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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
City firm tracks down a Dragon
The Dragon spacecraft was recovered from the Pacific Ocean using a tracking device made by a Winnipeg company. (SPACEX / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
WHEN the first commercial vehicle in history to successfully attach to the International Space Station splashed into the Pacific Ocean west of Baja, Calif., last week, a tracking device made by a small Winnipeg company was instrumental in its recovery.
The fleet of boats waiting to retrieve the Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) spacecraft -- called Dragon -- were all equipped with Field Tracker 2100 made by Solara Remote Data Delivery Inc.
The satellite communication device was originally built to withstand the harsh and remote climate and terrain of Canada's Arctic.
So the maritime mission to track Dragon's splashdown was nothing out of the ordinary for Solara's Field Tracker.
"It's waterproof and rugged and perfect for maritime," said Tom Tessier, Solara's founder and president. "Guys take them on ships and accidently drop them down steel ship ladders. They do not break."
Tessier, a former space communications and satellite system designer with Bristol Aerospace, founded the company in 2006. He said being included in the historic SpaceX project is great and the development of his device is gaining traction with demanding customers.
"I was doing satellite-to-ground station communications," he said. "I moved to the end-user demand service."
After taking time to perfect the prototype, over the last few years he has sold about 1,000 of the devices that sell for $1,300 to $1,500 each.
His first customer was the Polar Continental Shelf Program, which provides logistical support to researchers from governmental, non-governmental and foreign organizations conducting scientific field work across the Canadian Arctic.
It's now used by resource companies, adventurers and military units in remote locations around the world.
"The Canadian Rangers are a customer and there are other military users who we are not allowed to mention," Tessier said.
But there are gold exploration companies in Australia that use it in regions the Australian government does not cover in its search and rescue grid, as well as a number of high-profile adventurers such as Roz Savage, the female British rower who has set records rowing around the world, Ray Zahab the Canadian who has recorded the fastest land trek to the South Pole and ran across the Sahara Desert and Johan Ernst Nilson, the Swedish explorer.
The devices transmit regularly -- they do not have to be turned on -- can send and receive text messages and additional features such as base station map tracking are being added all of the time.
Solara was the first device of its kind to be certified to connect with the Iridium satellite phone system.
In addition to making the devices -- produced in Winnipeg by E.H. Price -- Solara derives recurring revenue as a wholesaler for Iridium air time around the world.
Tessier is competing in next week's Manitoba Venture Challenge in which new ventures make pitches to prospective investors.
Tessier said he needs to attract a CEO familiar with the global telecommunications industry to fully develop the company's already sizable export business.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 7, 2012 B4
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