Will the New Space Systems Loral $127Mln NASA Space Robotic Servicing Contract Help Canada?

          By Chuck Black

Using technology derived from the iconic Canadian developed Canadarm, Palo Alto, CA based Space Systems Loral (SSL) has received a $127Mln USD ($167Mln CDN) contract to supply the chassis, hardware and various other services for the NASA Restore-L space robotic servicing mission.

Page three of an undated power-point presentation on "Restore-L Mission Information; Package for NASA Solicitation #NNH15HEOMD001 Spacecraft Bus Concepts To Support The Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission And In Space Robotic Servicing." As outlined in the June 23rd, 2016 NASA post, "NASA’s Restore-L Mission to Refuel Landsat 7, Demonstrate Crosscutting Technologies," the program will launch a robotic spacecraft in 2020 to demonstrate on-orbit satellite servicing and refueling, using a "carefully curated suite of satellite-servicing technologies." Graphic c/o Ron Ticker/NASA.

The new contract could help nudge SSL, as the present US reseller of this technology, into developing its own satellite servicing business. But whether Canada stands to benefit is another question entirely.

As outlined in the December 6th, 2016 Space News post, "NASA’s Restore-L contract nudges SSL closer to in-orbit servicing," SSL, a part of Delaware based SSL-MDA Holding, which also includes Richmond, BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA), has "been actively entertaining the notion of launching a commercial in-orbit servicing business, one that would combine MDA’s past experience from the almost-launched Space Infrastructure Services (SIS) system in the early 2010s with SSL’s knowledge of satellite manufacturing."

Landsat 7 status as of 2014. Graphic c/o USGS/ EO Portal.

According to the post, "Restore-L is intended for launch in 2020, after which NASA will direct the spacecraft to dock with Landsat-7 in low Earth orbit for a test flight. Landsat-7 launched in 1999 aboard a Delta 2 rocket, and will have been in orbit for more than two decades based on current mission timelines."

As discussed in the January 15th, 2012 post, "MDA Satellite Servicing Agreement with Intelsat Expires," the SIS derived from a March, 2011 agreement between MDA and Luxemberg based Intelsat, to resell technology developed originally in the 1970's by DSMA Atcon (which developed a robot to load fuel into CANDU nuclear reactors) and Spar Aerospace (which was eventually purchased by MDA), using Canadian government funding.

That technology eventually became the Canadarm used to deploy, maneuver and capture payloads for the US space shuttle fleet; the mobile servicing system (MSS) which is used for much the same role on board the International Space Station (ISS); and the special purpose dexterous manipulator (SPDM), which is also known as DEXTRE and is also on board the ISS.

Given 30 years of operational history, there was certainly no problem with Canadarm technology.

Any robotic servicing satellite able to repair or refuel another satellite can also inspect and disable it. That makes it a potential weapon. That's also why, as outlined in the August 9th, 2016 post, "An Overview of the SSL/DARPA On-Orbit Satellite Assembly Program," at least some of the funding for SSL technology development has been coming from US military programs, which prefer to fund US owned companies with their manufacturing, research and development facilities located on US soil. This makes it difficult to create Canadian jobs using US military contracts, although national governments have been known to negotiate custom agreements when it suits their purpose. Graphic c/o DARPA.

However, as outlined in the November 1st, 2011 Space News post, "MDA Puts Sat Servicing on Hold; Core Businesses Doing Well," the real problem had to do with US government reticence towards funding a non-US based program. As outlined in 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.

(Then 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."

Intelsat eventually ran out of patience. The deal fell through in January 2012 after the partners determined that they were unable to interest the US government in their program.

That satellite services project eventually morphed into Resolve-L and several other US government programs which continue to this day.

In 2012, MDA created a second opportunity to bid on US contracts, through its purchase of SSL. As outlined in the  June 27th, 2012 post, "MacDonald Dettwiler buys Space Systems Loral for $875M," the acquisition turned the company "into a global communications player." It also opened the door "for MDA to begin subcontracting US space projects like those for on-orbit satellite servicing through the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)."

But the door still needed to open just a little bit wider. It took MDA another four years to put the final pieces into place to facilitate sales to the US government.

A high level overview in an MD advertisement on page 27 of the November 28th, 2016 edition of the Hill Times, an Ottawa based "influential must-read for the savvy political and government insider." MDA and SSL are currently walking a fine line in fulfilling both the Canadian government requirements needed for bids on contracts such as the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) and the US government requirements to bid on contracts like the NASA Restore-L. Graphic c/o Hill Times.

Those included the creation of a San Francisco, California based holding company (SSL MDA Holdings) to serve as the operating entity for "all MDA businesses, including both the US and Canada," and the separation of SSL and MDA into unique and separate subsidiaries of the larger operating entity.

As outlined in the October 7th, 2016 post "Iconic MacDonald Dettwiler is Now SSL MDA Holdings, a US Based Company with a Canadian Subsidiary," and its October 18th, 2016 update, "A Quick Update to "Iconic Macdonald Dettwiler is now SSL MDA Holdings, a US Based Company," those steps were put into place within the last few months, which dovetails well with the recent NASA Restore-L award.

All of which provides no clear answer to the question of whether Canadians benefit from the sale of this technology to the US.

MDA executives seems to understand this situation, at least off the record, and have embarked on a campaign to address it, by running advertisements in various publications and giving presentations at industry specific public events such as the recent Canadian Aerospace Summit.

But MDA may need more than a PR campaign if they really want to convince Canadians that the sale of Canadarm technology to the US government is good for Canada, at least under the current constraints.

Here's hoping they try something soon.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.

Innovation Minister's Latest Announcement a Rehash of November 2015 Announcement

          By Henry Stewart

The Wednesday announcement by innovation minister Navdeep Bains, that the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) had allocated $1.7Mln CDN to Kanata, Ontario based Neptec Design Group for the creation of a new damage detection system for close-up surface inspection on the outside of the International Space Station (ISS), was nice.

But it wasn't the first time the program had been announced. In November 2015, the CSA also announced $1.9Mln CDN funding for the same program and to the same company, but called it "phase A" funding for the design concept, after which a competitive bidding process would be initiated to decide upon the final contractor.

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen with innovation minister Bains at the John H. Chapman Space Centre in Longueuil, PQ, on January 7th, 2016. As outlined in the January 7th, 2016 government of Canada press release, "The Government of Canada announces a new vision system to support the inspection and maintenance of the International Space Station,"  the minister was in town with parliamentary secretary Greg Fergus and Sherry Romanado, the Liberal member of parliament for the riding of Longueuil-Charles-LeMoyne, to announce the awarding of a contract to Neptec for the design of a "new advanced space vision system" which will be mounted on the Canadian built Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) or DEXTRE, which is already installed on-board the ISS. The new unit will include a 3D laser, a high-definition camera and an infrared camera, and will be tasked with supporting "the inspection and maintenance of the ageing infrastructure" of the ISS. Photo c/o @csa_asc.

As outlined in the March 31st, 2015 post on the Buy and Sell website under the title, "Dextre Deployable Vision System (DDVS) (9F052-141026)," the original RFI was offered up for tender by the federal government well before the current Liberal government came to power in October 2015.

The final contract, as outlined in the November 25th, 2015 Buy and Sell post, "Dextre Deployable Vision System (DDVS) – Phase A (9F052-150058/001/MTD)," was announced as being awarded to Neptec on November 25th, 2015. The story was then picked up by several news services including the November 25th 2015 Spaceref.ca article, "Neptec Awarded Phase A Contract for Space Station Dextre Deployable Vision System," and the  November 25th, 2015 More Commercial Space News post, "Neptec Awarded Phase A Contract for Space Station Dextre Deployable Vision System."

The differences in cost between the November 2015 announcement and last weeks announcement from the innovation minister relate almost entirely to the inclusion of the applicable sales tax on the total amount allocated by the federal government to the program.

Slide 14 of the October 2014 presentation on the DEXTRE Deployable Vision Sensor, which is available on the NASA website.  Graphic c/o NASA.

And, as outlined in the October 2014 presentation on the DEXTRE Deployable Vision Sensor, the idea of adding extra sensing capabilities to the Canadian built DEXTRE had been floating around NASA and CSA since at least 2010, and perhaps even before then. As outlined in the presentation, the intent of the program (at least from the CSA perspective) was to add a series of "high mature technologies" to the surface inspection capabilities on board the ISS.

Neptec has been a NASA prime contractor since the 1990's, supplying operational systems to both the Space Shuttle and ISS programs. Starting in 2000, Neptec began expanding its technology to include active 3D imaging systems and 3D processing software.

So while it's good that Minister Bains is promoting CSA activities and holding press conferences about new CSA contract awards, the suggestion that there is anything especially new or innovative about this particular announcement is at best naive.

Here's hoping he'll do better next time. Maybe he'll even follow through with a competitive bidding process, instead of just announcing the winner.

Editors Note: According to Julie Simard, the CSA's acting manager for strategic communications, the initial November 25th, 2015 announcement that Neptec was awarded the contract was not intended to be an announcement, but was intended instead to be a "routine administrative procedure" performed to come into compliance with the "Government of Canada’s policy on the mandatory publication of contracts over $10,000." 

According to Simard, the real difference between a public announcement and an administrative procedure is that "a public announcement would involve press activities such as the publication of a press release or the organization of a press event (by the CSA or some other government organization), like the one that was held on January 7." 

Be that as it may, we're going to stand by our statement that the Neptec announcement (defined as simply "a written or spoken statement that tells people about something"  in the Merriam Webster dictionary), initially occurred in November 2015.

Simard also indicated that the original RFI offered up for tender by the federal government in March 2015 and expired in April, was superseded on July 7th, 2015 by a request for proposal (RFP) under the title "Système de vision déployable par Dextre (SVDD) / Dextre Deployable Vision System (DDVS)," under which the final contract to Neptec was to be awarded. 

The provided document explicitly confirmed that the current RFP is for phase A work only. Phase A work typically covers the feasibility assessment of a project under consideration and doesn't usually include any work on the project itself (that comes later in phases B, C and D). 

Simard spoke with Commercial Space blog editor Chuck Black on January 13th, 2016 and followed up the conversation with the e-mail posted in the comments section below. 

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Henry Stewart is the pseudonym for a Toronto based aerospace writer. 

Federal Government Hypes OSIRIS-REx Mission

          by Brian Orlotti

On July 17th, Federal cabinet minister Tony Clement excitedly announced Canada's latest contribution to an upcoming NASA asteroid mission. But while the Stephen Harper government appears to be hoping that the public will allow it to bask in the reflected glare of this latest Canadian space adventure, the actual state of Canada's space budget might just put a lie to the fancy words.

Treasury Board president Tony Clement announcing the Canadian contribution to the OSIRIS-REx sample return mission during a press conference at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario on July 17, 2014. Photo c/o Globe and Mail.

At the press conference, Clement announced that Canada would be beginning the build phase of its contribution to the upcoming Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) NASA spacecraft.

Developed by the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre and Lockheed Martin Space Systems, OSIRIS-REx's mission will be to rendezvous with the asteroid 101955 Bennu, obtain samples from its surface and return them to Earth for analysis.

These samples will enable scientists to learn more about the formation and evolution of our Solar System, the initial stages of planet formation, and perhaps provide the chance to study organic compounds thought to have led to the beginnings of life. OSIRIS-Rex is scheduled for launch in September 2015, reaching 101955 Bennu in November 2018 and returning to Earth in 2023.

Canada's contribution will be the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA), a LiDAR (a combination of "light" and "radar") instrument that will scan the surface of 101955 Bennu to generate high resolution topographic maps. These maps will allow planetary scientists to select sample sites, provide ranging info for other on-board instruments, and allow analysis of the asteroid's gravity as well as aid navigation. The announcement included an $8.4Mln CDN funding package (on top of the $15.8Mln CDN previously allocated in February, 2013 by the Federal government for the initial design work) with a further promise of $61Mln CDN in total funding over the life of the mission.

In return, the CSA will receive 4% of the returned samples for hands-on analysis.

Page one of a two page fact sheet available online from the NASA website. As outlined in a post on the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission website, the Canadian OLA team includes principal investigator Alan R. Hildebrand from the University of Calgary, deputy principal investigator and instrument scientist Michael Daly from York University, Catherine L. Johnson, representing both the University of British Columbia and the Tucson, AZ based Planetary Science Institute (PSI), Rebecca Ghent from the University of Toronto/ PSI and Edward Cloutis from the University of Manitoba.

As outlined in the February 27th, 2013 MDA press release, "MDA to help map an asteroid," the original OLA contract, a partnership between the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), MacDonald, Dettwiller (MDA), and researchers from the universities of Calgary, British Columbia, Toronto and Manitoba was announced in February 2013.

Of course, that didn't stop Clement from tweeting, just prior to the July 17th announcement, “Just T minus 11 hours before my announcement with the Canadian Space Agency that is bigger than Michael Bay's blockbusters!”

This obvious hyperbole continues the federal government's pattern of publicly embracing, sometimes to excess, our Canadian space successes.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield, left, presents Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz with the $5 bill he took into space at a ceremony to officially issue the new polymer note, which features the robotic Canadarm2, DEXTRE and a Canadian astronaut on Nov. 7th, 2013, in Longueuil, Que. According to the March 29th, 2014 CBC News article "Mark Carney wanted orbiting Chris Hadfield at $5 polymer note unveiling," the "decision to beam Hadfield in came from the very top of the Bank of Canada chain of command." Photo c/o Canadian Press. 

The pattern began with astronaut Chris Hadfield's 2013 stint as the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station (ISS). The Canadian government basked in the global popularity fueled by Hadfield's photos, tweets, skype chats and a now-iconic rendition of David Bowie’s "Space Oddity."

In April of the same year, the Bank of Canada and the Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a new space-themed five-dollar bill with images of the Canadian built Canadarm2, the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM or DEXTRE) and an astronaut. For added flair, Hadfield joined the event via webcam to stir up the crowd and later made a formal in-person presentation. In June of 2014, Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper even made a point of taking a photo-op with Hadfield during the thick of the Senate scandal.

Astronaut Hadfield, on the right, shaking hands with PM Harper and wife Laureen at a breakfast photo-op on June 9th, 2014. Photo c/o PMHARPER/FLICKR. 

Of course, the Federal government's tweeting, press conferences and photo-ops are in stark contrast to its actual space policy. For example, the Federal government cut the CSA's budget by 10% in 2013, resulting in the cancellation of the Microvariability and Oscillations of STars (MOST) space telescope, one of Canada's greatest scientific success stories.

And following the high-water mark of Chris Hadfield's mission, the CSA has used up its remaining ISS "credits" and won't be able to send astronauts to the station until at least 2019.

Brian Orlotti.

So while it's good that the Federal government has finally discovered that space is a popular cause to champion, the disconnect between the government's words and its deeds does little to clarify Canada's future in space.

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Brian Orlotti is a Toronto-based IT professional and a regular contributor to the Commercial Space blog.

MacDonald Dettwiler has a Good Week

BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) has two pieces of good news to be thankful for this weekend.

The MSS. Graphic c/o Canada Connects.

On Thursday, the Federal government renewed the existing MDA contract to support operations and maintenance of the International Space Station (ISS) Mobile Servicing System (MSS) until December 2015.

The Canadian developed MSS played a critical role in ISS construction and currently assists with the berthing of visiting vehicles such as the SpaceX Dragon and Japanese HTV spacecraft. It has also been a key component in recent tests of on-orbit satellite servicing capabilities.

As outlined in the March 28th, 2013 press release "the Government of Canada Awards Contract to Support Crucial Canadian Technology on the International Space Station," the $81Mln CDN contract will cover ongoing real-time technical support, engineering services, flight-specific operational products, software maintenance, and hardware repair for the iconic Canadarm 2 (known formally as the Space Station Remote Manipulator System, or SSRMS), the Mobile Remote Servicer Base System (the MRSBS or "mobile base") and the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (the SPDM or DEXTRE).


   
The announcement came only one day after the March 27th, 2013 Canadian Newswire (CNW) press release "MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. Closes $287.7 Million Offering of Common Shares," which detailed the recent Canadian equity issue of 4,145,750 new shares of MDA stock.

According to the press release, TD Securities, RBC Dominion Securities Inc. and BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., acted as the main underwriters (or "joint-bookrunners") for a syndicate which included National Bank Financial Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc., Scotia Capital Inc., Raymond James Ltd., Cormark Securities Inc. and GMP Securities LP.

MDA CFO Anil Wirasekara.

The day after the press release was issued, equities researchers at TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of MDA from $70.00 to $75.00 CDN.

According to MDA Chief Financial Officer Anil Wirasekara, "this is the first time MDA has issued equity to finance its growth."

It's quite possible that these new funds will be used for further acquisitions along the lines of the recent MDA purchase of Space Systems Loral (SS/L), as outlined in the June 27th, 2012 blog post "MacDonald Dettwiler buys Space Systems Loral for $875M."

In which case, stand by for further announcements and more good news from MDA.

Robotic Refueling, Sapphire, NEOSst, CanX 3a, 3b and CASSIOPE on a Falcon 9

With all the recent changes going on at ground level among corporate and government stakeholders, it's easy to forget that Canada possesses quite the list of currently functioning and ready to launch space based assets.

Here's a short listing of several currently being tracked by the Commercial Space blog.

A NASA Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), scheduled for January 14th - 24th aboard the International Space Station (ISS), will use the Canadian-built Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM or DEXTRE) and NASA’s RRM multifunction tool, to show that space robots controlled from Earth can transfer fuel to satellites which were never designed to be accessed.

According to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) robotic refueling mission website, the mission "marks the first time that Dextre is being used for a research and development project, and illustrates how the space station is increasingly being used as a technology test-bed." 

The Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) flight C20, currently scheduled for February 14th, 2013 at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) after a series of both recent and long-term delays as outlined in the September 12th, 2012 post "Sapphire, NEOSSat, CanX 3A & 3B Standing By...," now looks like it might finally go forward.

NEOSSat architecture c/o eoPortal Directory.

The launch will include the Department of National Defence (DND) Surveillance of Space (Sapphire) satellite, the largest Canadian component of the proposed Canadian Space Surveillance System (CSSS) plus the Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) and the CanX-3a BRIght-star Target Explorer (BRITE) and CanX-3b (TUGsat1) micro-satellites, which were designed and built at the University of Toronto Institute of Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) Space Flight Laboratories (SFL).

The main payload is the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Satellite with ARgos and ALtiKa (SARAL), which is a cooperative altimetry technology mission between ISRO and the French Space Agency (CNES). Also scheduled for launch aboard PSLV flight C20 is the Max Valier micro-satellite and the AAUSAT3 cube satellite.

...
The Cascade Smallsat and Ionospheric Polar Explorer (CASSIOPE) small satellite, complete with a scientific experiment package (the enhanced Polar Outflow Probe or ePOP set of eight scientific experiments to collect data on how solar storms effect communications and navigation), plus a broadband commercial communications system (Cascade) to transmit the large quantity of data collected back to Earth, is confirmed for launch aboard a Space-X Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California "sometime in April," according to the January 10th, 2013 "Worldwide Launch Schedule" update on the SpaceFlight Now website.

CASSIOPE is another in the long line of Canadian satellites experiencing ongoing launch delays, according to the June 26th, 2012 SpaceRef.ca article "Canada's CASSIOPE Satellite Nearing Liftoff." Lets hope they all move forward this year.

Holiday Notes from Commercial Space

For those of you who don't have enough space stories to read over the holiday season, here are five items currently being tracked:

Dr. Robert Richards.

• The December 20th, 2010 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) press release titled "NASA Selects Companies for Future Lunar Demonstration Data" lists San Fransisco based Moon Express Inc. as one of three companies receiving delivery orders under the Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data (ILDD) project to develop vehicle capabilities and demonstrate end-to-end robotic lunar landing missions. Canadian born entrepreneur and Moon Express founder/ team leader Dr. Robert D. Richards is also the founder and former CEO of Odyssey Moon, an Isle of Man based commercial lunar enterprise and the first official contender in the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) competition. There is no word on why Dr. Richards left Odyssey Moon to form Moon Express, which is also in competition for the GLXP, but his new company seems to have jumped ahead of his old firm (and most of the rest of the GLXP pack) with this NASA announcement. The GLXP offers a total of $30 million in prizes to the first privately funded teams to land a robot on the Moon and successfully complete a series of tasks.

DEXTRE

• According to the December 17th, 2010 NASA press release "Dextre's Final Exam Scheduled for December 22-23, 2010" the scrappy little Canadian contraption officially known as the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), a component of the Mobile Servicing System on the International Space Station (ISS) will finally roll out for duty aboard the ISS. As outlined in my October 3rd, 2010 Commercial Space post "DEXTRE Corner Cutting, Com Dev Deal Making and IAC Storytelling" the final checkout had been delayed because of a July 2010 failure when DEXTRE simply didn't have the capability to remove a failed power controller on the ISS, due to the use of "low fidelity" hardware in order to save money. 

Mike Pley

• Long-time employee and interim chief executive officer Mike Pley has been confirmed as permanent CEO of space hardware manufacturer Com Dev International according to the December 14th, 2010 CNW Group press release "COM DEV names Michael Pley as CEO." Fired CEO John Keating doesn't seem to have done anything wrong during his tenure, except perhaps for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, according to the December 14th, 2010 Ottawa Business Journal article "Com Dev makes CEO permanent in bid to boost profitability" which quotes Com Dev chair Terry Reidel as stating that "we determined that our performance targets can best be achieved through a course correction rather than through sweeping change." Elizabeth Howell, over on the PARS3C blog, in her November 11th, 2010 article "COM DEV adds another satellite win to roster" says the Cambridge, Ont.-based firm is relying on repeat business from existing customers to maintain revenue.

• Canadian space icon Macdonald Dettwiler (MDA) continues its exceptional run of good luck, according to the December 13th, 2010 Canadian Press article "Quebec invests $9m to aid MacDonald, Dettwiler expand Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue plant." According to the article, the money comes on top of a no-interest loan of $9 million and "an additional $900,000" to help train employees. The funds will "allow MDA to make investments they would not have done otherwise," according to Quebec premier Jean Charest who is quoted in the article. According to an earlier December 3rd, 2010 Ottawa Citizen article "The $25-Billion Question Who gets what... and why" a total of $158.6 million had been spend up until that time in fiscal year 2010 by the various Canadian government departments for a series of MDA contracts relating to satellite and military surveillance technologies. This is up 71% from fiscal year 2009, when the government halted the sale of the BC firm to a US company for security reasons and the December 13th announcement will only add additional revenue to MDA bottom line.

• And finally, US astronaut Donald R. Pettit, known around NASA as an uncommonly gifted handyman capable of rebuilding a jet engine in his garage workshop (at least according to the November 14th, 2008 New York Times article "Handyman to Return to His Space Workshop") can also claim a patent for a zero-gravity coffee cup, which used the wetting angle to carry the coffee along a crease to permit drinking and avoid the necessity of a straw. A newer version of the cup (perhaps with a jaunty Canadian flag on the outside plus a couple of pounds of Tim Horton's coffee) seems like an appropriate present for Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who is currenty training to become the second Canadian to take part in a long-duration spaceflight aboard the ISS beginning in 2012.

Mmm... Now I know what I want for Christmas.

Anyway, happy holidays to all from the Commercial Space blog.

The Coming Robot Wars!!!

Beginning in September, the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (also known as DEXTRE), that remarkable Canadian built appendage to the International Space Station (ISS) will face stiff competition in the form of a robot designed by General Motors and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Named Robonaut 2 and bearing more than a passing resemblance to The Stig, secretive race car driver in the BBC television program Top Gear, the new mechanism is rocketing into orbit this fall aboard the space shuttle Discovery, at least according to the recent press release "NASA to Launch Human-Like Robot to Join Space Station Crew" which also states:

Robonaut 2, or R2, was developed jointly by NASA and General Motors under a cooperative agreement to develop a robotic assistant that can work alongside humans, whether they are astronauts in space or workers at GM manufacturing plants on Earth.

The intent of this collaboration is obvious. NASA is keen on providing a potentially profitable and possibly job creating earthbound application of space technologies to placate angry congressmen and surly senators while GM is keen to inform people that it can do more than simply go bankrupt by building bad cars.

The effect this will have on Canadian contributions to future NASA initiatives is less clear since robotics has always been considered an acknowledged area of Canadian expertise. The development of a second area of space based robotic expertise tied to GM and funded by NASA could reasonably be considered direct competition to Canadian robotics projects like DEXTRE and the CanadArm.

The press release even goes so far as to state that NASA has dubbed R2 as the "next generation dexterous robot" which is probably not an intentional slight against our still functioning first generation dexterous robot and may even be a backhanded compliment on good old Canadian ingenuity.

Of course, NASA also seems to think that Robonaut 2 is more "human" looking than other dexterous robots and perhaps that's part of the point:

"The dexterous robot not only looks like a human but also is designed to work like one. With human-like hands and arms, R2 is able to use the same tools station crew members use. In the future, the greatest benefits of humanoid robots in space may be as assistants or stand-in for astronauts during spacewalks or for tasks too difficult or dangerous for humans. For now, R2 is still a prototype and does not have adequate protection needed to exist outside the space station in the extreme temperatures of space."

But for at least for the next little while our Canadian DEXTRE, which might be ugly but does at least have adequate protection to function in space as a stand in for astronauts, will continue to do so while Robonaut 2 remains within the safer and more comfortable interior accommodations of the ISS Destiny laboratory.

So what does the Canadian dexterous robot look like? Take a look for yourself.