Canadian Space Company UrtheCast is Hiring

          By Chuck Black

BC based UrtheCast is opening new offices and hiring new people. The firm has announced plans to open a second office in Vancouver able to house up to 40 video specialists, GIS experts, web developers and space systems engineers.

DVD video in space. An overview of the existing UrtheCast configuration on board the International Space Station (ISS). Graphic c/o Bloomberg Businessweek.

The additional space is required to support staff expected to be hired to fulfill a $65Mln CDN, five year contract signed last November with an unnamed, "confidential customer" for the provision of "engineering services, value-added services, and Earth imagery data." The new facilities are expected to open in March 2015.

The announcement was included as part of the January 24th, 2014 UrtheCast press release, "UrtheCast Opens New Office, Ramps Up Hiring."  As outlined in the press release, "UrtheCast continues to ramp up its search for top talent in Vancouver and San Francisco, with a dozen career opportunities ranging from web development to space systems engineering."

As outlined in the November 24th, 2014 UrtheCast press release, "UrtheCast Signs Contract For $65 Million To Provide Value-Added Services and Data," the original contract provided for the payment of 20% of the total in advance, plus included "a letter of credit" to cover for the balance of payments. 

Of course, the last few years haven't always been smooth sailing for the firm which first went public, as outlined in the June 10th, 2013 post "UrtheCast Proceeds with Takeover and Funding for ISS Camera's," in a reverse takeover (RTO) of publicly traded Longford Energy Inc. 

Early problems, as outlined in the July 20th, 2014 post, "UrtheCast Hi-Res Camera Still Not Working but Solution (and More Cameras) are on the Way," were only recently superseded, initially by new business partnerships, and later, by the November contract.

UrtheCast has said it intends to distribute operational software for the first publicly accessible high definition cameras installed on the International Space Station (ISS). The firm has offices in Vancouver, San Francisco, Washington DC, St. Louis and Moscow.