Part Five: So You Want to be a Space Advocate?

Measuring the Current Canadian Space Sector

                   By Chuck Black

An earlier version of this article was presented at the 65th International Astronautical Congress, which was held in Toronto, Ontario from September 29th - October 3rd, 2014.

Its thesis is that successful advocacy requires:

• Strong media skills able to define the problem, craft a compelling narrative and define appropriate solutions

• A mechanism to move the narrative forwards by solving the defined problem using those previously identified solutions.

• A funding network willing to pay for the costs associated with the campaign.

The question of whether or not those three conditions apply in our current aerospace and space environment is open for debate.

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As outlined in the executive summary of the 2015 State of the Canadian Space Sector Report, "in 2015, total revenues in the Canadian space sector totaled $5.3Bln CDN, representing a slight decrease overall of 1.6%, or $85Mln CDN, year-over-year. The average annual growth rate of the space sector over the last five years (2010–2015) is relatively flat at 0.4%." [i]

Essentially, this meant that the Canadian space sector spent the period between 2010 - 2015 in a five year slump, although the the Canadian revenues were in line with the revenues reported by the same activities in the international marketplace. [ii]

Revenue growth and proportion by activity sector for the Canadian space sector, covering the period 2010 - 2015. It's worth noting that, while satellite communication is the largest sector by revenue ($4.5Bln CDN for 2015), the Earth observation (EO) market segment is the fastest growing and both sectors are driven by commercial considerations. Space exploration (with 2.1% of total measured revenues) and space science (1.3% of total measured revenues) are the sectors primarily driven by the academic communities. [iii] Graphic c/o CSA.

In a surprise finding, the report concluded that university and research centre revenues amounted to only $125Mln CDN in 2015, or only 2.4% of the total revenue measured, although six universities were included in the list of Canada’s top 30 space organizations.

According to the report, while the academics didn't drive a lot of the revenue, they did compose a substantial proportion of the workforce:

Academic organizations contribute 20% of the total space sector workforce with 1,997 full-time equivalents (or FTEs, the standard measurement of labour requirements in government), of which 55% are highly qualified personnel (HQP) such as engineers, scientists and technicians. 

An additional 40% of the university and research centre workforce is comprised of students, mostly at the graduate level, who are in receipt of wages or a stipend from their university for work as research assistants, teaching assistants, or other employee-type situations.

The Canadian space workforce totaled 9,927 space-related FTEs in 2015, according to the report. [iv]

The general consensus until now has been that Canadian academics, with funding from government departments such as the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the National Research Council (NRC) and others, have essentially drives the space industry to focus on the pursuit of scientific knowledge. But even at 20% of the total space sector workforce, the academic community doesn't dominate the industry the way many might expect.

Therefore, the general consensus is almost certainly in error, even as such perceptions have been bolstered by recent books, including Canada’s 50 Years in Space: The COSPAR Anniversary (by Gordon Shepherd and Agnes Kruchio) and Canada in Space (by Chris Gainor). Both books focused more on Canada's scientific contributions than on the larger political and economic machinations which led to those scientific successes.

Some organizations know their audience and are able to craft cogent arguments which governments can embrace and fund. An example would be Finance Minister Bill Morneau's recent announcement that $100Mln Cdn would be used to fund firms planning to develop constellations of low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites intended to bring internet services to rural parts of the country. [v] Graphic c/o Commercial Space blog.

Since the space advocacy groups attempting to drive the current conversation on Canada's future in space are, in the main, composed of student and academic focused organizations either acting independently or serving as conduits for academic interests, the true state of Canada's space industry must come as a surprise to many of them.

We'll discuss those advocacy groups in the next posting in this series.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog. 

An updated version of this series will be presented at the 18th Astronautics Conference of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute ( CASI ASTRO 18), which will be held from May 15th - 17th in Quebec City, PQ. 

Footnotes

[i] "2015 State of the Canadian Space Sector Report," released in September 2017 at http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/publications/2015-state-canadian-space-sector.asp. Last accessed April 9th, 2018. 

[ii] "The Latest CDN Space Sector Report Notes 5 Year Slump (Except for BC) & Industry Dominates, Not Academia or Gov't," by Chuck Black. The Commercial Space blog June 13th, 2017 at http://acuriousguy.blogspot.ca/2017/12/the-latest-cdn-space-sector-report.html. Last accessed April 7th, 2018.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Ibid. 

[v]  "'Big Winners' in Tuesday's Federal Budget," by Henry Stewart, The Commercial Space blog February 28th, 2018 at http://acuriousguy.blogspot.ca/2018/03/a-big-winners-of-tuesdays-federal-budget.html. Last accessed April 9th, 2018.

Last: Why the Activism of the 1970's US Pro-Space Movement Didn't Work, in Part Four of "So You Want to be a Space Advocate."

Next Week: Canadian Advocacy Groups, as Part Six of "So You Want to be a Space Advocate." continues!

The 2009 Proposal for a Canadian Microsat Launcher & the Rocket Lab Electron Rocket

          By Chuck Black

According to Arny Sokoloff, the president of Toronto, ON based Contimuum Aerospace, "Continuum Aerospace applauds Rocket Lab's success but bemoans that we had developed a functionally comparable design for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in 2009. It's a shame that we were unable to secure Canadian funding to realize the plan to develop an all-Canadian small satellite launch vehicle. Rocket  Lab, faced with a similar problem, reincorporated in the United States and were able to fulfill their plan."

Sokoloff was interviewed earlier this week after Huntington CA and New Zealand based Rocket Lab launched an Electron rocket from its private spaceport in New Zealand. The rocket successfully achieved earth orbit and deployed three micro-satellites.

Back in 2009, both Rocket Lab (then based solely in New Zealand) and Continuum were soliciting funds for the development of a micro-sat rocket launcher.

As outlined in the January 22nd, 2018 post, "The Rocket Lab Electron Rocket Has Placed Three Satellites in Orbit," Rocket Lab succeeded in its quest. However, and as outlined in the April 22nd, 2016 post, "2009 Canadian Space Agency Report on Indigenous Canadian Launcher said "Yes!" But CSA Didn't Move Forward," the 2009 Canadian plan remains on the shelf.

The Canadian plan focused on creating an environment free of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) regulations. ITAR is a United States regulatory regime which restricts and controls the export of defense and military related technologies, according to the "U.S. State Department – Policy – Directorate of Defense Trade Control.

According to the 2009 Continuum proposal:

...it should be recognized that external political risk (adverse exposure to policies
of other countries) in fact provides a major motivation for an indigenous launch vehicle program in the first place. As discussed in Section 1.2, chief among these is the ability of foreign government organizations to limit the availability of launch opportunities and scrutinize the technology embodied in satellite payloads. 

With respect to components for a Canadian launch program, all potential foreign suppliers have limitations on their technology transfer. The most natural supplier for Canada, being the US, also has the most stringent controls (ITAR) which adds substantial and indeterminate delays in obtaining components and requires sign-off on every shipment. Controls like these suggest that Canada creating a launch vehicle program with key technologies being foreign sourced is pointless, at least from the point of view of assuring non-interference by foreign agencies. 

To mitigate this risk, we have proposed a launch system where all the major components are either Canadian-produced or else COTS (commercial-off the-shelf). With this approach, there is no external point of control where Canada's satellite program can be obstructed (other than government-to-government pressure, for which no technical solution exists). 

Note that the apparent financial penalty of developing local supply for all non-COTS components is mostly illusory; those components tend to be expensive to import precisely because they are non-COTS products and are typically closely guarded as national and industrial secrets. These non-COTS products are also very customized to the design specifics of a particular launch vehicle — they require custom development anyway; it is our contention that such large expenditures would better be invested in Canada where they can enhance Canadian technological and industrial competitiveness.

So while the US is more than welcome to pass any law which it considers to be in its self interest, other countries are also entitled to do the same.

Canada would be well served by taking this page from the US playbook. If New Zealand and US based companies can build orbital capable rockets, so can Canada.

We could even build one without needing to move to America.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.

Terrence ("Terry") Harvey Ussher (May 28th, 1930 - August 22nd, 2017)

          By Chuck Black

Terry Ussher in an undated photo. Photo c/o theStar.com.

Terence ("Terry") Harvey Ussher, the program manager for the development of the first Canadarm at Spar Aerospace, has died.

Ussher, along with Spar VP of marketing (later president) John MacNaughton (1932 - 2006) and National Research Council (NRC) program managers Karl Doetsch and Gary Lindberg, were the best known of many Canadians shepherding our space program through its early days.

As outlined in his August 26th, 2017 Globe and Mail obituary under the title, "USSHER, Terence Harvey," Ussher was never satisfied with mediocrity:

In 1983, Canadarm was deployed on Space Shuttle Columbia's STS-2 mission where it was first tested in orbit. 

While our dad fretted that the 'Arm' might fail with 'Canada' tattooed on its' side, it performed flawlessly and gained international acclaim for Canada's space program. 

As the Program Manager for Canadarm at SPAR Aerospace, its' success was the pinnacle of a brilliant career borne of a passion for astronomy and space exploration. 

Ussher worked on the US Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs. He is survived by his wife Ellen, sister Mary Brown, his children, Susan, John and Carolyn, their spouses Monica and Derek and his grandchildren, Katie, Sarah, Natalie, Jack and Luke.

A 1991 Toronto Star file photo showing Dr. Karl Doetsch, Dr. Garry Lindberg, John MacNaughton and Terry Ussher checking out the Canadarm as a preliminary to handing it off to NASA. Photo c/o Virtual Reference Library.

Friends and family may pay their respects at the Turner & Porter Yorke Chapel in Toronto on Wednesday, August 30th, 2017, from 10 am until the service begins in the Chapel at 11:00 am.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.

Part 16: 150 Years of Canadian Aerospace History

Bombardier, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Conclusions

Graphic c/o Theo Moudakis/ Toronto Star.

         By Robert Godwin

Canada's aerospace raison d'être has always derived from its immense size, its location in the far north as a vast, barely-tracked wilderness of incalculable resources and the logical requirements relating to defence, communications, utilization and exploration which naturally follow from its size and location.

The upshot of more than forty years of political machinations is that Canada now has only one major aircraft manufacturer, Bombardier Aerospace, which over the last few decades has become a global competitor in the mid-sized civilian jet market.
However, in 2016 an assortment of delays with a new line of aircraft pushed the company stock into difficult waters and once again the government was asked to intervene. In this instance the government of Quebec had the most to lose and so it was the first to pour money into the company.

The newly elected Trudeau government was expected to do the same, but the whole issue was delayed by complaints from Brazil's Embraer SA, which had accused the Canadian government of unfair subsidies. This situation was further complicated by the senior shareholders refusing to transfer stockholder control to the government in exchange for the investment.

As a partial solution the sophisticated new line of "C" series jets was spun off into a separate company and new management placed in charge. When Pierre Trudeau's government poured money into Canadair and de Havilland in the 1970s one of the first things he did was to place some new management into the ailing companies. This is standard company procedure in practically any majority sale of shares to new stockholders.

In February 2017 Justin Trudeau's government announced its intention to navigate this difficult problem by offering $372Mln CDN in interest-free loans to Bombardier, because the conventional tactic of money for shares/management control would place the majority of the company's ownership into government hands and would almost certainly trigger a trade dispute with the USA, Brazil and Europe.

Today Bombardier competes with Embraer to be the third largest manufacturer of jets in the world, but it is not the only aircraft manufacturer in Canada. Somewhat ironically, after so many of Canada's top aerospace engineers moved to Bell Aircraft in Buffalo in the 1950s, Bell ended up moving some of its helicopter manufacturing operations to Quebec.

There have also been dozens of other small aircraft manufacturers in Canada in the last hundred years. Those consigned to history include Vickers, Cub, Noorduyn and Fairchild. However, the light aircraft industry in 2016 still includes Bristol Aerospace and over two dozen other small companies.

The civilian airline market has an equally convoluted history far beyond the scope of this article. Well over two hundred domestic commercial air carriers have operated in Canada, half of them are still in business today, most flying aircraft made outside of Canada.

Satellites and rockets have never supplanted the need for aircraft. They are two completely different tools in our arsenal to study, explore and defend. Canada's huge size and difficult and varied climate has always required unique aerospace solutions. Whether it be planes capable of landing on water, or on skis (another of George Klein's inventions), or whether it be long-range interceptors, or better radio transmitters that can defeat the auroral interference; or special kinds of rocket fuel like that developed at  the Canadian Armament Research and Development Establishment (CARDE) for the Black Brant. At the heart of the industry has been what Canadians needed, access to communications and resources.

At the time of writing, yet another cabinet in Ottawa is staying awake at night trying to decide which aircraft to choose for the next generation of Canadians. There is no doubt that as long as Canada has access to remote sensing tools like Radarsat that decision becomes a little easier to make.

On the military side, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) currently has 14 Wings which are spread right across the country. Air Force officers also operate in the space arena, conducting such high profile projects as the Sapphire satellite, which was launched in 2013 by the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to study the problem of space debris in low earth orbit.

The RCAF also utilizes the huge amount of data that pours down from Radarsat-2 through their Polar Epsilon project. Then there is the proposed Enhanced Satellite Communications Project, which if implemented will place two satellites in a high elliptical orbit capable of providing better communications in the arctic and polar regions.

The media spends a lot of time concentrating on the things that need fixing in the RCAF, such as replacing the fighters, or search and rescue helicopters, but the Air Force has over 80 squadrons equipped with more than 20 different aircraft.

The heart of the fleet's technology spans more than six decades. Although the oldest model is the Lockheed Hercules, the actual Hercules aircraft in service today are modern upgrades purchased in 2010. 45% of the currently operational RCAF fleet is built in the United States, 20% in Europe and Israel and 35% in Canada.

Our foreign built aircraft include:

• CC-130 Hercules (Built by Lockheed, with the first flight in 1956)
• CH-147F Chinook (Boeing 1962)
• CH-124 Sea King (Sikorsky 1963)
• CT-155 Hawk (BAE 1974)
• CF-18 Hornet (Boeing 1978)
• CP-140 Aurora (Lockheed 1979)
• CP-140A Arcturus (Lockheed 1979)
• CC-177 Globemaster III (Boeing 1991)
• CC-150 Polaris (Airbus 1992)
• CU-170 Heron (Malat 1994)
• G-120 (Grob 1999)
• CH-149 Cormorant (AgustaWestland 2000)
• CT-156 Harvard II (Beechcraft 2000)
• CH-148 Cyclone (Sikorsky 2008)

Our Canadian built aircraft include:

• CT-114 Tutor (Built by Canadair, with the first flight in 1960)
• CH-139 Jet Ranger (Bell  1962)
• CC-138 Otter (de Havilland/Viking Air 1965)
• CC-115 Buffalo (de Havilland/Viking Air 1965)
• CC-144 Challenger (Bombardier 1978)
• CT-142 DASH-8 (Bombardier 1983)
• CH-146 Griffon (Bell 1992)

The world has changed a lot since de Havilland and Avro built everything in-house. Many of the largest aerospace manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus don't make everything in France or the USA, they source components from all over the world. So although we think of Bombardier and MacDonald Detwiler (MDA) as Canadian companies they have factories and facilities on several continents. The global market has changed everything.

As a good example of that, and for anyone still looking for more signs of Canada’s rich aerospace DNA in the Toronto area, one of the great success stories is that of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Located in a 250,000 sq ft plant a short walk from where Victory Aircraft stood in the 1940s, MHI Canada (MHIC) is the latest contributor to the long genealogy of large aircraft part manufacturers in Mississauga.

Known in the industry as a “Tier One” player, MHIC employs over 750 Canadians (many brought in straight out of the local universities and colleges) to quietly and studiously build wings and fuselage sections for Bombardier. That’s more than twice as many people as Sir Roy Dobson started Avro with in 1946. The Mitsubishi name is known and respected around the world, not least for having built the Kibo module for the International Space Station (ISS).

MHIC now has a direct link to Canada’s long aircraft manufacturing history and not just through its obvious connection to Bombardier. The company is also partnering with MDA to apply the outstanding robotic technologies developed for the Canadarm to create world-beating methods for aircraft manufacturing.

As if that isn’t enough of a provenance, the current president of MHIC came up through the ranks at the old Victory/Avro/McDonnell-Douglas/Boeing plant in Malton and makes sure the company has a good working relationship with industry groups such as CASI, the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada and the Ontario Aerospace Council.

The company is also an engaged and generous partner to the local community on a par with how Avro conducted itself in the 1950s. Perhaps even more encouraging is that MHIC sources its components from more than two dozen other Canadian suppliers, accounting for 65% of their material requirements. Many of the companies in MHIC’s and Bombardier’s supply chain provide world-class technology and are the quiet unsung heroes of modern Canadian aerospace.

Many smaller companies continue to evolve and grow in Canada's special aerospace market. One highly visible success story is Viking Air of British Columbia.

Initially Viking's business was selling parts and repairs for Grumman aircraft but in 1983 they took over servicing for the large global fleet of de Havilland aircraft, such as the Beaver and the Otter. By 2006 they had acquired certificates for the Chipmunk, Otter, Beaver, Caribou, Buffalo and the DASH-7. Between 2010 and 2016 Viking sold 60 Twin Otters to 24 countries. In 2016 they purchased more designs from Bombardier for amphibious aircraft. In 2017 Viking is modernizing Canada's rich aviation heritage and once again shipping iconic designs around the world.

Remote sensing continues to be one of the principal ways that Canada contributes to our understanding and better stewardship of our home planet. The Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation (CCMEO) is now leading a Government of Canada research and development effort to prepare for a 3-satellite RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) to be launched in 2018.

It is now a little more than 150 years since William Leitch first proposed rocket space flight from his desk at Queen's College in Kingston Ontario. Since then, Canadians have:

• Postulated the first rocket assisted  aircraft. 

• Become the third country to build its own satellite.

• Built the world's first geosynchronous national telecommunications system.

• Designed and fabricated what is arguably the most successful piece of space communications hardware ever created.

• Flew the world's first direct TV satellite broadcast system.

• Constructed the most advanced robotic system to ever fly in space.

• Created some of the world's most sophisticated space-based remote sensing systems.

• Proposed the first space-based earth-observation platform using microwave radar.

• Manufactured the fastest down-link imaging system in the world.

• Assembled the world's only space "gun."

• Created the hardware which discovered weather on Mars and beyond Pluto.

• Contributed to every manned spacecraft yet to fly in the United States.

• Helped design and build the spacecraft and launch system which took humans to the moon.

• And unraveled the mysteries of the aurora. 

In this anniversary year it seems more than appropriate that this uniquely polar phenomenon would now be enshrined on Canadian money. Image c/o Canadian Mint.

Canada may be 150 years old but since before the dawn of recorded history the eyes of ancient ancestral peoples have gazed up at the astonishing spectacle of the polar aurora and wondered what role it plays in our terrestrial affairs. By trying to answer this question the first inhabitants of this continent took the first steps on a long path of discovery which has ultimately spawned our own unique aerospace industry.

All of this came about as a result of a need to explore the vast remote regions of Canada, to be able to communicate across that same wilderness, and to be able to utilize and protect its resources. Despite all of these amazing accomplishments one thing hasn't changed; Canadians still need a robust aerospace industry for all of the same reasons which Phil Lapp outlined sixty years ago.

There is still a lot to explore, utilize and protect. 

Robert Godwin.

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Robert Godwin is the owner and founder of Apogee Space Books, the Space Curator at the Canadian Air & Space Museum and an American Astronautical Society History Committee Member.

He has written or edited over 100 books including the award winning series "The NASA Mission Reports" and appeared on dozens of radio and television programs in Canada, the USA and England as an expert not only on space exploration but also on music.  

His books have been discussed on CNN, the CBC, the BBC and CBS 60 Minutes. He produced the first ever virtual reality panoramas of the Apollo lunar surface photography and the first multi-camera angle movie of the Apollo 11 moonwalk. His latest book was written with the late Frederick I Ordway III and is called "2001 The Heritage and Legacy of the Space Odyssey" about the history of spaceflight at the movies.

Last Week, "More RADARSAT, More Astronauts, the CSA's Growing Importance, the 'Airbus Affair,' MacDonald Dettwiler & the 'Canadarm'," in part fifteen of "150 Years of Canadian Aerospace History."

To Start at the Beginning: Check out, "Before Canada: HMS Agamemnon, the Telegraph Cable, William Leitch & 'The Fur Country'," in part one of "150 Years of Canadian Aerospace History."

On sale now, at Apogee Books.

Part 15: 150 Years of Canadian Aerospace History

More RADARSAT, More Astronauts, the CSA's Growing Importance, the "Airbus Affair," MacDonald Dettwiler & the "Canadarm" 

Graphic c/o CSA.

          By Robert Godwin

Canada's aerospace raison d'être has always derived from its immense size, its location in the far north as a vast, barely-tracked wilderness of incalculable resources and the logical requirements relating to defence, communications, utilization and exploration which naturally follow from its size and location.

Radarsat-1 would finally be launched in 1995 having consumed a massive budget in the order of hundreds of millions of dollars. The British government had reneged on its promise to participate, so Canada was left to carry most of the burden. However, the gamble paid off and Radarsat would become one of the most successful remote sensing machines in history.

MDA's technology for processing data from orbit was second to none. The final flight version of Radarsat-1 included a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) antenna that was 15m long by 1.5m wide and it could operate in a half dozen different modes. Somewhat tellingly it still included an X-band antenna similar to that proposed by Kurt Stehling in 1953. The SAR exceeded all expectations and opened up new vistas of research in everything from geology to archaeology.

Between January 1998 and March 1999 an assortment of purchases and sales led to the deconstruction of SPAR Aerospace including the purchase of the robotics division by MDA and with it the Canadarm contracts. That same year Orbital sold its interests in MDA.

Most of Canada's space activity was now firmly centred at the CSA in St Hubert. Bjarni Tryggvason would get to fly aboard the space shuttle in 1997 and a second generation of Canadian astronauts had been recruited several years earlier. This group included Chris Hadfield, Dave Williams and Julie Payette. All three would also enter the vernacular in Canada and fly a multitude of important missions into space.

Many of the flights by Canadian astronauts involved remote sensing of the earth. Robert Thirsk would fly in 1996 followed by Garneau for the second time. Today, four more Canadians have joined the astronaut corps, David Saint-Jacques, Jeremy Hansen, Jennifer Sidey and Joshua Kutryk. At the time of writing, all are still waiting for the next generation of manned spacecraft to be completed.

Also in 1996 Com Dev of Cambridge Ontario would acquire a license to manufacture a vast quantity of their unique microwave multiplexers to place aboard the most visible of all the satellite constellations, Project Iridium.

The "Airbus Affair," dogged Brian Mulroney, Canada's 18th Prime Minister, well after his term of office ended in 1993. For an overview, check out the April 29th, 2010 Globe and Mail post, "The scandal that keeps on flying." Political cartoon c/o Michael de Adder.

In July 1997 Boeing and Douglas merged, and when the group didn't get the orders they anticipated during the highly publicized Airbus fiasco in 2005, Boeing closed the old Avro Malton Plant laying off the last 300 workers.

The development of new tools for remote sensing continued unabated. Alan Carswell's Lidar had originally been designed to study pollution and air quality, but it would stir headlines across the world when it was deployed on the surface of Mars in 2008 and detected snow falling there. It was the first snow detected on another planet. However, this would not be the first time that Canadian technology had been to the red planet.

There were the reverse-engineered STEM aboard the Soviet's Mars 3 lander and NASA had used STEMs to deploy the ramps for the Sojourner/Pathfinder rover in July of 1997. The instruments on the end of the massive STEM booms aboard the two Voyager spacecraft, which were now plying their way into interstellar space, and would be the first to discover interstellar weather in 2014.

In 2007 the first Japanese spacecraft to orbit the moon, the SELENE, once again used STEMs. Even the United States Air Force Academy's Falconsat program used STEMs for a gravity gradient boom.

Infographic showing statistics on SCISAT, a small Canadian satellite that monitors ozone in the stratosphere and helps scientists improve their understanding of ozone depletion. Graphic c/o CSA.

Studying the weather was now becoming a critical function of space hardware. Climate change was on the top of every government's "to do" list. In 2003 Canada contributed the Scisat which was able to study the Earth's ozone layer. The same year also saw the launch of the MOST space telescope, which was designed to make extremely long duration observations of stars in an attempt to better understand them and perhaps get a better date for the age of the universe.

In 2006 the Mobile Servicing System (MSS), or Canadarm2, was launched to the International Space Station (ISS). The four components of Canadarm 2, including its attendant hand, the special purpose dexterous manipulator (SPDM) also  known as DEXTRE, were built by SPAR both before and after it had been purchased by MDA. The system continues to operate aboard the ISS today.

Between 2009 and 2013 several Canadian astronauts lived aboard ISS and used the Canadarm2. These included Julie Payette, Robert Thirsk and most famously Chris Hadfield who managed to cause a media sensation with his regular reports from orbit.

The CSA also helped to fund MDA's construction of a second Radarsat. Launched in December of that year the Radarsat-2 pushed the technology even further. Although the satellite was lighter than its predecessor it could resolve down to 1m by 3m in its "spotlight" mode which was a marked improvement over Radarsat-1. It could also look both right and left, which effectively doubled the viewing capabilities.

In 2012 MDA purchased a massive US corporation named Loral. This was as a direct result of the Canadian government blocking the sale of MDA to another American company named ATK. MDA was considered too important to Canada's aerospace industry, and as the benefactor of a large portion of the available funding coming from the CSA, the sale was considered counter-productive to Canadian interests.

The root of this issue went all the way back to the late 1960s when governments around the world had been arguing about who controlled the space above sovereign territory. At first the USA had argued that satellites should be allowed to image anything which was beneath them. Other countries objected, including Canada, in part because it was felt that if the control of the data was in US hands before it came into Canadian hands, this might give American corporations an unfair advantage when it came to mineral rights.

A reminder that international political and business concerns often override other issues. For example, the March 30th, 2001 Globe and Mail post, "Bilateral space causing delays, costing millions," discussed reasons why the Canadian RADARSAT-2 program, originally expected to be launched on an American rocket from US soil, was being delayed and eventually needed to be launched by Starsem from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 14th, 2007. The April 10th, 2018 post, "Federal government blocks sale of MDA space division," delved into how, during that same period, MDA attempted to sell its space technology division to US based Alliant Techsystems (ATK). Four years later, as outlined in the June 27th, 2012 post, "MacDonald Dettwiler buys Space Systems Loral for $875M," MDA tried another technique to bypass a "Gordian knot" of complex barriers designed to dissuade foreign firm from entering the lucrative US marketplace by purchasing a space company with US roots. And, as outlined most recently in the May 8th, 2017 post, "MDA Restructures For DARPA & Competition, Cuts US Workforce but Anticipates New Orders in Weak Q1 2017 Report" MDA is still attempting to reconfigure itself into a mostly US based firm to come into compliance with US legislation and achieve the anticipated pot of US gold assumed to accrue naturally to US military contractors. Screenshot c/o Globe and Mail.

Eventually a compromise was reached, in part because of MDA's ability to draw down the data at speeds unapproachable elsewhere. NASA relented at the beginning of the 1970s and agreed to let Canadian companies like MDA read the data generated above Canada.

Now that Radarsat was able to pull much more detailed and expansive data of Canada's resources and environment, the need for quick access was even more important. Today MDA is able to compete on a huge range of space projects. It sells high resolution imagery to distributors around the globe, and in early 2017 it was selected to participate in an asteroid discovery mission.

Also in the early spring of 2017 an American and Ukrainian consortium announced plans to build an orbital launch facility in Nova Scotia. With Canada currently purchasing launch services from India and the United States it seems that the political will may have finally arrived to take advantage of the highly skilled aerospace workforce in Canada; albeit using imported hardware. The East Coast launch site was chosen for many of the same reasons originally proposed by Phil Lapp, Kurt Stehling and John Chapman in the 1950s and 60s. The 50th anniversary of the Chapman Report would seem a fitting time to break ground on this new facility.

Robert Godwin.

_____________________________________________________________

Robert Godwin is the owner and founder of Apogee Space Books, the Space Curator at the Canadian Air & Space Museum and an American Astronautical Society History Committee Member.

He has written or edited over 100 books including the award winning series "The NASA Mission Reports" and appeared on dozens of radio and television programs in Canada, the USA and England as an expert not only on space exploration but also on music.  

His books have been discussed on CNN, the CBC, the BBC and CBS 60 Minutes. He produced the first ever virtual reality panoramas of the Apollo lunar surface photography and the first multi-camera angle movie of the Apollo 11 moonwalk. His latest book was written with the late Frederick I Ordway III and is called "2001 The Heritage and Legacy of the Space Odyssey" about the history of spaceflight at the movies.

Last Week, "Challengers Destruction, the Hubble Space Telescope, a New HQ for the CSA, Spar Flounders & Orbital Sciences Buys MDA," in part fourteen of "150 Years of Canadian Aerospace History."

Next Week, "Bombardier, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Conclusions," as "150 Years of Canadian Aerospace History" finishes up an amazing journey.

On sale now, at Apogee Books.

The 2017 Edition of "Summer Reading for Space Geeks"

Poster c/o Republic Films & AGO.

The Canadian space industry, along with most of the rest of the country, is taking a break to celebrate our 150th anniversary as a nation on July 1st.

With that in mind, here is the latest listing of interesting articles, websites, movies, publications and historical documents, which provide a bit of context to the current space debates happening here and elsewhere.









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2001: The Heritage and Legacy of the Space Odyssey by Frederick I Ordway III and Robert Godwin - Despite over 30 years of advances in space flight and movie-making, it is still 2001: A Space Odyssey which most fans, film makers and critics use as the yardstick against which all other space films are measured. Take a trip through more than eleven decades of space films to learn just how far this movie pushed the state of the art and how it continues to affect motion pictures today.

2001: The Lost Science and 2001: The Lost Science Volume 2 by Adam Johnson - 2001: A Space Odyssey is an almost flawless scientific facade constructed by Kubrick, Clarke, Ordway, Lange and the hundreds of engineers and scientists who contributed to the production. Author and engineer Adam Johnson has spent years accumulating information, once believed to have been long since destroyed, to create a detailed and unprecedented analysis of the technology envisioned in Kubrick’s masterpiece.

50 Years of European Co-operation in Space: A presentation to the 57th session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (13 June 2014) - Not many know that the collaborative European space effort was officially born 50 years ago, when two leading scientific statesmen, Pierre Auger of France and Edoardo Amaldi of Italy, made the first steps towards establishing a significant European presence in space. This presentation provides context for their first meetings and shows how they helped create the current European Space Agency (ESA).

Aerospace Marketing Management - Whether you want to build rockets, planes or something else, you'll need to know how to fund, promote and market your project. This book provides an overall picture of both B2B and B2C marketing strategies, concepts and tools used throughout the aeronautics sector. It includes useful discussions of trends such as social marketing, customer orientation strategies, project marketing, concurrent engineering strategies, the tactics of "coopetition" or co-operative competition within organizations and many other useful methodologies. A ready reference for professionals and graduates from both engineering and business schools interested in aerospace and "spaaace!"

Aerospace Projects Review - The classic "journal of unbuilt aircraft and spacecraft projects" including detailed schematics for aircraft and spacecraft designs such as Saturn V S-IC derived flyback boosters, the Helios nuclear-pulse propulsion program, the incredible Project Orion interplanetary battleship along with various predecessors of the X-20 Dyna Soar, the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station (ISS) and many others.

After Apollo: Richard Nixon and the American Space Program by John M. Logsdon -  After the success of the Apollo 11 mission the question became, 'What do you do next, after landing on the Moon?' It fell to President Richard M. Nixon to answer this question. The book chronicles his successes and failures in this area and suggests reasons why people are still asking this question, over forty years later.

The Archimedes Institute - An international not-for-profit organization focused on issues of private property claims in space, which was active from 1997 to the early 2000's, a period during which many early legal claims in this area began to flow through the court system. The site was organized and maintained by Professor Lawrence D. Roberts, a legal academic specializing in science and technology policy, and David Kantymir.

Arms and the Man; Dr. Gerald Bull, Iraq, and the Supergun by William Lowther - A short history of flawed Canadian genius Dr. Gerald Bull, a passionate and driven ballistics visionary responsible for the design of many of the worlds deadliest artillery cannons, who initially hoped to build "superguns" able to send small satellites into space, but ended up attempting to fund his dream by dancing with the devil through the political machinations of the middle east.

Arrows to the Moon; Avro's Engineers and the Space Race by Chris Gainor - While most know about the German rocket engineers led by Wernher von Braun, who helped put Apollo astronauts on the Moon, very few have heard about the Canadian engineers like Jim Chamberlin, John Hodge, Owen Maynard and others who top NASA officials called a "godsend" to the US space program in its early years. This is their story.

Arthur C. Clarke: A Life Remembered by Fred Clarke - Written by his brother, this book provides a rare insight into Arthur's early life, and into the people he met and influenced during his own personal odyssey. The book also includes a unique collection of photographs from the Clarke family, some of which have never been published before.

The Atomic Rockets of the Space Patrol website - Inspired by Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke and Jerry Pournelle and designed to provide everything you need to know about designing and building spaceships. The site is especially useful for its discussions on engines, realistic spacecraft designs and a standalone section on "Rocketpunk and MacGuffinite."

Becoming Spacefarers: Rescuing America's Space Program by James A. Vedda - All you ever wanted to know about the US space program with extra political intrigue, spicy historical analogies and ideas that challenge conventional wisdom added for seasoning. Written for those who know that what we should be doing next in space is heavily dependent on what we've been doing up until now. 

Canada in Space by Chris Gainor - A short history of Canada's contributions to space research and discovery including the development of the Canadarm and Canadarm2, the Alouette I ionospheric research satellite, the Canadians who engineered key components for NASA's Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and shuttle programs the birth of Canada's commercial satellite industry and much, much more.

Canada’s 50 Years in Space: The COSPAR Anniversary by Gordon Shepherd and Agnes Kruchio – Provides a thorough description of the parallel growth of the Canadian space science program and the international activities of the Paris based Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) from 1958 up until the 50th Anniversary of COSPAR in 2008. For those who think we need to know more about our history and plan on not making the same mistakes.

The Science Writers and Communicators of Canada - A national alliance of professional science communicators who "cultivate excellence in science writing and science journalism" in an effort to increase public awareness of science in Canadian culture.

Canadian Space Directory – The Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) listing of Canadian private and public organizations who have been and/or are engaged in space related activities.

Canadian Spacewalkers: Hadfield, MacLean and Williams Remember the Ultimate High Adventure by Bob MacDonald -  What's it really like to step into that abyss; to leap out into space with only the thin fabric of your suit between you and the universe? Find out in this compilation of perspectives from three Canadian space walkers starting from the beginning of their training right through to the moment when they opened the hatch and stepped outside into the cold blackness of space. The book is lavishly illustrated with stunning NASA photos.

The Case for Space Solar Power by John Mankins - A must-read primer on the topic of space based solar power providing context and history on the topic with outlines of proposed concepts, objectives and hurdles still to be overcome plus an explanation of possible future development timelines all presented in an organized and easy-to-digest manner.

The Centre for Spatial Law and Policy - This Virginia based think tank focuses on the legal and policy issues associated with geo-spatial data and technology as it relates to issues of privacy, data quality, intellectual property rights and national security, which are often undefined, inconsistent and/or unclear.

China in Space: The Great Leap Forward by Brian Harvey - The explosive growth of China’s innovative and rapidly developing space program in recent years has made it a hot topic in international space policy. This follow up to Harvey's earlier book, China's Space Program - From Conception To Manned Spaceflight (2004) bring us up to date with everything that is happening in the Chinese space program today and looks at its ambitious future.

Cold War Tech War; The Politics of America's Air Defense by Randall Whitcomb - Explores the geo-political, technical and economic aspects of the Avro Canada story by revealing, for the first time anywhere, several exciting design proposals of the Avro company while putting the company and its technology into an international context. Global intelligence angles are explored from pre-WW II through the Cold War period. Focus is on bi-lateral issues with the Americans, with some pertinent American statesmen and industrialists receiving special attention for their roles.

Creating A Robust Canadian Space Research Exploration & Development Industry - The Canadian Mineral Industry Flow-Though Share Analog by John Chapman, Nadeem Ghafoor, Christian Sallaburger and Frank Teti - A paper originally presented at the 2008 Canadian Space Summit, which suggested that private capital would flow into the space industry if the government gave the space industry the same tax breaks as the mining industry. Became the basis for the second of three Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA) submissions to the 2012 Canadian Aerospace review under the title "Using Tools from the Mining Industry to Spur Innovation and Grow the Canadian Space Industry."

Defence and Discovery: Canada's Military Space Program, 1945-74 by Andrew B. Godefroy - A comprehensive examination of the origins, development, and impact of Canada's space program. Drawing on declassified archival sources and a wealth of secondary material, Canada's early space research is put into context along with the central role of military enterprise in these early endeavours. The technological, political, and strategic implications of the country's early innovation in space-research technology are also discussed, as is the country's subsequent turn from this arena.

Encyclopedia Astronautica - A comprehensive catalog of vehicles, technology, astronauts and information from most countries that have had an active rocket research program, maintained by space enthusiast and author Mark Wade. Part of the Space Daily network.

Friends of the CRC – An association of alumni of the Communications Research Centre (CRC), the government department responsible for most of Canada’s early satellite launches. The site provides multiple articles on early Canadian efforts by some of the people who were actually there. Authors include Bert Blevis ("The Pursuit of Equality: The Role of the Ionosphere and Satellite Communications in Canadian Development" and "The Implications of Satellite Technology for Television Broadcasting in Canada" with M.L. Card), Gerald Poaps ("Gerald Poaps' Scrapbook") and others.

Archived presentations from the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) Working Group - These are archived and peer reviewed studies (some with audio visual and power-points) for a variety of NASA approved concepts related to future in-space operations and activities.

The Handbook on Measuring the Space Economy - From the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which grew out of the post WW2, US-financed Marshall Plan to provide "a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems." The publication provides a summary of the key methodological issues surrounding indicators and statistics on the space sector and the larger space economy and is meant to be complementary to another publication, the Space Economy at a Glance 2011. Both publications, along with many others including the more recent Space Economy at a Glance 2014, are available from the OECD website.

The High Frontier by Gerard K. O'Neill and Freeman Dyson - A classic work on the practicality and economics of the human colonization of space. But for all its worth, when the first edition was published back in the mid 1970s, the author likely assumed that some of us would be living in orbit by now.

Historical Analogs for the Stimulation of Space Commerce - For those of us who feel government has a role in the conquest of space, this book examines six models of government support for commercial space activities and how the lessons learned from them could help do so. Part of the NASA History Series of publications.

Historical Investment Financing of Exploration for New Worlds, Current Analogies to Other Industries, and Ideas for the Future by Eva Jane Lark - Essential reading for understanding how exploration has really been financed, written by a Canadian banking executive. Here's a hint. It's mostly not done through government programs.

From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India's Space Journey edited by P. V. Manoranjan Rao, B. N. Suresh and V. P. Balagangadharan - A chronicle "like so many other histories written by engineers and scientists, long on nuts and bolts as well as the story of a march of progress and short on analysis and context," according to author Roger Launius. Still worth a look, especially given that India is currently a space powerhouse.

ISRU Info: The Home of the Space Resources Roundtable - A non-profit corporation promoting the development of space resources. Recent meetings have been held in conjunction with the Planetary & Terrestrial Mining Sciences Symposium (PTMSS).

Janes Space Systems and Industry - A pricey but comprehensive listing of the thousands of commercial and military space systems in service and under development around the world. Designed to provide aerospace and defence businesses with "critical independent technical and market intelligence" to support effective business and products development and provide military and security organizations with the intelligence they need to support critical analysis, planning and procurement activities.

LEO on the Cheap by Lt. Col. John R. London III - A fascinating read on methods to achieve drastic reductions in launch costs. It serves as a useful companion piece to the 1993 John Walker article "a Rocket a Day Keeps the High Costs Away."

The Long Space Age: The Economic Origins of Space Exploration from Colonial America to the Cold War by Alexander MacDonald - Examines the economic history of American space exploration and spaceflight, from early astronomical observatories to the International Space Station, and argues that the contemporary rise of private-sector efforts is the re-emergence of a long-run trend not a new phenomenon. A slap in the face to government scientists who think the only way to fund science is on the government dole.

A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin - In-depth interviews with twenty-three of the twenty-four moon voyageurs, as well as those who struggled to get the program moving. The book conveys every aspect of the Apollo missions with breathtaking immediacy and stunning detail. Includes an introduction by Tom Hanks, an actor who has played an astronaut in movies and is therefore assumed to know what he's talking about.

Maple Leaf in Orbit: Institutionalizing the Canadian Space Program, 1984–1995 by Andrew B. Godefroy - Was the success of Canada’s space program in the first half of the 1980s largely the result of the country’s increased bilateral space cooperation with the United States? Godefroy argues that it was and calls co-operative initiatives such as the Canadarm a demonstration of how both Canadian nationalism and internationalism could work in outer space, despite the presence of some political friction between the two partners on Earth. Vital context to inform the current debate over Canada's space future.

Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program by David Meerman Scott and Richard Jurek - Why did a government program whose standard operating procedure had always been secrecy turn its greatest achievement into a communal "brand experience" with top media ratings and high public approval? Read this book and find out.

The Microsat Way in Canada by Peter Stibrany and Kieran A. Carroll - A formative paper written by two of the people involved in the design and development of the Microvariability and Oscillations of STars (MOST) space telescope, discussing how micro-satellite manufacturing methodologies will change the economics of space applications and reduce the barriers to entry for new companies. These discussions eventually became the basis for the methodologies in use today at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) Space Flight Laboratory (SFL).

NASA E-book and podcasts - A fascinating list of NASA books, podcasts, galleries' apps, ringtones and information relating to the US space program. 

The Online Journal of Space Communication - Since 2001, this scholarly publication has bridged the world of the professional and the world of the academic, two worlds in desperate need of bridging. The publication examines a broad range of issues and events in space and satellite communication, including their historical, technological, economic, policy, cultural and social dimensions.

The Orbital Express Project of Bristol Aerospace and Microsat Launch Systems by Geoffrey V. Hughes - An important case study for those wishing to study the technology and business development issues surrounding a small satellite launch vehicle.

The Plundering of NASA: An Expose by Rickey D Boozer - An interesting expose which attempts to lift the veil of Congressional politics which force NASA to do the bidding of regional interests that cripple the nation’s capabilities in both exploring outer space and exploiting its enormous economic potential.

Proceedings of the 48th History Symposium of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) edited by Marsha Freedmann - Volume 46 of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) series on the History of Rocketry and Astronautics. Includes a DVD supplement containing a 2014 interview with long-time International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) member Prof. Iván Almár and the paper, "One Hundred Years of Aerospace History in Canada: From McCurdy to Hadfield," by Robert Godwin, Phil Lapp and Chuck Black, which was serialized on the Commercial Space blog, beginning with the February 7th, 2015 post, "Verne, The Fur Country, G.Y. Kaufman, Baldwin, McCurdy & Balfour Currie."

Proceedings of the Princeton Conferences on Space Manufacturing - Abstracts from thirteen conferences from 1975 until 2001, which focused on the challenges and opportunities of space based manufacturing. The original events were organized in cooperation with the Space Studies Institute, a not-for-profit organization which grew out of the interest generated by Gerard K. O’Neill’s vision of human colonies in space.

Quest, The History of Space Flight Quarterly - A combination of learned journal and mass market publication which captures stories related to the people, projects, and programs that have been part of the last fifty years of civil, military, commercial, and international space activities.

Reaching for the High Frontier: The American Pro-Space Movement, 1972-1984 by Michael A. G. Michaud - Exceptional reading for background on the various space advocacy groups which grew out of the 1972–1984 period of stagnant space activities. The book provides many useful lessons on advocacy and a PDF is available online at no charge.

Russia in Space: The Past Explained. The Future Explored by Anatoly Zak - This comprehensive history of the Russian space program is a unique attempt to visualize the future of astronautics through the eyes of Russian space engineers and describe the processes which went into a nation's planning in space over the past several decades. A large format, full colour and well illustrated book bolstered by almost 700 footnotes.

Safe is Not an Option: Overcoming the Futile Obsession with Getting Everyone Back Alive that is Killing our Expansion into Space by Rand Simberg - Since the end of Apollo, US space operations have ostensibly emphasized safety first. Simberg argues that this has been a mistake, and we must change if we are to continue to "boldly go" back to the Moon and Mars. Simberg makes a cogent argument that our focus on safety doesn't really increase safety but instead acts as a "barrier to entry" for new companies and protects the profits of large, politically connected "dyno-space" companies.

The Science and Futurism You-Tube Channel, hosted by Isaac Arthur - Focused on exploring concepts in science with an emphasis on futurism and space exploration, along with a healthy dose of science fiction, this channel explores many concepts and technologies that are far beyond us now, but tries to keep everything inside the bounds of known science or major theories. Arthur also maintains the amazing IsaacArthur .net.

Sex and Rockets by John Carter (author) with an introduction by Robert Anton Wilson - For those of us who think rocket science is boring, here's the incredible but true story of scientist, poet, and self-proclaimed anti-christ, Jack Parsons, who co-founded the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), led the Agape Lodge of Aleister Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) and even bore more than a passing resemblance to Iron Man's father. Scary, scary stuff...

A Short History of Private Space Development by Clark S. Lindsey- Useful historical context from the person who edits both the long-running HobbySpace blog and the NewSpace Watch commercial site.

Small Satellites and their Regulation by Ram Jakhu and Joseph Pelton - This short interdisciplinary book covers the legal challenges relating to small-sats including technical standards, removal techniques or other methods that might help to address current problems. Also included are discussions of regulatory issues and procedures to ameliorate problems associated with small satellites, especially mounting levels of orbital debris and noncompliance with radio frequency and national licensing requirements, liabilities and export controls. Jakhu  the associate director of the Centre for Research of Air and Space Law at McGill University, was one of two authors of the February 17th, 2017 "Independent Review of the Remote Sensing Space Systems Act."

Soviet Space Culture: Cosmic Enthusiasm in Socialist Countries by Eva Maurer, Julia Richers, Carmen Scheide & Monica Rüthers - An interesting historical examination of the Soviet space program as a unique cultural phenomenon, which united communism and religion to the utopian and atheistic during the period from the first Sputnik launch to the mid 1970's.

The Space Business Blog – A series of useful case studies on the economics of space based businesses, written by a Lockheed Martin financial analyst between 2010 and 2013.

The Space Library - A repository of primary resource materials (and quite a number of Commercial Space blog posts) from retired NASA astronauts and employees, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the British Interplanetary Society and others. Curated by Robert Godwin, the owner of Apogee Books, which has a number of other publications on this list.

The compilation of Space Law Documents for 2013 - Edited by P.J. Blount, an adjunct professor in air and space law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, who also edited the Res Communis Blog (which ran from 2007 until 2014), this three volume set covers state (volume one), federal (volume two) and international (volume three) documents of interest in this area. Now if only someone will bring this the documents up to date.

Space Mission Analysis and Design (SMAD) by James R Wertz and Wiley Larson - A textbook quality publication for engineering and space activities providing what you need to speak the language of space.

Space Prizes - From 2006 until 2015, this was the unofficial "publication of record" for tracking prizes related to space technology with listings, updates and status reports on 100's of international student, scientific and commercial contests. Currently inactive.

Space Vehicle Design Second Edition by Michael D Griffin and James R French - Described as ""the best, the most comprehensive, the most up-to-date resource for today's engineering challenges in space systems design."The second edition links and integrates many disciplines relevant to the field of space systems engineering and contains an additional chapter on reliability analysis, new technical material and numerous homework problems.

The Space Report Online – The “authoritative guide to international space activities” published by the Space Foundation, one of the world’s premier nonprofit organizations supporting space activities, education and space professionals. This online repository of data related to the worldwide space industry also contains copies of the annual 2006 - 2015 editions of the Space Report, the annual publication which serves as the basis of the current repository.

The Space Review - An online publication devoted to in-depth articles, commentary, and reviews regarding all aspects of space exploration: science, technology, policy, business, and more. Edited by Jeff Foust, an aerospace analyst who wrote the Space Politics blog from 2004 - 2014 and currently writes for SpaceNews.

Upper Atmosphere and Space Programs in Canada by J.H. Chapman, P.A. Forsyth, P.A. Lapp and G.N. Patterson – Canada is today an international leader in the fields of communications and remote sensing because of John Chapman (1921-1979) who was senior author of this report, written in 1967 and now known simply as the “Chapman Report.” It recommended using Canadian satellite and space technology for commercial activities such as communications and resource management instead of focusing only on scientific research. Over time, the report became “Canada’s Original Blueprint” for space activities and still contains lessons for policymakers today.

Vision Restoration - A fascinating time capsule on NASA, ESA and America's past and future in space focused around the February 2004 NASA Vision for Space Exploration but full of lessons related to the current Space Launch System (SLS) debate and large, government funded space programs in general. Active from 2009 - 2014.

William Leitch: Presbyterian Scientist & the Concept of Rocket Spaceflight 1854-64 by Robert Godwin - In September 1861 Leitch wrote an essay called "A Journey Through Space" in which he proposed the idea that a rocket would be the most efficient way to travel outside the Earth's atmosphere. His idea would be forgotten and not be "rediscovered" by science for another three decades. This is his story.

Who Owns the Moon?: Extraterrestrial Aspects of Land and Mineral Resources Ownership by Virgiliu Pop - An investigation into the viability of property rights on the celestial bodies, particularly the extraterrestrial aspects of land and mineral resources ownership. In lay terms, it aims to find an answer to the question “Who owns the Moon?”

Why Where Matters: Understanding and Profiting from GPS, GIS and Remote Sensing by Bob Ryerson and Stan Aronof - A useful, highly readable primer on the business applications surrounding geomatics, the study of geographic and/or spatially referenced images which are used by various industries for planning and resource management. Vital background to understand the context surrounding the current Earth imaging boom.

A comprehensive listing of Worldwide Launch Schedules from Spaceflight Now - A regularly updated listing of planned missions and rocket launches around the globe. Dates and times are given in Greenwich Mean Time.