Mission Control Space Services Inc.
Ottawa firm behind the Spacefarer rover-operations platform and Spacefarer AI; leads a CSA Lunar Utility Rover consortium and builds Rashid 2 comms.
Mission Control Space Services Inc. ("Mission Control") is a Canadian space technology company headquartered at 162 Elm Street West in Ottawa, Ontario. It calls itself a company specialising in rovers, autonomy and mission operations. Ewan Reid is founder and CEO, Dr. Michele Faragalli is CTO, and Dr. Melissa Battler is Chief Science Officer. It has been registered with Canada's Controlled Goods Program since 2021. Customers and partners named on its site include the Canadian Space Agency, NASA, ESA, ispace, Honeywell and Canada's Department of National Defence.
Its main product is Spacefarer, a web-based operations system for commanding and monitoring robots and payloads on Earth, the Moon and Mars. Spacefarer has three tools. Live gives real-time control of robots and payloads with data visualisation. Command lets teams build, share, execute and monitor command sequences. Data Explorer offers timeline viewing, visualisation and labelling of data products. The company built Spacefarer for its own distributed rover field campaigns. It says the platform has logged thousands of hours in analogue missions, including NASA's Break the Ice Challenge with Michigan Tech's Huskyworks Lab and the PSTAR augmented-reality campaign in Flagstaff, Arizona. It also runs a Moonyard test area and a Rover Driving Academy.
The second product, Spacefarer AI, is a data, model and deployment pipeline for running neural networks on flight computers across CPU and FPGA targets. Mission Control's MoonNet model classifies lunar surface features in camera images to support navigation and instrument targeting. The company says it was the first organisation to deploy deep-learning AI in lunar orbit, during ispace's HAKUTO-R Mission 1, the flight that carried Rashid Rover 1. It first tested AI deployment in flight in early 2023 on ESA's OPS-SAT satellite. In June 2025 it launched the Persistence mission, a spacecraft built with Spire Global and backed by the CSA, to demonstrate AI-enabled operations from orbit.
Mission Control lists four contributions to lunar rover missions. It supplied operations and autonomy technology for Rashid Rover 1. With Astrobotic it is preparing BEACON, a CubeRover demonstration that will ride the Griffin-1 lander to the lunar south pole, using Spacefarer for operations and Spacefarer AI for onboard machine learning. In October 2026 it announced that MBRSC had selected it to provide the wireless surface-communications subsystem linking Rashid Rover 2 with Firefly's Blue Ghost lander on the Moon's far side. This technology was originally developed with CSA support.
In July 2025 the CSA awarded Mission Control a C$4.7 million, 18-month contract for an initial phase of the Canadian Lunar Utility Rover. The work studies tasks such as assisting astronauts, carrying cargo, and logistics and construction over an expected 10-year surface mission, and develops key technologies before a prototype is built. Mission Control leads the consortium. Members include Kinova for robotic manipulation, Magellan Aerospace for system concepts, and Rheinmetall Canada's Provectus Robotics Solutions, which proposes its PATH autonomy system for guidance, navigation and control. Peter Visscher, who has led CSA rover development for almost 17 years, is Vice-President of Rovers. In October 2026 the company announced C$10 million in new financing: equity led by GreenSky Ventures, plus senior debt from Scotiabank and Roynat Capital. The money is going into expanded Ottawa assembly, integration and test space, clean rooms, a Mission Operations Centre, and a new rover prototyping facility in St. Marys, Ontario.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
Spacefarer
Web-based mission operations platform for real-time rover and payload control (Live, Command, Data Explorer); used in analogue campaigns and lunar rover missions.
Spacefarer AI
AI data/model pipeline and deployment toolkit for flight computers (CPU/FPGA); includes MoonNet lunar terrain classifier, flown in lunar orbit and on OPS-SAT.
BEACON lunar mobility mission
Joint demonstration with Astrobotic of CubeRover operations at the lunar south pole via Griffin-1, using Spacefarer for teleoperation and Spacefarer AI onboard.
Rashid Rover 2 lunar surface communications subsystem
Wireless rover-to-lander communications subsystem, developed with CSA support, for MBRSC's Rashid Rover 2 on Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 2 to the lunar far side.
Canadian Lunar Utility Rover concept (consortium lead)
C$4.7M, 18-month CSA initial-phase contract (2025) for a utility rover to assist astronauts and haul cargo; partners include Kinova, Magellan and Rheinmetall Provectus.
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Contact Mission Control Space Services Inc.
WEBSITE
https://missioncontrolspace.comPHONE
+1 613 518 3955HEADQUARTERS
Canada
Company Facts
Founded
2015
Primary Role
Software/Algorithm
Company Size
-
Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
Early-Stage VC
Funding Total
-
Keywords
- Mission Control Space Services Inc.
- Spacefarer
- Spacefarer AI
- MoonNet
- rover operations software
- Lunar Utility Rover
- BEACON CubeRover
- Rashid Rover 2 communications
- onboard AI
- Moonyard
- Software/Algorithm
- Manufacturer
- Control & Software
- Autonomous Vehicle/UGV
- Connectivity
- Aerospace & Space
- Space Explore
