More Radarsat, Hadfield, Launch Delays and Profitable Dealmaking
Collin Kenny.
Here's a quick listing of stories currently being tracked for the Commercial Space blog:
The latest "mass media" editorial to come out in favor of the stalled Radarsat Constellation (RCM) program is the November 25th, 2012 Ottawa Citizen article "Canada needs new satellite eyes." Written by Liberal party senator Colin Kenny, the former chair of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, the article focuses on the military ramifications and expected job losses should the program become permanently derailed. While some of the statistics used to bolster the overall arguments seem excessively inflated (such as the statement that
"at stake in this venture are over 1000 jobs") it is certainly helpful to see a continued interest in this area from Federal politicians.
Of course, RCM isn't the totality of the Federal government space program. Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Chris Hadfield is also waiting patiently for a ride aboard the upcoming Expedition 34/35 long duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The current schedule is for Hadfield to launch December 19th, 2012 from Kazakhstan to carry out scientific experiments, operate the Canadarm2, perform other robotics tasks as required and oversee operations as the first Canadian ISS commander beginning in March 2013.
Meanwhile, back in the private sector, there seems to be a great deal of money to be made in the space industry, especially if you're able to sell into the US. For example, according to the November 26th, 2012 4-Traders website article "COMDEV wins follow-on contract for U.S. Government Satellite Program," Cambridge based COMDEV International has been "has been awarded a follow-on contract to deliver active and passive microwave equipment in support of a major U.S. Government procurement" with a full contract value of up to $19M CDN.
Richmond based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) might also have received an early holiday gift. As outlined in the November 20th article "ABS Gets Loans to Build Three Sats: MDA, SpaceX, Boeing Set to Benefit," on the NewSpace Watch website, Asia Broadcast Satellite Ltd. has just received a $461M USD loan from the US Import/ Export Bank to build three
communications satellites. One loan, for $171M USD's will cover the completion of
the ABS-2 communications satellite, currently being built by SS/Loral, which was
recently purchased by MDA.
When you pass along essentially accusatory comments like the one from SpaceRef, that "the currently anticipated launch date [for Sapphire, NEOSSat, CanX 3A & 3B] is four full years behind schedule...", you really should dig a bit deeper. What does "four years behind schedule" mean here? The SpaceRef article didn't clarify that (I've already pointed that out to the author there).
This could be taken to be an accusation that ISRO is four years late in providing a launch for a set of Canadian satellites, which were sitting on the shelf waiting all this time. But that's definitely not the case! Two of those satellite were not even completed and ready to launch until this year. (And one of them may still not be quite through its final testing.) If the PSLV C20 launch had happened 4 years ago, *none* of the Canadian satellites would have been aboard, as none of them would have been built yet.
Or, it could be taken as an accusation that the satellites involved are four years behind on their design and build schedule, and that the launcher has been waiting for the satellites to be ready. There is *something* to that, for some of the satellites spent an awfully long time in their "pre-build" procurement phase (basically, the Canadian government spent far too long deciding on how to let contracts for them). However, four years ago the build contracts for these had only recently been awarded; while their design/build phases took somewhat longer than the original optimistic estimates, there has been nothing like a 4-year slip in those schedules.
So, what does the "four years behind schedule" mean? I can't figure it out.
Chuck;
ReplyDeleteWhen you pass along essentially accusatory comments like the one from SpaceRef, that "the currently anticipated launch date [for Sapphire, NEOSSat, CanX 3A & 3B] is four full years behind schedule...", you really should dig a bit deeper. What does "four years behind schedule" mean here? The SpaceRef article didn't clarify that (I've already pointed that out to the author there).
This could be taken to be an accusation that ISRO is four years late in providing a launch for a set of Canadian satellites, which were sitting on the shelf waiting all this time. But that's definitely not the case! Two of those satellite were not even completed and ready to launch until this year. (And one of them may still not be quite through its final testing.) If the PSLV C20 launch had happened 4 years ago, *none* of the Canadian satellites would have been aboard, as none of them would have been built yet.
Or, it could be taken as an accusation that the satellites involved are four years behind on their design and build schedule, and that the launcher has been waiting for the satellites to be ready. There is *something* to that, for some of the satellites spent an awfully long time in their "pre-build" procurement phase (basically, the Canadian government spent far too long deciding on how to let contracts for them). However, four years ago the build contracts for these had only recently been awarded; while their design/build phases took somewhat longer than the original optimistic estimates, there has been nothing like a 4-year slip in those schedules.
So, what does the "four years behind schedule" mean? I can't figure it out.
- Kieran