Space Engineering Division (SED)

European Space Agency 35 Meter Deep Space Antenna, New Norcia, Australia.

SED Systems

A company that originated within the University of Saskatchewan's Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies in 1965 has grown to become a world Leader in satellite technology systems. Called the Space Engineering Division (SED), its mandate is to design and build rocket instrumentation for upper atmospheric studies. Today, SED Systems employs 250 people, has annual sales of $50 million, and is a division of Calian Ltd., a company wholly owned by Calian Technology Ltd. SED Systems was awarded the largest contract ever to a Canadian company by the European Space Agency in 1998 when it was selected to build a 35-metre, deep-space antenna in Australia; five years later, SED won another contract to build a similar antenna in Spain. Over the years the growth and expertise of the SED Systems has matched the need of its clients, and the company has developed and installed satellite tracking systems in areas as diverse as the Canadian Arctic and Guam, an island in the Pacific Ocean. Customers have included industry giants such as Boeing Satellite Systems and government space or Telecommunications organizations in Brazil, India, and Japan. WorldSpace Corporation contracted SED to provide feeder link stations for the first-ever digital radio service via satellite. SED then earned a contract in 2000 to design, manufacture and install the Uplink Delivery System, which encodes and relays radio programming from XM Radio's programming centre in Washington, DC, to XM Radio's two high-powered Hughes 702 geo-stationary satellites for broadcast to XM-Ready receivers anywhere in the continental United States.

Joe Ralko