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MXR-CS-seal pups 12/20 Sealpups 2019 was organized as part of On Duty for Planet, an initiative that fosters space- related projects and technology contests for Russian students. More than 1300 students aged 13 to 19 took part in the first stage of online testing. In the second stage, 110 students organized into 22 teams were trained during a two-month period. Over the course of 10 days in March of 2019, students reviewed new images daily and identified 20 whelping grounds. By monitoring and predicting the movement of ice, the students could provide updates to the Western Arctic Seaport Authority, allowing for alternate courses for icebreaking vessels to avoid the identified areas. To protect a moving target, Maxar's ability to provide images with ultra-high spatial resolution, updated daily, helped locate whelping grounds as they dried. During the final stage of the contest, 15 students from 14 Russian cities went to the Sirius Educational Center in Sochi, Russia to undertake real-time harp seal pup rescue. Students conducted image processing and analysis, ice mapping, search for whelping grounds, ice dri calculations, overflight validation and transfer of data to seaports. SEEING CLEARLY AND QUICKLY Changing the course of icebreakers to protect a moving target requires knowing precise locations of breeding grounds and receiving frequent, clear updates to predict where ice will shi next. The ultra-high spatial resolution of Maxar's GeoEye-1 and Worldview-1 and 2 imagery provided the project's clearest images, allowing students to confidently distinguish whelping grounds from space. Maxar's ability to deliver up-to-date high- resolution images daily made it possible to confirm predictions of animal location and adjust the path of the icebreaking vessels in sufficient time. PARTNERING FOR STUDENTS AND SPECIES To create a project sophisticated enough for real-life impact yet feasible for analysis by young students required the resources and support of a range of partners. A number of satellite operators (Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, Progress Rocket Space Centre, Maxar, ImageSat Int., ImageSat Int., and SpaceWill) provided imagery, tools, and support alongside experts from leading scientific and commercial organizations (Moscow State University, Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries & Oceanography (PINRO), LoReTT Engineering Company, Institute of Environmental Survey, Planning & Assessment, SCANEX Research & Development Center). info@maxar.com maxar.com Learning for a cause Technology with heart Accessible geospatial data and technology enable new ways to monitor, analyze, and share critical information about our planet. We are proud to partner with organizations like LoReTT and participate in educational opportunities like this, helping new generations cultivate the skills to tackle complex environmental challenges. "Every day the children sent reports on the location of the detected whelping grounds to the headquarters of the icebreaking operations of the Western Arctic Seaport Authority which processed such information in order to correct the icebreaking routes. When children see harp seals in satellite images, this is a delight". — Olga Gershenzon Co-founder and deputy director general Lorett Engineering Company Russian students, ages 13-17, learn to use satellite images to protect harp seal pups