Commercial Space

2012-01-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

Satellite Collisions, Astronauts Grounded, Astronomy Slashed & Canada "Lost in Space"

Here's a quick listing of stories being tracked over the holiday season for future posts in the Commercial Space blog:

Space Debris from Philipp Seiffert on Vimeo.

According to the January 2nd, 2012 Postmedia News article "Satellites on a course to collision" the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has needed to fire up the thrusters on Canada's $500-million Radarsat satellites five times over the last year in order to move them out of "harms way" and avoid the possibility of an orbital collision.The article quotes CSA Director General of Space Science and Technology David Kendall as stating "the numbers of near-misses are going up, rather alarmingly." According to the article, "collecting trash may not have the glory of walking on the moon, or rocketing off to the International Space Station, but it is a potential growth industry." The article mentions BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) and Ontario based Com Dev International (ComDev) as being firms well positioned to take advantage of this new market who have recently received CSA funding. However, as outlined in my November 2nd, 2011 post "Will US Allow Canada to Bid On-Orbit Satellite Servicing Contracts?" MDA has suspended its related on-orbit satellite servicing program until the company knows whether it will be allowed to bid on upcoming US government contracts, which suggests concerns over the long-term viability of any Canadian program in this area. For a description of the CSA contracts referenced in the article, it's worth checking out my October 30th, 2011 post "Weather Sats, CSA Contracts, Isle of Mann, New Magellan Facility & John MacDonald."

Canada's "last" astronaut?

The December 26th, 2011 Canadian Press article “Canadian Astronauts could be grounded for years after next mission” reports that “Canadian astronauts could be stuck on the ground for years following Chris Hadfield’s space mission scheduled for 2012.” The article quotes CSA Director General of Space Exploration Gilles Leclerc as stating that "according to our agreement on the International Space Station we don't have a flight -- beyond Chris Hadfield -- before the end of the decade." According to the article, "because it helped build the space station using the giant robotic Canadarms, Canada gets "credits" for trips to the space station" but unfortunately, "Canada has no credits left after Hadfield's flight." According to Leclerc, "we're trying to negotiate a flight before 2019, obviously."

The Canadian Astronomical Society is distributing an online petition opposing the expected and dramatic decrease in funding for space based astronomy programs, according to this December 20th, 2011 post on the University of Western Ontario Department of Physics and Astronomy website. According to the CSA document 2011 – 2012 Report on Plans and Priorities, CSA funding is expected to peak at $424.6 million CDN in 2011-2012 and drop to $317.5 million CDN by 2013-2014 with cuts from the space exploration budget (which will shrink from $165 million CDN to $88.8 million CDN) the space data, information and services budget (from $136.6 million CDN to $108 million CDN) and from programs designed to build Canadian space capacity (from $86.1 million CDN to $72.3 million CDN). Oddly enough, CSA programs related to internal services and "HUMAN FTE's" which likely refer to full time salary equivalencies (a measurement of the total CSA payroll) are not expected to see their budgets decline over the next few years.

Canadians, eh?

The December 15th, 2011 Ottawa Business Journal article “Lost in Space” raises concerns over whether Canadian developed planetary rover technology will remain viable after government funding expires in spring 2012. The article (most of which was originally published in the December 2011 issue of the Space Quarterly Magazine) was also discussed as part of my December 5th, 2011 post "Canadian Space Rovers on the Chopping Block."

Taken together, these articles paint a picture of a Canadian space program in crisis. It's certainly reasonable to expect new updates and information to come to light on these topics over the next little while, so stay tuned.

2012-01-02T16:05:00.000-08:00

A REAL Trend in 2011: Hawking Products with Space

Not quite the future?

While space pundits pour over articles like the December 23rd, 2011 Mashable post "Top Space Stories of 2011" or the January 1st, 2012 Gizmodo story "The Best Space Stories of the Year" in order to discover whether or not the recent retirement of the US fleet of space shuttles is a more important story than the successful orbiting of the unmanned Chinese Tiangong-1 space lab, the real trend of 2011 seems to have gone almost entirely unnoticed.

What is the real space trend of 2011?

That's simple. After a very long decline into seeming irrelevance, space and space focused activities are slowly starting to become cool again. This rising interest has been noticed by numerous commercial companies which have incorporated the space "meme" into a variety of marketing campaigns.

For example, take the recent viral marketing campaign for Natural Light beer, as described in the November 29th, 2011 Huffington Post article "Natural Light Is First Beer In Space, Launched By Brew's Facebook Fans."

Richard Branson.

Of course, the grandaddy of current efforts at incorporating the space "meme" into marketing campaigns has to be Richard Branson and his efforts to jump start an entire industry wrapped around space tourism with Virgin Galactic, a company which (almost as an afterthought) also manages to provide huge amounts of publicity for the brash British billionaire and his entire Virgin Group conglomerate of 400 travel, entertainment and lifestyle companies.

But there are others and some of them come from the oddest of places.

Here are a few additional examples, from the Trendhunter website, which bills itself as the most popular and largest collection of cutting edge marketing ideas on the web:

According to the September 6th, 2011 article "Extra-terrestrial Take Out: The Domino's Moon Base Will Serve Astronauts and Cosmic Explorers Alike," the Japanese wing of Ann Arbor, MI based Domino’s Pizza "has recently announced their intention to build an outlet on the surface of the Moon. Thus far, the company has already commissioned plans for a two-storey, dome-shaped pizzeria which would simultaneously serve pizza and house its staff." Although primarily a publicity stunt, the marketing campaign is a direct throwback to the glory day of space imagery in the 1960's when many restaurants and commercial products (like Tang, a fruit flavored drink) used real and perceived links to the US space program in order to convey positive imagery and to help sell their products.

Of course, man does not live by bread alone so otherworldly alcohol will also be needed to help astronauts wash down their pizza, at least according to the April 13th, 2011 article "Vostok Space Beer is Approved for Outer Space Consumption." According to the article, the beer (developed by Australian brewer 4-Pines Brewing in partnership with Saber Astronautics) has a lower carbonation level, which helps lower the chances of what the article calls "space burps" and "an enhanced flavor designed specifically to counteract the swelling of the tongue that occurs in orbit, which reduces taste sensitivity." This makes the product entirely different from the beer developed by the Sapporo Brewery and profiled in the December 4th, 2009 article "Sapporo is Selling Beer Made from Barley That Spent Time in the Cosmos" which is made using barley "directly descended" from "seeds that spend five months in space (aboard the International Space Station in 2006)." Given that the Sapporo beer was created using ingredients grown in space, there are obvious implications for long-term space habitation as outlined in the December 8th, 2008 Astro-Engine article "The Link Between Beer and the Colonization of Space."

The July 27th, 2011 list of "25 NASA Inspired Creations: From Lunar LEGO to Space Explorer Duds" gives a broader idea of some of the marketing areas being co-opted by space based concepts and images. These include space ship inspired footwear, giant spaceship rides for kids, audio speakers inspired by NASA, space shuttle models made from LEGO's and quite a few others.

Even the worlds most famous and popular "fake" journalist has gotten into the act. According to the August 19th article "Funny Man Astronauts: MakerBot for Stephen Colbert Sends the Comedian up into Space," a 3D printed bust of comedian Stephen Colbert was sent into space with a camera so that "every mile of the way could be captured." According to the article, "other celebrities have since been honored with the chance to have their busts sent up into space."

Look for this trend to expand and grow throughout 2012.After all, even American politicians running for public office have begun to talk about space.

2011-12-13T07:01:00.000-08:00

Looking to Enjoy Some Holiday Cheer!

The Commercial Space blog is taking a break for the next two weeks to enjoy the holidays and begin preparing for the next Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA) meeting on January 12th, 2012 at the law offices of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP and the upcoming CSCA national conference in Ottawa during the last week in March, 2012.

Until then, feel free to start enjoying the festive season with this sample of holiday cheer from the parody cover band Sponge Awareness Foundation, using their best Gun's N' Roses voices.

The Commercial Space blog will be back with all new articles and commentary, beginning on January 3rd, 2012.

2011-12-12T15:16:00.000-08:00

Dancing with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight

Here's something you never used to come across, but could soon be noticing with increasing frequency.

Kjell Stakkestad. Photo c/o NASA/Paul E. Alers.

According to the December 12th, 2011 Postmedia News article "Aerospace: Dollars for space exploration have dried up south of the 49th parallel" an American company is coming to Canada to discuss possible joint space ventures with Canadian firms like MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) and Com Dev International, to develop a plan which could potentially receive funding from Export Development Canada, a Canadian crown corporation wholly owned by the Government of Canada.

The article quotes Kjell Stakkestad, the president of Arizona based KinetX Inc., as stating that the American business climate is "killing our industry" and the only way to grow new business is to develop international contacts and cost sharing agreements independent of traditional US government sources of funding. He was in Montreal last week attending the Aéro Montréal, conference on aviation innovation.

Stakkestad certainly isn't the only American who thinks that the current American concerns and regulations are damaging to American industry.

The organizers of the recently concluded 2011 International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS2011) have begun to post the conference presentations and one of the most interesting is the keynote address on "U.S. competitiveness: Where do we stand what can we do?" by George Nield, the associate administrator at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation.

He states unequivocally that, when it it comes to the satellite launch market:

If we look at the data to date, the situation today doesn't look too good, at least for the satellite launch market.

Back in the 1980's, the U.S. had almost 100% of the commercial launch market. During the 5-year period from 1996-2000, we had 40% of the global market share. From 2001-2005, the U.S had fallen to 22% of the market. During the most recent 5-year period, from 2006-2010, we were down to 16% of the global market, significantly behind both Russia and Europe. Clearly, we no longer appear to be able to compete internationally, at least with our current launchers.

Probably the biggest reason for this is cost, but there are also questions about being able to get a launch slot on the range, and the overall nature of the commercial customer experience, given the temptation for U.S. launch providers to focus on their primary government customers, NASA and the DoD.

He states that, while there is some cause for long-term optimism:

...for the next several years, we will be completely dependent on the Russians to take our astronauts to and from the Space Station. Although several companies are eager to show that they can do the job as part of the Commercial Crew Development Program, the limited amount of money that has been allocated to the program to date calls into question, at least for me, whether we are really serious about maintaining a robust U.S. human spaceflight capability.

The rest of the presentation is a sensible overview of the current US situation and analysis of several potential new markets expected to open up over the next few years. If Nield is correct in his overall assessment, we should be expecting quite a few more US companies to visit Canada over the next few years.

It's likely, they'll be looking for money.

2011-12-05T18:04:00.000-08:00

Canadian Space Rovers on the Chopping Block

According to the December 2011 Space Quarterly article "Canada's Fledging Rover Program Is Facing A Rocky Future," the space rovers being constructed under contract to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) by Kanata, Ontario based Neptec Design Group and BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA), utilizing a variety of subcontractors and partners such as Quebec based MPB Communications, are facing a hard deadline of March 31, 2012 when everything is supposed to be finished.

After that, the CSA funding ceases. The projects are then expected to wind down as the project teams are laid off or reassigned.

This is because the rovers presently have no mission or any real expectation of finding one before the deadline is reached. The article quotes Neptec President Ian Christie as stating:

Neptec has spent time, money and much effort developing an expertise in rover exploration – all finite resources for which the company seeks a return. Now, it is at risk of letting rover employees go or reassigning them after the funding ends, losing the expertise the technicians built up during the last two years.

Three CSA contracts awarded to Toronto based Engineering Services Inc. (ESI) in 2010 to develop robotic arms, control stations and exploration tools for integration into terrestrial prototypes of lunar or martian rovers (as described in my October 25th, 2010 post "Overnight Success Plus IP Rights") also have no follow-on programs and are likely to wind down at the same time.

Which all sounds really sad.

However, as explained most recently in my April 9th, 2011 edition of "This Week in Space for Canada," the CSA rover contracts were always intended simply to "position" Canada in such a way that if Canada's space exploration partners ever get around to agreeing on a rover mission to the Moon (or Mars), then Canada could potentially contribute.

Of course, that positioning seems not to have worked in this case and so the program is winding down.

It's worth noting that multiple martian rovers have been developed and (usually) successfully deployed by a variety of international players over the last forty years, so the technology can hardly be considered cutting edge. These include:

The unsuccessful 1971 Soviet Union Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions, which both utilized a Prop-M rover. Mars 2 crashed into the Martian surface and Mars 3 failed less than a minute after landing.

The Sojourner rover, aboard the Mars Pathfinder mission, which landed successfully on July 4th, 1997 and functioned until September 27th, 1997.

The Spirit or Mars Exploration Rover A (MER-A), which landed successfully on January 4th, 2004 and functioned for nearly six years before its wheels were trapped in the Martian sand. Communication was lost with Spirit on March 22nd, 2010.

The Opportunity or Mars Exploration Rover B (MER-B), which landed successfully on January 25, 2004 and is still operational.

As well, there is the NASA built Mars Science Laboratory (known as Curiosity), which launched on November 26th, 2011 and is expected to land on Mars between August 6th - 20th, 2012 and the ExoMars rover, designed and developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), which is expected to launch for Mars in 2018.

There are also several successful lunar rovers going back to the first use of a manned rover as part of the US Apollo 15 mission in 1972 and the 1973 unmanned Soviet Lunokhod-1 and Lunokhod-2 rovers.

In 2014, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) plans to land two motorized lunar rovers (one Indian and one Russian built) as part of its second Chandrayaan mission. No Canadian input is expected for this mission.

Even the Google Lunar X Prize, a competition offering a $30 million award for the first privately funded team to land a robotic probe on the Moon and then travel across its surface to send back specified images and other data, will likely not be utilizing any CSA built rover technology.

As noted in my July 4th, 2011 post "Ground Control to Marc Garneau," our erstwhile ex-CSA president and current MP for the riding of Westmount—Ville-Marie, along with quite a few others associated with the CSA, have been publicly advocating the building of Canadian rovers for at least the last ten years.

But the Garneau rover plan wrapped the little machines around a proposal to double CSA funding and use this extra money to develop an all-Canadian robotic Mars mission which would actually use the developed rover technology.

The new mission was also intended to "stimulate the country's space industry during uncertain times for North American space programs" and develop new, follow-on applications for the rovers after their usefulness and functionality was demonstrated by the Mars mission.

But without an appropriate budget, the CSA is forced to flail about seemingly without direction by implementing a rover development program under the assumption that some one else has a scheduled mission to Mars or the Moon, but has forgotten to build their own rovers.

Since this doesn't seem to have happened, we're going to need to either let this specific program die or try building something else.

Or maybe, just maybe, we could find our Canadian rovers a proper Canadian mission to accomplish. We have until March 2012 to decide.

Innovative wheel assembly for Google Lunar X-Prize competitor Plan-B, an initiative from privately funded Canadian company Adobri Solutions Ltd.

2011-12-05T12:46:00.000-08:00

The Polar Communications & Weather Mission

According to rumours circulating around Canadian Space Agency (CSA) headquarters, impending CSA budget cuts expected to occur next March, will essentially eviscerate all new initiatives, leaving only the federally supported RADARSAT Constellation program for the CSA to administer.

The only exception in this scenario might possibly be the Polar Communications & Weather (PCW) mission.

As described in my July 27th, 2009 post "MDA Signs Contract For Polar Communications and Weather Mission," the PCW mission "is designed to facilitate Canadian operations in the north and support Canadian sovereignty by providing reliable and continuous space-based communications services and timely meteorological information." The mission would consist of two satellites in molniya-type orbits, supported by one northern ground station and connected to communication satellites in geosynchronous orbit with other connections to various portions of the telecommunications infrastructure.

According to the "Polar Communication and Weather mission (PCW)" overview on the CSA website, the PCW mission will cover portions of Canadian territory which are not covered by the current crop of geostationary communications satellites (GEO) in order to ensure 24/7 communications, plus accurate short term weather and long term climate forecasts.

According to the Defence Research and Development Canada website on the PCW program, the CSA, the Department of National Defence and Environment Canada are partnering on the PCW project.

It will be interesting to see if the program survives the budget process.

2011-11-29T08:09:00.000-08:00

The Canadian Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer

For those looking to learn, here are some talking points, a couple of useful links and a bit of background information on the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS), developed and funded by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) as part of its contribution to the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday.

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According to the February 10th, 2010 BBC News article "Nasa rides 'bucking bronco' to Mars," the MSL "weighs almost a tonne, has cost more than $2bn and, in 2013, it will be lowered on to the surface of Mars with a landing system that has never been tried before." The article goes on to state that the first official cost estimate for the project was set out in 2003 in a document published by the United States National Research Council (NRC), which said that the MSL would be a "medium price" project with a total cost of under $650M USD's. The size of the rover (comparable to a small automobile) was dictated by the need to "lay the foundations for future missions that will eventually bring pieces of the Red Planet back home to Earth."

As for its Canadian component, BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) is prime contractor responsible for the engineering design and manufacturing of the APXS. The APXS science team includes members from the University of New Brunswick, the University of Western Ontario, NASA, the University of California at San Diego and Cornell University. University of Guelph scientist Dr. Ralf Gellert is acting as "principal investigator" for the project, according to the November 24th, 2011 GuelphMercury article "Going to Mars: University of Guelph researchers will see their work head to the Red Planet."

It is expected that analysis of the data from APXS could help determine if Mars ever supported microbial life. According to wikipedia, the APXS will do this by analyzing samples of the Martian soil, irradiating them with alpha particles and then mapping the spectra of any re-emitted x-rays. The APXS uses a particle-induced x-ray emission (PIXE), which has previously been used by the Mars Pathfinder and the Mars Exploration Rovers.

According to the CSA Backgrounder on "APXS: Canada’s contribution to Mars Science Laboratory" the APXS sensor head "will be mounted at the end of the rover’s robotic arm. It will be used regularly during the mission by being placed against the surface of a sample" then emitting alpha particles and x-rays from a Curium based source. Since each element in the sample is stimulated to emit well defined energy signature, "APXS then measures the characteristic x-ray radiation to determine the sample’s composition."

The MSL is presently scheduled to land on Mars at Gale Crater between August 6th - 20th, 2012, according to the July 22nd, 2011 article "NASA's Next Mars Rover to Land at Gale Crater" on the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory website.

2011-11-28T22:10:00.000-08:00

Is The Space Industry Really "Uniting in Criticism over ITAR?"

Recent articles, such as the November 17th, 2011 Universe Today post "Could We Soon See the End of ITAR’s Chokehold on Space Exploration" and the November 24th, 2011 Flight Global article "IN FOCUS: Space industry unites in criticism of ITAR restrictions," suggest that well publicized objections by space industry experts to the various provisions of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), are being noted and addressed by lawmakers in Washington.

This perception is likely wrong. To get some sense of why this is so and how this is going to effect the Canadian space systems industry, we need to look at the history of the current legislation.

According to the January 9th, 2006 Space Review article "A short history of export control policy," all items related to US satellites have traditionally been controlled by the US Department of State, which defines them as munitions or "potential weapons" and therefore subject to ITAR approval as a condition of sale. Since the US government doesn't officially want to sell weapons to an enemy, the ITAR compliance process was explicitly designed to be long, complex, expensive and thorough in order to disqualify the wrong applicants.

Ronald & Nancy Reagan in China in 1984.

But beginning in the late 1980's and under pressure from the Reagan and Bush administrations (who were themselves under pressure from US based manufacturers looking to sell satellites and satellite components to the Chinese, Europeans and others) this policy began to evolve to a point where satellite components were perceived of as being "dual-use" items, which could have both civilian and military applications.

This revision would have brought the American definition into alignment with international definitions (which grew out of the industrial "dual-use" list originally maintained during the cold-war era by the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls) and helped to facilitate international sales of US satellites and components.

Unfortunately, after a series of promising but false starts and flip flops, all items related to US satellites continue to remain controlled by the US Department of State, which still defines them as munitions or "potential weapons" and therefore subject to ITAR approval as a condition of sale.

But the concept of "dual-use" remains and an entire consulting industry has grown up around the issues surrounding ITAR compliance and navigating the nooks and crannies of the existing legislation. Below is an example of the wealth of ITAR compliance services available and accessible with a simple Google search.

Even worse, the November 13th, 2011 Mother Jones article "In Praise of Simple Regulations," goes so far as to suggest that large corporations benefit from complex regulations (such as ITAR) and often lobby for complexity because the cost of compliance serves as a barrier to entry for new competitors.

The article quotes Washington Examiner columnist Timothy P. Carney as stating:

Some businesses are bigger than others. Some businesses can afford to hire as their lobbyists the very staffers who wrote the bill whose implementation is now being hammered out. Some businesses can afford to hire $500-an-hour lawyers to navigate the rules.

Some businesses cannot.

So, if you're a big business, even if you don't like a law, you can be confident that you'll survive it better than your smaller competitors will. And that's one reason why the biggest businesses often favor regulation in the first place while smaller guys oppose it.

The article also quotes space pundit and Transterrestrial Musings author Rand Simberg as tweeting "this is why it's hard to reform ITAR," and then going on to state that "Boeing et al view it as barrier to entry. They can afford legal staff to deal with ITAR rules. Startups can't."

How does Canada compete in this brave new world of trade barrier regulation masquerading as national security legislation? Not so well, if my November 2nd, 2011 post "Will US Allow Canada to Bid On-Orbit Satellite Servicing Contracts" is anything to go by.

As of now, the prime contractor for the Canadian on-orbit satellite servicing proposal (BC based MacDonald Dettwiler) has no idea if it will be allowed to compete against far less experienced US competitors for this logical follow-on use for iconic CanadArm technology.

Perhaps, what Canada really needs right now, is an ITAR Free CanadArm.

2011-11-22T06:48:00.000-08:00

Space Summits, Communication Networks and the CanadArms Final Resting Place

Here's a short list of items currently being tracked for the Commercial Space blog:

The Canadian Space Summit.

The Canadian Space Society expects over 200 space industry professionals and enthusiasts to converge in Calgary, AB from November 23rd - 25th for the 2011 Canadian Space Summit. The theme is "Big Data from Space and Earth: Challenges and Opportunities" which is a reference to how the data collected through GPS, GIS and remote sensing creates data sets so large that they become awkward to work with using traditional database management tools. The whole question of the use of "big data" is also complicated by the many new data sources which include high resolution remotely sensed imagery, synthetic aperture radar, LiDAR, GPS and others. The conference will include technical sessions on various topics including space commercialization, exploration, life science, education, Earth orbit, astronomy and law and policy.

Defence Minister MacKay.

As discussed in my January 3rd, 2011 post "Advocating DND & CSA Rockets" there has been recent and strong advocacy from both the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Department of National Defence (DND) to fund a Canadian micro-satellite rocket launcher in support of DND communications and space situational awareness requirements. But now, it looks like at least some of the money needed to fund this sort of program will be going south to contribute to a very similar US program. Even worse, according to the November 21st, 2011 Postmedia News article "Military satellite project sparks secrecy concerns," the possible Canadian participation in the US lead Wideband Global SATCOM system has opposition politicians questioning what the program is intended to accomplish, the secrecy surrounding it and who will ultimately control the communications capabilities and/or "cyber-crime" fighting components derived from the program. The Canadian component, valued initially at $477 million CDN and operating under the title "Global Mercury" was announced by Defence Minister Peter MacKay earlier this month, according to the November 14th, 2011 Postmedia News article "Canada puts up $477 million to foil cyber attacks" which included government statements that the program would focus on countering attempts by foreign governments to penetrate military and other government computer systems. However, the US Air Force Space Command Factsheet on Wideband Global SATCOM defines the program as intending to provide "flexible, high-capacity communications for the Nation's warfighters" and mentions no cyber-crime fighting capabilities. According to Postmedia News "Defence sources say the U.S. will control the satellites but allow Canada to transmit information over the system. The rush to sign on to the satellite program was sparked by an ultimatum given to Canada that if it wanted to be involved, it was required to sign a funding agreement by the end of this year."

Speaking of CSA lobbying, the agency has issued a request for proposal (RFP) to set up and display the retired shuttle remote manipulator system (SRMS) or CanadArm from the space shuttle Endeavuor, at CSA headquarters in St Hubert Québec. According to the November 17th, 2011 Spaceref.ca article "Canadian Space Agency Requests Proposals To Display Canadarm At St. Hubert Headquarters" the maximum value of the contract is set at $200,000 CDN. It will be interesting to see if the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, which was originally supposed to receive the CanadArm (until the CSA intervened), or the Downsview based Canadian Air and Space Museum (presently facing the Federal government threat of being closed and converted into a hockey rink) will end up submitting an RPF bid. Certainly both facilities have more expertise to support historical artifacts than does the CSA.

2011-11-19T09:40:00.000-08:00

Space Based Solar Power Findings Finally Released

The US based National Space Society (NSS) and Space Canada, an Ontario based not-for-profit organization advocating space based solar power, are jointly trumpeting recently released findings on what they call a "ground-breaking space solar power study," according to the November 15th, 2011 post on the NSS blog titled "National Space Society Hails Space Solar Power Study Findings."

But of course, the real story isn't so much related to the findings (which were perilously close to being preordained given the longtime public advocacy of the major contributors) but instead involve the potential for international political advocacy that follows from a public report which collects together most of the major literature into a single, referenced document.

According to the press release, this three year, ten nation study, titled "Space Solar Power — The First International Assessment of Space Solar Power: Opportunities, Issues and Potential Pathways Forward,” confirms the "possible" readiness of using space solar power technology within the decade.

The study was conducted by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and co-chaired by John Mankins, a longtime space solar power advocate and the President of ARTEMIS Innovation Management Solutions.

Most of the Canadian contributions came out of the 2009 Space Canada Symposium on Solar Energy from Space, which included presentations from Dr. Richard Peltier, the Director of the Centre for Global Change Science at the University of Toronto; Dr. Robert Zee, the Managing Director of the Space Flight Laboratory at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies; Dan Fortin, the General Manager of IBM Canada; Liberal MP and ex-astronaut Marc Garneau; CBC radio Quirks and Quarks host Bob Macdonald and quite a few others.

According to Colonel M.V. "Coyote" Smith, the Director of the US Air Force Center for Strategy and Technology Project Blue Horizons and a Professor of Strategic Space Studies at the US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies (SAASS):

The long view for Space-Based Solar Power is to develop it into a global wireless power transfer system using the concepts Nikola Tesla demonstrated even before the turn of the 20th Century.

With investments made now, at the turn of the 22nd Century a system of SBSP Satellites on orbit will broadcast safe, clean, electrical energy directly to all devices, vehicles, homes, and businesses on the planet — wirelessly. No wars for energy, plenty of power for desalination, a cleaner environment, fair resource sharing on the planet, and a thriving space economic sector.

Isn't this what government and industry should be working for?

It's taken the major players three years to get to this point. It will be interesting to see their next step.

2011-11-14T20:57:00.000-08:00

Open Season on Canadian Science Policy?

After the Jenkins panel Review of Federal Support to Research and Development (as described in my October 17th, 2001 post "Federal R&D Recommendations Submitted" and the follow-up October 24th, 2011 post "Responding to the Jenkins Panel on R&D"), the initial response from the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) as outlined in the October 17th, 2011 press release "AIAC acknowledges work of the Jenkins Panel on R&D" and the just concluded AIAC organized Canadian Aerospace Summit (as described in my November 7th, 2011 blog post "Aerospace Industries Association of Canada at the Podium"), is there anything about Canadian science policy still to be said?

Marc Garneau.

Of course there is.

According to the November 10th, 2011 Marketwire press release "Politicians, Leaders of Industry, Government and Science Enterprise Will Meet in Ottawa Next Week at CSPC 2011" the next group up to bat is the 2011 Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC 2011), which will be holding an event in Ottawa from November 16th - 18th.

Of particular interest to the space systems industry will be a "non-partisan and cross party discussion" among former scientists and current members of parliament on the interface between science and government. The discussion will include Dr. Marc Garneau, the current MP for Westmount-Ville-Marie and the former head of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Others on the panel include Helene LeBlanc, the MP for LaSalle-Emard and the NDP Science and Technology critic, Dr. Kellie Leitch, the MP for Simcoe-Grey, Dr Reza Moridi, the provincial MPP for Richmond Hill, Ontario and perhaps even Dr. Moira Stilwell, the MLA for Vancouver-Langara, BC who has been invited (but hasn't yet accepted). The panel will be introduced and concluded by Pierre Meulien, the President of Genome Canada.

Other highlights are expected to include:

A discussion on the "Jenkins R&D Review Panel Recommendations - Implications for Canadian Business".

Two plenary sessions focused on "Drivers of Innovation in the Chemical-Related Industry Sector", organized by Chemical Institute of Canada, and "Building Stronger Communities Through Innovation", organized by Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Two receptions including on the "Mingle of Science and Politics" and "Genome Canada."

The Hall of Fame Science and Engineering awards ceremony, which CSPC 2011 will co- host with the Science & Technology Museum and Engineers Canada.

Science policy in Canada is currently governed by the Industry Canada science & technology strategy as outlined in documents like the Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage (May 2007) and the Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage Progress Report (June 2009) which focus primarily on supporting business innovation.

It will be interesting to see if any of these events and reports has an influence upon this longstanding conservative party policy..

2011-11-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

Robot Wars 3: The CanadArm Anniversary

The recent 30th anniversary of the iconic, Canadian built (and recently retired) Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (known nationally as the CanadArm) has provided an occasion to remember the glorious past of the Canadian robotics sector and consider the future, at least according to the November 13th Canadian Press article "Canadarm milestone comes at pivotal moment for robotics."

But before considering the future, Canadian robotics experts might want to take a look at some of the current, immediate competition.

The article quotes Canadian Space Society (CSS) President Kevin Shortt as stating that the original Canadarm was a great piece of equipment that Canadians can be proud of — but it's history. According to Shortt:

We can't continue to keep going back to that because countries like Germany and Japan are hot on the heels of building their own technology in that respect. I think they're knocking on our doorstep.

Here's a sample, from the German Aerospace Centre, of the types of machines that are knocking at our door.

Of course, there are multiple other robots in space and on board the International Space Station (ISS) including the Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) for the ISS Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) module and Robonaut 2, built by the Dextrous Robotics Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC).

There is also the Canadian made CanadArm 2 and the Canadian Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) or DEXTRE. It's worthwhile to compare the operations of the CanadArm to the other examples listed above.

For those looking to learn a little more about Robonaut 2 and DEXTRE, it's worth checking out my April 17th, 2010 post "The Coming Robot Wars."

For those looking to learn a little more about CanadArm developer Macdonald Dettwiler (MDA) and its ongoing problems with follow-on Canadian technology based on the CanadArm, it's worth checking out my October 31st, 2010 post "Robot Wars II: MDA Attacks!"

And anyone looking to learn a little more about about the real state of the art in robotics is encouraged to take a look at the up coming 8th International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots and Ambient Intelligence (URAI), which will be held in Incheon, South Korea from November 23rd - 26th.

2011-11-07T20:31:00.000-08:00

Aerospace Industries Association of Canada at the Podium

As the first step in its federal government supported review of both the "aero" and "space" components of the aerospace industry, the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) took its turn at the podium in Ottawa last week to host the 1st Canadian Aerospace Summit.

Here's a quick overview of some of the things that were said:

Christian Paradis.

According to the November 3rd, 2011 Canadian Press article "Feds say review of Canada's aerospace policies will start, finish in 2012" an "industry person" will lead the sweeping federal review of the country's aerospace policies and the review will both begin and end in 2012. The article quotes AIAC vice-chairman David Schellenberg as stating that he "expects to know the identity of the project leader within weeks" and Industry Minister Christian Paradis as stating that the review will start early next year and is expected to be completed "by the end of the year." The article also quotes Canadian Space Agency (CSA) president Steve MacLean as stating that "there are advantages to having the space sector lumped in with the aerospace industry in the review." According to the article, the CSA head has been working on the space agency's own long-term space plan since 2008 and expects it will be incorporated into an overall aerospace strategy.

Michael Pley.

According to COM DEV International CEO Michael Pley, the federal government should loosen export rules on selling aerospace technology to China in order to allow Canadian firms to cash in on the Asian country’s growing space program. Pley was quoted in the November 3rd, 2011 Ottawa Business Journal article "Export controls hurting aerospace firms, industry reps say" which also quotes CSA president MacLean as stating that his agency is working on a treaty with China to make it easier for the two countries to work together. According to the article, part of the direction for export markets, including China, will come from a long-term space plan that the CSA was first tasked to put together in 2008, but has never released publicly.

Steve MacLean.

According to the November 4th, 2011 Spaceref.ca article "Opportunity and Risk Ahead for Canada's Space Industry" the federal government has a critical but supporting role to play, especially when it comes to helping industry with foreign markets. There are opportunities but there is also risk as the domestic market is small and can't sustain the industry on its own. The comments were made during a panel discussion on "Does Canada need an aerospace industrial base?" The panel members included MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) president of information systems Mag Iskander, Neptec president Iain Christie, Telesat president and CEO Daniel Goldberg plus COM DEV International CEO Michael Pley and was moderated by CSA president Steve MacLean.

It's worth noting that the CSA takes the upcoming review very, very seriously as noted from the comments above and from the timing of the 2010 State of the Canadian Space Sector Report, released to coincide with the aerospace summit.

Of course, the CSA does hope to incorporate many components of its previous studies into both this new review and as part of the assessment of the Jenkins Review (as documented in my October 17th, 2011 post titled "Federal R&D Recommendations Submitted" and the October 24th, 2011 follow-up post "Responding to the Jenkins Panel on R&D") which covers much the same territory.

But it's also worth noting my February 15th, 2010 post titled "Ottawa Citizen: "Where did that Long Term Space Plan Go?" where I said that:

... if Canada does not define a long term space plan, private business and academia will soon go about creating their own ... Dr. MacLean might need to respond to these rising calls for a long term space plan soon, or else risk becoming irrelevant to the debate.

It's a shame and it might not be their fault, but the window of opportunity seems to have closed on the CSA. The AIAC and others, mainly foreign governments and businesses, now seem to control our space destiny.

2011-11-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

Canadian Aerospace History Website Now Promoting DC Prostitutes

J. A. D. McCurdy looking grim.

Less than two years after winding down the festivities, Transport Canada has allowed the domain registration for its website promoting the "2009 Canadian Centennial of Flight" to lapse. But while the current owner continues to maintain the original content, the site now also contains links to a variety of escorts, infomercials and unrelated services.

The original site included links to events marking the 100th Anniversary of the first powered, heavier-than-air, controlled flight in Canada by J.A.D. McCurdy in the Silver Dart in 1909 plus sponsor links to the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (which still considers it to be a website of interest), the Air Cadet League of Canada, the Air Force Association of Canada, the Air Transport Association of Canada (ATAC), the Canada Aviation Museum, the Department of National Defence, Tim Horton's and quite a few others.

But now the site now also contains links to unrelated advertisers, various DC and Istanbul based escort services and a disclaimer from the new owners which states:

We bought this domain after expiration so it's not our fault that you lost it. We put old content for this domain only to avoid losing good quality of it from SEO point of view. If it's a problem for you contact us ASAP!

The new disclaimer also includes a contact e-mail for mstarowsky@gmail.com but e-mails sent to this address have so far elicited no response. A quick google search on the e-mail address provides a variety of broken links, sex focused websites and at least one other website (the Jessy's Pizza website) with an expired domain name and the same message.

The site still retains the phone number for the Transport Canada Communications Centre (the original domain owner and administrator of the site) in the for more information section, but the TCCC has so far declined to comment on the new content or ownership.

Web information company GoDaddy.com lists the present Canadian Centennial of Flight site owner to be Namespro Solutions, a "wholly Canadian owned domain service provider and a CIRA certified registrar."

The domain is listed as being available for an annual $11.99 USD fee.

There are of course, many other websites and options for people looking to find out more about the 2009 Canadian Centennial of Flight or Canadian aviation history in general such as:

The various websites listed in the Aviation.ca listing of Canadian aviation history sites.
The Canadian Aeronautical Preservation Association (CAPA).
The CANAV books blog, which bills itself as "Canada's Centennial of Flight book publisher."
The Canadian Aviation Historical Society.
The Facebook Canadian Centennial of Flight Time Capsule Group.
The Flight of the Silver Dart website.
The Vintage Wings of Canada Hawk One website.

There is also the Canadian Air & Space Museum (CASM) in Downview Ontario, at least for the next little while.

As outlined in my September 21st, 2011 post "Canadian Aerospace Heritage or Hockey Rink" and the follow-up October 31st, 2011 article "Threatened Museum Receives Smithsonian Support" the CASM is presently in a life and death battle for survival with landlord Parc Downsview Park (PDP), a federal crown corporation which wants to build a four rink ice complex on the existing museum site.

Here's a link to the November 3rd, 2011 Goldhawk Fights Back program, which features PDP chairman David Soknacki defending this recent actions and attempting to provide an underlying context for the PDP decision.

It's interesting listening (and Soknacki seems to be having a difficult time independently validating many of his assumptions) but doesn't once mention DC escorts.

Such a shame.

2011-11-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Will US Allow Canada to Bid On-Orbit Satellite Servicing Contracts?

The November 1st, 2011 Space News article "MDA Puts Satellite Servicing on Hold; Reports Core Businesses Doing Well" is reporting that BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) has suspended its on-orbit satellite servicing program until the company knows whether it will be allowed to bid on upcoming US government contracts.

Of course, this isn't how things were supposed to shake out. As discussed in my March 15th, 2011 post "Macdonald Dettwiler gets "Anchor Customer" for Brampton Robotics Plant" the original plan was pitched as a partnership with satellite services provider Intelsat S.A for the on-orbit refueling and servicing of Intelsat satellites.

But times and politics change and while the Intelsat partnership remains in place, the focus has now shifted to obtaining additional revenue from US contracts. According to the article:

NASA and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are expected to release requests for bids for a satellite servicing test project in the coming weeks. But whether MDA, as a Canadian company, will be permitted to bid on the work remains unclear. MDA has increased the U.S. content — and thus the development cost — of the system in an attempt to get U.S. regulatory approval.

(MDA CEO Dan) Friedmann said MDA has all but put the project on hold while waiting to see how NASA and DARPA proceed.

"It is not prudent for us to proceed without getting clarity from the government and clarity on our participation in those programs,” Friedmann said. “We have an excellent customer, Intelsat. They do not have infinite patience, but they are patient."

Canadian support for the project remains minimal with no official, public endorsements from either the Canadian government or the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Now might be the time for them to step up to the plate to support this logical progression of iconic Canadarm technology.

2011-10-31T14:15:00.000-07:00

Threatened Museum Receives Smithsonian Support

"Jack" Dailey.

The Canadian Air & Space Museum (CASM), threatened with permanent closure by federal crown corporation and landlord Parc Downsview Park (PDP), which hopes to build a four rink ice complex on the site, has received a letter of support from the director of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, DC.

The October 31st, 2011 Canadian Press article "Threatened Toronto museum gets vote of support from director of Smithsonian" quotes an October 25th, 2011 letter from NASM director John R. "Jack" Dailey to CASM chairman Ian McDougall stating that he was very aware of the lasting contribution of the Toronto museum and the historic value of the building.

The museum is housed in what was once the original factory for de Havilland Aircraft of Canada and the original home of Spar Aerospace (which started out as the special products applied research division of De Havilland and built the Allouette 1 satellite). The hangar is the oldest surviving aircraft factory building in Canada.

While Dailey did not explicitly call for the Canadian federal government (which directly controls all federal crown corporations) to cancel its plans, he did call for decision-makers to consider the building's historical value.

Unfortunately, in Canada at least, the heritage status of the building is currently in dispute. According to the October 29th, 2011 Toronto Star article "Air and Space Museum heads for demolition amid heritage status confusion" the proof of the building’s heritage status seems to have vanished. According to the article:

Until Oct. 26, the building was listed as “a recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations and its architectural and environmental value” on the Canada Historic Places website.

This has been called an error by Parks Canada, the federal agency that oversees heritage sites. The entry in the official register of the agency’s Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office is gone.

David Soknacki, the chair of Parc Downsview Park, the Crown corporation in charge of the redevelopment, has said the building is not currently a heritage building.

However, the City of Toronto still lists the building on its inventory of heritage properties.

There is also the question of where the exhibits currently housed in the museum will be relocated should the building close. Displays include dozens of reproductions, full sized models and working aircraft from the last hundred years. The estimated cost of moving these items approaches one half million CDN dollars according to CASM estimates.

PDP has offered storage space at 40 Carl Hall Road, just down the street from the present museum but access to the offered storage is through a loading dock with doors which are too small to fit many of the displays and working aircraft.

2011-10-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

Weather Sats, CSA Contracts, Isle of Mann, New Magellan Facility & John MacDonald

Here's a short list of five items currently being tracked in the Commercial Space blog.

The NPOESS NPP satellite.

The Quebec City office of international Swiss/ Swedish based ABB Group is justifiably proud of their contribution to the NASA National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP), which rocketed into orbit on October 28th, 2011 aboard a Delta 2 launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. The ABB contribution is an interferometer component of the larger Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), a fourier transform spectrometer, which will collect data on more than 30 different climate variables including surface temperatures, global ice cover, atmospheric ozone levels and vegetative productivity. The system was originally intended to serve as a test bed for technologies expected to be used aboard future weather satellites such as the NOAA/ NASA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) and the US Defense Department's Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS). However, the October 28th, 2011 Popular Mechanics article "NASA Launches NPP Polar Orbiter - But are Future Studies in in Doubt" suggests that, with NASA’s current polar orbiters near the end of their operational lifetimes, the experimental NPP satellite could soon end up in an operational role "providing data critical to both short-term weather forecasting and long-term climate science."

Speaking of contracts, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has just awarded six small contracts to four organizations for concept studies in areas "related to future space exploration ventures" according to the October 27th, 2011 CSA press release "Canadian Space Agency Invests in Exploration Ideas." The $250,000 CDN contracts were snagged by Macdonald Dettwiler (one, called the "Clear Sky Project," focused on orbital debris clearance and a second for on-orbit automated servicing to demonstrate "critical technologies and techniques required to capture a satellite"), Com Dev International (one contract to demonstrate the techniques for orbital debris elimination and a second for a Canadian-led space telescope smaller than the Hubble Space Telescope, but with wider panoramic views and comparable sharpness), ABB Canada (for a compact fourier transform spectrometer, which seems to be an ABB area of expertise) and the University of Alberta (for a radiation detection system pitched as suitable for use aboard the International Space Station and future Moon and Mars missions). There is very little new here (for example, the MDA contracts seem direct progressions of skill-sets developed using the CanadArm II to dock unmanned modules aboard the ISS, which are in practical use now and certainly developed far beyond the need for a "concept study") but it's nice to see that the CSA doesn't want to be completely left behind as Canadian space system companies begin to roll-out new projects.

Speaking of new products, the October 26th, 2011 University of Mississippi School of Law hosted Res Communis blog article "First Isle of Man Satellite Launched" reports that the first satellite to use an Isle of Man licensed orbital filing was the ViaSat-1, launched October 19th, 2011 and considered the the world’s highest capacity broadband satellite. Partners in the project include US based Space Systems Loral, Canadian based telecom giant Telsat, and French based satellite provider Eutelsat. “ViaSat-1 is a next generation, high throughput satellite that will provide fast and affordable broadband service to all Canadians,” according to Telesat President and CEO Dan Goldberg.

Magellan Aerospace executives couldn't wait for the actual completion of its new Advanced Composite Manufacturing Centre in Winnipeg according to the October 25th, 2011 Ottawa Citizen article "Magellan Aerospace Holds Ceremony For Its Not Yet Completed Advanced Composite Manufacturing Centre." According to the article, the 138,000 square foot Winnipeg facility "is in the final stages of being equipped with advanced technology for the manufacture of complex composite fabrication and assemblies. When fully commissioned it will be one of the most advanced composite manufacturing and assembly centres in North America." The new facility is expected to produce F-35 Lightning II horizontal tail components.

Dr. John MacDonald.

John MacDonald might currently be the chairman and CEO of Day 4 Energy, a global provider of solar photovoltaic products and might also have just been awarded the Leadership Award in recognition of the contributions he has made to B.C. exports throughout his career as reported in the October 28th, 2011 Vancouver Sun article "BC Export Award winners announced." But a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, MacDonald also co-founded MDA, Canada’s second largest space technology company after Telsat, so it's nice to see that he's still going strong.

2011-10-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

Responding to the Jenkins Panel on R&D

It's been just over a week since the October 17th, 2011 press release on the Review of Federal Support to Research and Development website announced the completion of the Jenkins' panel comprehensive review of federal R&D programs.

Here's a quick sampling of some of the comments the panel report has so far provoked:

The Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) promised only to review the recommendations according to it's October 17th, 2011 press release "AIAC acknowledges work of the Jenkins Panel on R&D." Specific areas of concern were listed as being the suggested changes to the SR&ED federal tax credit system and the revised role being proposed for the National Research Council (NRC). According to the AIAC press release "the timing of the report is beneficial as AIAC is preparing for the review of aerospace policies and programs announced in the 2011 budget." As outlined in my May 30th, 2011 post "Political 'Reviews' Moving to the Forefront" the Jenkins review is not the only report related to Canadian R&D which is expected to be released over the next 12-18 months.

On the other hand, the Canadian Association of Defense and Security Industries (CADSI), which bills itself as the “voice” of the Canadian defense and security industries, seems to look favorably on the report, at least according the October 17th, 2011 press release "Federal Innovation Report Provides Key Elements To Industrial Success For Canadian Defence and Security Companies." The press release quotes CADSI president Tim Page as welcoming "the federal government’s release of the Report of the Expert Panel on Government Support to Research and Development as an important step towards making our country and our economy stronger."

The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) has also come out inn favor of the Jenkins panel review according to the October 17th, 2011 press release "AUCC applauds expert panel’s vision for innovation." According to the AUCC president Paul Davidson, the "panel’s analysis reaffirms the leading role that Canada’s universities play in providing the talent, discovery and ideas that serve as the cornerstone of our economy and society.”

The mass media also seems to have strong opinions about what the Jenkins panel review means. According to the October 17th, 2011 Financial Post (FP) article "Canada’s R&D funding system ‘unnecessarily complicated,’ panel finds" the real conclusion is that "Canadian entrepreneurs looking to get federal R&D support had better be comfortable pushing through piles of paperwork." A day later, in the October 18th, 2011 PT editorial comment "Dim-bulb R&D policy" the paper laments that "Jenkins’ mandate never included scrapping the whole bad idea" of SH&RD tax credits.

According to the October 17th, 2011 post on the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce website under the title “Shaping the Future of Canadian Innovation: The Jenkins Panel Report Deloitte" the accounting firm Deloitte Canada comments the panel "on its consultative approach in developing its recommendations" and applauds "the suggestions to increase the availability of funds to start-up and later stage companies, and increase the government’s procurement." However, the company also found that while "simplifying the SR&ED program is a great objective" it may "create a bias in the program towards labour-intensive sectors at the expense of non-labour intensive industries" and did not "explicitly deal with approaches to making Canada more attractive to foreign investment."

Both the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) and FPInnovations feel "the report is an important step forward in discussing ways to improve federal support for innovation and help the forest industry transform and benefit from the promising opportunities in the emerging bio-economy" according to the October 18th, 2011 Canadian News Wire (CNW) press release "Forest industry on Jenkins Report: Focused investments in innovation key to Canadian competitiveness."

So far the public statements have been pretty tame. Expect the next round of public statements to be less so.

This next round will begin in early November, just in time for the 1st Canadian Aerospace Summit (organized by the AIAC), the 2011 Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC), the INNOVATION 2011 conference (organized by the Alliance for Commercialization of Canadian Technologies) and the 2011 Canadian Space Summit. Each will each bring together enough interested people to revisit R&D innovation issues.

Then the real sparks will begin to fly.

2011-10-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

Abu Dhabi Bullish on Virgin Galactic

Abu Dhabi based investment company Aabar Investments has boosted its stake in space tourism company Virgin Galactic by an additional $110 million USD to bring it's total equity in the company to 37.8% from 31.8%.

According to the October 19th, 2011 Wall Street Journal MarketWatch article "Abu Dhabi's Aabar boosts Virgin Galactic stake," Aabar made the additional $110 million investment in Virgin Galactic in July, 2011.

The original July 2009 investment included an Aabar commitment of $100 million USD to fund a "small satellite launch capability" plus money for construction of a spaceport in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Other publicly announced Virgin Galactic launch sites include:

The Mojave Air and Spaceport, where prime contractor Scaled Composites is constructing the spacecraft and conducting test flights
Spaceport America in New Mexico, which is listed as the primary commercial facility.
Spaceport Sweden in Europe.

According to the October 20th, 2011 post in the Space Business Blog titled "Investing in Virgin Galactic" there are three possible reasons for this additional investment:

Preparations for new growth ( such as nanosat launch vehicles or other new products).
Paying for the delays in reaching commercial operations for its suborbital product.
Building up a war chest for a rainy day (when money is available sometimes you just take it).

Cost overruns and schedule delays seem to be a permanent fixture of space programs (check out the May 4th, 2011 post on the Parabolic Arc website titled "A Look at Cost Overuns and Schedule Delays in Major Space Programs" and the follow up October 21st, 2011 article "Is Richard Branson Hearing Footsteps?" if you believe otherwise). It's therefore likely that this additional cash infusion is simply paying for the earlier delays.

The new investment information was released as part of a prospectus for a planned bond sale by Aabar's parent, the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).

2011-10-17T22:24:00.000-07:00

Federal R&D Recommendations Submitted

As outlined in this blog many times (but stated most succinctly in my February 27th 2011 blog post "Two Billion Dollars for the Canadian Space Agency Part 2: What Our Federal Government Thinks!"), the Canadian government considers the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to be a small part of the larger subset of research and development agencies to which it already allocates several billion dollars each year.

Minister of State for S&T Gary Goodyear.

These agencies are each governed by the current Industry Canada science & technology strategy as outlined in documents like the Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage (May 2007) and the Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage Progress Report (June 2009) which focus primarily on supporting business innovation.

This current system isn't well respected by Canadian space systems companies as outlined in my March 2nd, 2011 Spaceref.ca article "Top Space Focused Companies Critical of Federal Research and Development Funding."

But now, according to the October 17th, 2011 press release on the Review of Federal Support to Research and Development website, a comprehensive review of federal programs that support business innovation has called for "a simplified and more focused approach to the $5 billion worth of R&D funding provided by the federal government every year" and formally presented this report to the Minister of State for Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear.

P. Thomas Jenkins.

The report, chaired by P. Thomas Jenkins, the executive chairman and chief strategy officer of Waterloo based Open Text Corporation (and supported by submissions from 228 organizations including multiple space systems companies), makes six major recommendations as follows:

The creation of an Industrial Research and Innovation Council (IRIC) to deliver the federal government's business innovation programs. According to the report, "there are currently more than 60 programs across 17 different government departments. The creation of an arm's-length funding and delivery agency – the Industrial Research and Innovation Council – would begin to streamline the process as the development of a common application portal and service to help businesses find the right programs for their needs."

Make "business innovation" one of the core objectives of this new organization.

Transform the National Research Council (NRC) into a series of large-scale, collaborative centres involving business, universities and the provinces. According to the report "the NRC can play a unique role, linking its large-scale, long-term research activity with the academic and business communities. The panel recommends evolving NRC institutes, consistent with the current strategic direction, into not-for-profit centres run with stakeholders, and incorporating its public policy research into other departments."

Simplify of the tax credit system used to support small and medium-sized businesses. According to the report "the current Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) program is unnecessarily complicated."

Assist high-growth innovative firms to access the risk capital they need through the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). According to the report "innovative Canadian companies face real challenges in getting start-up funding and late stage risk capital financing. In many cases, the gap is filled by foreign investors, which means that too many commercial benefits and intellectual property end up leaving the country. Directing the BDC to work with angel investor groups and develop late-stage risk capital/growth equity funds will pay dividends."

Establish a clear federal voice for innovation and work with the provinces to improve coordination. According to the report "The Prime Minister should assign responsibility for innovation to a single minister, supported by a whole-of-government Innovation Advisory Committee, evolved from the current Science Technology and Innovation Council (STIC), composed of external stakeholders, who would then work with the provincial and territorial governments to initiate a collaborative dialogue to improve coordination and impact."

The full report, titled "Innovation Canada: A Call to Action – Expert Panel Report" is available on the Review of Federal Support to Research and Development website.

Assuming that the Federal government response to this report is positive, it looks like the Canadian space systems industry is finally going to end up having research and development concerns addressed.

Stay tuned.

2011-10-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

The Confusing Geopolitics of Canadian Space

Two breaking stories are only the most recent reminders of the internationally confusing geopolitical nature of current Canadian space activities. This situation complicates Canadian space policy and drives up procurement costs for Canadian satellites.

James Fergusson.

For example, the October 16th 2011 Canadian Press story "Did Canada punish Russia for 2008 Georgia invasion by moving satellite" quotes Dr. James Fergusson, the Director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba on his assessment of a recently leaked US diplomatic cable from Ottawa.

According to Fergusson, the Oct. 6th, 2008 cable (classified as secret, but released publicly by the Wikileaks website on August 11th 2011 under the headline: "Canada considering space launch alternatives due to Russia's invasion of Georgia") indicates that "Canada attempted to sanction Russia for its 2008 invasion of Georgia by switching to India for the launch of SAPPHIRE, this country's first military satellite."

The Surveillance of Space (SAPPHIRE) satellite project, the Canadian contribution to the United States Space Surveillance Network (SSN), was originally expected to be placed into orbit using a Russian spacecraft "in late 2009 or early 2010" but the cable indicated that this would not occur "due to the Russian invasion of Georgia."

The Indian Polar Satellite Lunch Vehicle (PSLV).

The cable also asked if the US, "intends to broaden its bilateral safeguards to permit satellite launches from India."

The Americans must have been OK with that since, according to the March 29th, 2011 SpaceRef.ca article "MDA to Provide Operations and Maintenance Support for DND Sapphire Satellite System," the SAPPHIRE satellite is now scheduled for launch sometime after the second quarter of 2012 aboard the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

While the stretching out of the launch schedule is certainly going to increase overall project costs, the most interesting part of this story is that the "bilateral safeguards" instituted by the US allowed for the launch of Canadian military satellites in Russia but not India in 2008.

So Canada needed to ask for permission.

Of course, this isn't the first time that Wikileaks cables have mentioned the Canadian government and it's confusing international connections. My May 16th, 2011 post "Wikileaks, Defense, Awards, Astronauts, Announcements, Museums and Politics" discussed secret US embassy cables released by Wikileaks which "show nations are racing to "carve up" Arctic resources, oil, gas and even rubies, as the ice retreats" but also indicated that the US government doesn't take Arctic sovereignty pronouncements by the Canadian Federal government seriously.

This begins to make more sense when you consider that Canada seems to essentially require US permission to launch military satellites. It's quite likely that bilateral agreements are also in place to limit and restrict Canadian sovereignty activities in other areas.

Which brings us to our second, breaking story.

According to the October 14th, 2011 Ottawa Citizen post "Thales Wins RADARSAT Contract" the European based Thales Alenia Space Group (Thales) has just won a series of "major contracts worth more than 7 million Euros" to supply S-Band data communications systems for at least two future optical reconnaissance (CSO) satellites for the French Armed Forces and their European partners (as part of the French contribution to the Multinational Space-based Imaging System constellation) and for the three RADARSAT Earth observation satellites scheduled to be constructed as part of the RADARSAT Constellation program by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA)."

S-Band data communications systems were originally developed for the Apollo program by NASA and operate in the S band portion of the microwave spectrum. According to Wikipedia, the S band "is used by weather radar, surface ship radar, and some communications satellites, especially those used by NASA to communicate with the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station."

According to the Ottawa Citizen article (which refers to this October 10th, 2011 press release on the Thales website), Thales has:

... signed agreements with the companies Astrium SAS (a subsidiary of the European based Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. or EADS) and Bristol Aerospace (the Winnipeg based subsidiary of Magellan Aerospace) to start the development, manufacture and supply of a total of 10 equipments, (four for the two CSO satellites and six for the three RADARSAT satellites), plus 2 optional equipment for the third possible CSO satellite.

The Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TTC) data communications equipment to be supplied are the latest generation technology developed by the Spanish company (the Espana division of Thales), with application in Earth observation and science missions, telecommunications and space vehicles; they are currently in operation on board the CryoSat satellite for European Space Agency (ESA) and Aquarius SAC / D satellite for the Argentina Space Agency (CONAE) and NASA.

Oddly enough, as outlined in my October 10th, 2011 post "SAR Satellite Designers Living in Interesting Times" a different EADS division (the UK based Surrey Satellite Technology or SSTL) has just announced it's intent to "build, insure and launch" the next generation of SAR satellites (of which RADARSAT is an example) for less than 50M euros each, which is less than half the cost overall for most existing SAR satellites.

The SSTL proposal is 1/3 of the present estimated cost of the Canadian designed and build RADARSAT's so it will be interesting to see if RADARSAT prime contractor MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) is able to shop around for the best price on other components through alternative suppliers like SSTL or if the just announced Thales contract includes a clause that restricts this.

How's that for confusing and complicated?

2011-10-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

SAR Satellite Designers Living in Interesting Times

Representatives at BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA), presently under contract with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to construct the next generation RADARSAT Constellation series of three synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites (with an estimated total cost of $600M CDN), have so far turned down a request to comment on the October 3rd, 2011 BBC News article "Surrey to start making radar satellites."

The article focuses on UK based Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) and it's intent to "build, insure and launch" the next generation of SAR satellites for less than 50M euros each.

C-Band RADARSAT 2 image.

The SSTL proposal is 1/3 of the estimated cost of the Canadian designed and build RADARSAT's.

However, the article provided few details of the new SSTL design or capabilities and included no listing of potential clients or information on how the project would be funded.

The announcement was made by Luis Gomes, the head of Earth observation at SSTL, during an SSTL presentation at the recently concluded 62nd International Astronautical Congress. According to the BBC article:

SSTL's decision is fascinating because radar satellites have traditionally been big, power-hungry beasts. It takes a lot of energy to generate the pulses and then to process the echo returns. The problem for SSTL has been in devising a package that is relatively small and inexpensive - the company's trademarks.

According to Gnomes, "we've addressed this by using new technology - new types of amplifier from commercial terrestrial applications in telecommunications."

SSTL , a spin-off company of the University of Surrey, rose to prominence by building and operating small, inexpensive micro-satellites utilizing low cost manufacturing methodologies. These methodologies are today the basis for ongoing satellite design and development activities at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) and other organizations around the world. SSTL is presently a subsidiary of the global pan-European aerospace and defense corporation European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS).

It will be interesting to see if this is simply another power-point pitch by a company interested in outside funding or if maybe, just maybe, SSTL is using the lessons learned from two decades of low cost microsat manufacturing to begin lowering the cost of building useful, commercial satellites.

Stay tuned.

2011-10-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

Important Space Focused Events this November

Almost 40 events are being tracked for our October 7th, 2011 Space Conference News listing of "Upcoming Events for the Month of November 2011" and quite a few of these are focused specifically on targeted areas of the Canadian space systems industry. For example:

Retired NASA astronaut Gene Cernan.

The 1st Canadian Aerospace Summit, organized by the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC), will be held in Ottawa, ON from November 2nd - 3rd. This event focuses primarily on the "aero" component of the aerospace industry but is at least making the attempt to cater to the Canadian space systems industry with Canadian Space Agency President (CSA) Steve MacLean scheduled to moderate the "Space Leaders Panel" and ex-US astronaut Eugene A. Cernan ("the last man on the Moon" and a strong advocate of the cancelled NASA Constellation program) scheduled as keynote speaker for the gala dinner. Other speakers include Federal Minister of Industry Christian Paradis, Pratt & Whitney Canada President John Saabas, Bombardier Aerospace president and COO Guy Hachey, Airbus President of Procurement David Williams and Export Development Canada President & CEO Stephen Poloz. The core focus is on on opportunities to meet and interact with procurement executives and government representatives from Industry Canada’s Industrial & Regional Benefits (IRB) branch, Export Development and Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). Maybe next year, once they've got a bit more confidence under their belt, the AIAC will feature a Canadian astronaut as their keynote speaker.

The 3rd International, Interdisciplinary, Congress on Space Debris Remediation will be held in Montreal, PQ from November 11th - 12th. This event is organized by the McGill University Institute of Air and Space Law, the Cologne University Institute of Air and Space Law and the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety. This widely respected legal event is co-sponsored by the Erin JC Arsenault Trust Fund and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will be holding a Canadian Workshop on Composite Structures and Materials for Space Applications in St-Hubert, PQ, from November 14th - 15th. The forum will include presentations on state-of-the-art composite structure technology from Canadian companies, the potential applications in aeronautics and astronautics plus possible uses for the technology in upcoming Canadian space missions. It's one of a series of events the CSA organizes throughout the year and a good introduction to what our space agency does and how private firms and researchers can contribute to space exploration.

The 2011 Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC) will be held in Ottawa, ON from November 16th - 18th. It bills itself a "multidisciplinary, multi-sector national forum on science, technology and innovation policy in Canada," and has achieved international recognition in only three short years of existence. The focus is on science, politics and culture, enabling private sector innovation and the major issues confronting current Canadian science policy with speakers including Federal Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear plus over 70 other experts on public, academic and private sector issues surrounding science and technology development in Canada.

INNOVATION 2011, organized by the Alliance for Commercialization of Canadian Technologies (ACCT), an advocacy group focused on "the interface of academic research-industry engagement and research discovery mobilization" will be held in Montreal, PQ from November 20th - 22nd. This is a networking and professional development conference that "draws from the global community of technology transfer and industry engagement practitioners from academia, industry and government as well as venture investors and other managers of Canada’s intellectual assets." This might sound kind of dry, but the documents and presentations from the INNOVATION 2010 conference, are a useful compilation of best practices related to innovation projects, collaboration initiatives and the Canadian Innovation Collaboration Program which makes this years program worth attending. The higher proportion of venture capitalists at this conference are also useful for start-ups looking for funding.

The 2011 Canadian Space Summit, focused on the challenges and opportunities surrounding the collection of "Big Data from Space and Earth" will be held in Calgary, Alberta from November 23rd – 25th. I'll be devoting a future post to this event so stay tuned.

If your event is not on this list and you'd like it to be, please send an e-mail to mr.chuck.black@gmail.com describing the event and I'll include it in an upcoming blog post.

The next listing of conferences, covering the December 2011 period, should be ready for publication in Space Conference News around the middle of November.

2011-10-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

Canadians and Norwegians Building Rockets

As the Canadian student participants of the fourth session of the Canada-Norway Student Rocket Programme (CaNoRock) slowly trickle back into Canada from their October 2nd - 7th field trip to the Andoya Rocket Range (Andoya) in Norway, CaNoRock organizers have issued a call for participation in the fifth session, scheduled for January 16th - 20th, 2012.

The exchange program is a partnership between the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Oslo and Andoya which provides undergraduate university students a week at Andoya gaining hands-on experience in sounding rocket and payload instrument design. Participants earn course credit for completing the program, which is funded through the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the University of Alberta Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund.

According to the October 7th, 2011 post on the Institute of Space Science, Exploration and Technology (ISSET) at the University of Alberta website titled "CaNoRock 5," the closing date for applications for the upcoming session is October 26th.

The intent of the program, according to the "Introduction to the CaNaRock Program" course outline, is to motivate undergraduate students to specialize in space focused technologies:

Most countries in the western world strive to motivate young people to choose natural science and technical studies. A lack of highly educated employers can become a problem if the western countries intend to maintain a leading role in the technical development. The field of space research and space utilization is not an exception.

Norway and Canada intend to be in the forefront, thus they have invested resources in a program to motivate young students to seek a career within the space research field – the CaNoRock program.

The program also also includes background information and practical experience with other platforms such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Long Duration Balloons.

Potential applicants are encouraged to check out the ISSET website for more information.

2011-10-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

Reality and the 100 Year Starship Symposium

Campaigning liberal leader Dalton McGuinty.

It's fascinating to compare the reality of the Canadian space systems industry with the Star Trek "fantasy" driving most space focused media coverage.

The reality is best typified by the September 29th, 2011 Brampton Guardian article "Tax credit linked to jobs" and the follow-on article "Leaders hit Brampton, Again. Both articles focus on the upcoming Ontario provincial election (scheduled for October 6th) and several recent election stops made by incumbent Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to the MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) Brampton facility.

Neither article acknowledged the important role MDA plays within the Canadian space systems industry. Nor was there any mention of some of the contracts that MDA has undertaken for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), its ambitious plans for a private on-orbit satellite servicing program in partnership with satellite services provider Intelsat (as outlined in my April 3rd, 2011 post "A Backgrounder for On-Orbit Satellite Servicing") or even of the jobs that these contracts create.

Instead, the focus of both articles was on provincial liberal party proposals related to generic undefined jobs, generic job creation and the appropriate tax credits needed to ensure that more and more undefined and generic jobs continue to be created.

This is the reality of the Canadian space systems industry. It's job creation (sometimes assisted by public money) just so long as no one mentions the specific type of job being created.

Of course, the fantasy of our space future is always far more fun to contemplate and certainly the best example of that has been the recently concluded "100 Year Starship Study Public Symposium," which just finished up two days of public presentations at the Hilton Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

According to science fiction author David Brin, the focus of the symposium is to identify bottlenecks in future technologies which need to be addressed before interstellar travel can be seriously contemplated.

Brin also suggests that private funding, supplied by a "new aristocracy" of billionaires such as Elon Musk (who is currently CEO/ CTO of Space Exploration Technologies), Jeff Bezos (who founded the human spaceflight startup company Blue Origin) and others will facilitate the vision outlined by the symposium.

Which seems fair enough. Government money is drying up and some of "new aristocracy" are funding game changing new space activities now.

But the media sees things differently. According to the NY1.com website article "100 Year Starship Symposium Considers Mankind's Next Step" it's simply a question of "whether humans will be traveling to the stars or even living on them in 100 years" which, of course, sounds far more fanciful.

Living on the stars? That's even better than dancing with them!

The article, in typical mass media fashion, then goes on to state that "Some may question why it’s worth spending money exploring space at a time when so many are out of work..."

The answer to that question is obvious.

As described in my July 25th, 2011 post " Metrics on The Canadian Commercial Space Sector Part 2: The "Three Kings" of Canadian Space Activities," the 140 companies and organizations listed in the Canadian Space Directory as being part of the Canadian commercial space sector are consistently growing faster than the economy as a whole and this growth is also reflected in the higher than average growth of the international space sector.

Space activities create jobs and someone should mention this over and over again to our mass media representatives and our elected politicians until they get the point or are replaced by those who do.

Then and only then, will we be in a position to really grow our Canadian space systems industry and it's international equivalents.