Space is an area where we regularly watch yesterday’s science fiction become today’s reality—from publicly accessible satellite imagery to something even more remarkable: the ability to see the invisible, and even predict the future, from orbit.
We sat down with Kurtis Broda, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Wyvern, to talk about the excitement of watching a rocket launch, the road to commercialization, and why now is the moment for Canada to claim its place in space.
With ERA funding, Wyvern is advancing its second-generation satellite technology, equipping its constellation to deliver predictive wildfire analytics and detect even smaller methane leaks.
Listen to the full discussion on our Carbon Copy podcast.
Wyvern grew out of a student project at the University of Alberta. Can you walk us through that journey to becoming a commercial company?
Absolutely. The origin story of Wyvern is so interesting, and it’s such a success story about translating some university research and student groups into real commercial impact here in Alberta.
Our CEO, Chris, and two of our other co-founders were part of AlbertaSat, a student group that was down to about five members when Chris joined. Over five or six years, the group recruited members, secured government funding, crowdfunded, and grew to 70–80 people, eventually building and launching the first satellite ever built in Alberta. The student group is still going today; they’re building three more satellites.
Where Wyvern came in was back in 2017. I would say space still wasn’t really top of mind for a lot of people. But what we saw is that if a group of students can build and launch a satellite, then something’s changed. Satellite imagery could help solve real problems on Earth, and we saw an opportunity to be early on that wave.
I actually wasn’t part of AlbertaSat myself. I met Chris in grad school, and he asked me, “Hey, do you want to start a space company?” And how do you say no to that?
What’s been the most exciting or challenging part of growing Wyvern from a student project into what it is today?
Watching our first launch was a highlight. I flew to LA with my dad to see it, four years after we started the company. There have been a lot of challenges and tribulations to get to that point, and to actually see that go up was incredible.
But I think what was really validating was when we sold our first image. Launching a satellite where you can build a product from that data and meet a customer need was just a huge validation of what we had planned and some of the assumptions and risks that we took.
In terms of the challenges, four years between founding and launch is a long time. A lot of challenges between starting and seeing that first major success. And we’ve had to make really tough choices, including reducing staff when some of our programs didn’t work out, and some of the rejections you get along the way can be very difficult. As a founder, a lot of your identity is wrapped into the company and success. So it can be very hard when things are not going well, and you have to figure out a way to push forward.
What is Wyvern, and what is hyperspectral imaging?
Wyvern is a company that uses satellites to take images from space. The types of images it produces are called hyperspectral images, and what that means is it lets you see the invisible information that’s not normally seen with the naked eye. Some of that invisible information could be crop stress. We could use them for predictive wildfire risk factors, or as part of the ERA project, looking at small methane leaks. What we do is provide that data layer information to companies to integrate into their decision-making process.
What makes methane detection and wildfire mitigation such difficult problems to solve?
For methane, about 50% of all leaks are under 50 kilograms per hour, below what most existing detection approaches reliably catch. With our second-generation instrument, we’re trying to prove that we can detect leaks below that threshold. Our instrument is interesting because it also has other applications, including moisture and agriculture and critical mineral detection, but one of the backbones of the commercial plan for this instrument is around: can we detect those smaller leaks?
With wildfire, the scale is really the challenge here, and the cost. It’s no secret that wildfire prevention and wildfire fighting is very expensive, and what satellites offer is a way to put the maps and the information in the hands of the people that need it at a lower cost.
For example, if you wanted to do a tree species map of Alberta every year using planes or in the field, boots on the ground, it’s going to be very expensive. But with satellites, it’s actually not that expensive to purchase a satellite image. What if we could move to a world where that hyperspectral base map lets you make these assessments on a regular basis?
What excites you most about the future of the Canadian space industry?
I would love to see more space startups starting in Alberta. One of our goals with Wyvern was to build a space company and industry in Alberta. I don’t think we’re successful until there is a thriving space industry here in Alberta: one where people are building satellites, building software companies that use space data, and using space data for their most critical industrial and societal applications. There’s a big contingent of growing space startups in Canada. It is really possible for a growing space industry in Alberta to be successful. It’s really possible that Canada can be a leader in this area, but we have to seize the moment, and I think this is the moment.
Hear more on the Carbon Copy podcast.