:MDA), a trusted mission partner to the global defence and space industry, today officially opened the MDA CHORUS™ Control Centre in St-Bruno-de-Montarville, Québec, on the south shore of Montréal. The new control centre will serve as the operational hub for MDA CHORUS™ satellite operations, marking a significant step towards operational readiness ahead of the late 2026 launch.
Designed to serve commercial and government customers globally, MDA CHORUS™ is a next-generation Earth observation constellation designed and built by MDA Space. Set to provide among the most extensive dual-band synthetic aperture radar imaging capacity available on the market, once commissioned, the constellation will deliver industry-leading 700 km-wide imaging swath and sub-metre high-resolution spotlight images, day or night, regardless of weather conditions.
The dual-band satellite constellation enables tipping and cueing, where the leading wide-area C-band satellite images a broad area of interest, and the trailing high-resolution X-band satellite zooms in for a closer look, delivering both broad situational awareness and precise detail in a single pass.
"The opening of this new state-of-the-art control centre is a critical and exciting step as we prepare to launch and operationalize MDA CHORUS™," said Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA Space. "Backed by decades of on-orbit operations experience across a team that has supported one of the world's most important Earth observation space assets and missions, this facility brings together the people, systems and infrastructure required to deliver the extraordinary insights and intelligence that global customers depend on."
The MDA CHORUS™ Control Centre consolidates satellite mission operations expertise, bringing together the teams and systems that will manage MDA CHORUS™ in a purpose-built control environment. The facility is equipped to support the full scope of satellite operations, from command and control to mission assurance and Earth observation data delivery.
With the MDA CHORUS™ Control Centre now open, MDA Space remains on track for the launch of MDA CHORUS™ in late 2026 and the commencement of commercial operations in early 2027.
ABOUT MDA SPACE
Building the space between proven and possible, MDA Space (TSX:MDA) (NYSE:MDA) is a trusted mission partner to the global defence and space industry. A robotics, satellite systems and geointelligence pioneer with a 55-year+ story of world firsts and more than 450 missions, MDA Space is a global leader in communications satellites, Earth and space observation, and space exploration and infrastructure. The global MDA Space team of more than 4,000 space experts has the knowledge and know-how to turn an audacious customer vision into an achievable mission -- bringing to bear a one-of-a-kind mix of experience, engineering excellence and wide-eyed wonder that's been in our DNA since day one. For those who dream big and push boundaries on the ground and in the stars to change the world for the better, we'll take you there. For more information, visit mda.space.
Noah Note: A major milestone for MDA ahead of CHORUS launch. For those who need a bit extra of a refresh, CHORUS is MDAs Next-Generation, commercial Earth Observation Satellite constellation. The constellation will comprise of two satellites. CHORUS C is being built off the back of the Radarsat program, and will come equipped with a C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR).
CHORUS X will be its partner. It is being developed in partnership with ICEYE, utilizing their third-generation satellite bus. It will be equipped with an X-band SAR. To quote a bit on capabilities:
“CHORUS will be able to image at a maximum swath width of 700 km with CHORUS C, and a highest resolution of 0.25 m with the Spotlight mode on CHORUS X.
Both CHORUS satellites will be placed into the same orbit, with CHORUS X trailing CHORUS C by 60 minutes. The orbit will be an inclined, non-sun-synchronous orbit, at an altitude of approximately 600 km and inclination of 53.5°. The imaging time will shift earlier by about 20 minutes per day, allowing CHORUS to view the same region at different times of the day.
The mission has a design life of 15 years, with CHORUS C expected to remain in operation for the full limetime. However, it is expected that multiple versions of the CHORUS X satellite will need to be launched to sustain the full 15 years.”
CHORUS will also come equipped with a Vessel Detection Onboard Processing system (VDOP), allowing it to Identify, observe and Track Maritime vessels and traffic. CHORUS is set to launch onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which will soon not be an option, something to keep an eye out. I expect that the future DESSP from MDA will heavily leverage the work being done with CHORUS.
Either way, this is an important milestone, so congratulations to the MDA team!
Noah, could you clarify what you meant in this sentence of your Noah Note?
"CHORUS is set to launch onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which will soon not be an option, something to keep an eye out."