Galaxia Builds OSPREY Satellite for Data Handoff

The Halifax company will test in-orbit data transfer and processing under a $5.7 million Department of National Defence contract.

Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Space

Bold flat-color editorial illustration of a compact satellite above a curved Earth, with a thin cyan beam linking it to an older satellite in shadow. — Halifax-based Galaxia is building OSPREY, a satellite that will test in-orbit data handoff under a $5.7 million Department of National Defence contract awarded April 6. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Halifax-based Galaxia announced it is building OSPREY, a satellite designed to test in-orbit data handoff and processing. The Department of National Defence awarded the company a contract worth about $5.7 million on April 6.

Why it matters

Older satellites depend on ground station passes to deliver collected data, which slows results to users. Galaxia says in-orbit processing could reduce the volume of data sent to the ground and speed delivery to users.

OSPREY will be built on Galaxia's Halifax Class satellite bus and funded through the Gateway to the Stars challenge under DND's IDEaS program. Galaxia's first satellite, MÖBIUS-1, reached orbit in June 2025, and the company has closed a $4.5 million seed round.

The players

Galaxia

A Halifax company that builds and operates satellites and makes computers that process satellite data in orbit.

Department of National Defence

The federal department that issued the Gateway to the Stars challenge and awarded the OSPREY contract through its IDEaS program.

The details

OSPREY would receive data from legacy spacecraft and either process it onboard or forward it through other low Earth orbit networks, so data from older satellites can be handed to a new satellite in orbit rather than waiting for a ground pass. Galaxia builds and operates satellites and makes onboard computers that process their data.

September 2025: DND issued the Gateway challenge.
October 22, 2025: Gateway challenge proposals closed.
June 2025: Galaxia's MÖBIUS-1 reached orbit.
April 6, 2026: DND awarded Galaxia the OSPREY contract.
2027: Galaxia's inter-satellite link is scheduled to fly with Apolink.

Roadmap

OSPREY is funded through DND's IDEaS Gateway to the Stars challenge, which DND issued in September 2025. Among identified Gateway recipients, Galaxia's contract sits alongside Kepler Communications' roughly $4.6 million award, which DND dated Sept. 24.

The technology is aimed at delivering satellite-collected data to users sooner, which could matter to defence and surveillance users working in areas with poor communications, such as the Canadian Arctic. The stub does not describe any change for everyday consumers.

The takeaway

Processing data in orbit could shorten the wait between a satellite collecting information and a user receiving it. Whether that gain holds up will depend on the OSPREY demonstration planned under the Gateway challenge.