Telesat Prepares to Issue Contracts for its $3Bln CDN Constellation

          By Chuck Black

It's fortunate that Canada's space industry isn't entirely dependent on the $2Bln CDN in new Federal contracts expected to be issued for the US led Lunar Gateway program over the next twenty-four years.

Telesat isn't the only company attempting to build out these complex. satellite constellations As outlined in the March 13th, 2018 Space News post, "LEO and MEO broadband constellations mega source of consternation," the demand for ever-faster broadband internet connections "is maxing out today’s satellites, setting off an industry-wide stampede toward increasingly powerful high-throughput satellites (HTS)." Graphic c/o Space News.

A larger, mostly private sector series of contracts worth approximately $3Bln CDN in total is also expected to roll out within the next few months from Ottawa ON based Telesat for its proposed constellation of low Earth orbit (LEO) small communications satellites.

Telesat is competing against London UK based OneWeb, Hawthorne CA based SpaceX and a variety of other satellite providers attempting to build out enormously complex, but potentially profitable satellite communications networks able to compete with existing DSL, cable, fibre and/or other ground based terrestrial networks in urban areas plus provide internet access to rural regions currently without service.

As outlined in the May 2nd, 2019 Space News post, "Telesat to receive constellation bids this summer," Ottobrunn Germany based Airbus Defence is competing for the Telesat contract against a consortium of companies wrapped around Westminster CO based Maxar Technologies and Paris France based Thales Alenia.

Both Airbus and the Maxar/Thales consortium already possess connections with Telesat competitor, OneWeb.

As most recently noted in the May 6th, 2019 SpaceQ post, "Airbus and Thales Alenia Space-Maxar Consortium Complete Milestones in Bid for Telesat Contract," Brampton ON based MDA, a Maxar subsidiary, is providing antennas for OneWeb satellites. And, as outlined on the Airbus website promoting their OneWeb satellite contributions, OneWeb and Airbus have teamed up to design and manufacture up to 900 satellites for the OneWeb constellation.

Airbus and the Maxar/Thales have also said they’re willing to establish factories in Canada to build the satellites.

According to Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg, the next step in the process "would be getting commercial proposals from both of these prospective suppliers,” an activity expected to move forward over the summer.

As outlined in the May 6th, 2019 Telesat press release, "Another Milestone for Telesat’s LEO Program – Manufacturing Teams Complete System Definition and Risk Management Phase," both teams are moving forward with their bid. The proposals are focused around how the satellites would be built and inter-operate with ground systems once in orbit.

According in the April 9th, 2019 post, "Telesat Hires a Four Year Old US Based Start-up to Launch its Satellites," Telesat has signed multiple-launch agreements with at least two launch providers, but hasn't specified how many satellites each company will launch.

Much of the funding for the Telesat LEO constellation is expected to be provided through the $1.7Bln CDN Universal Broadband Fund, first noted earlier this year as part of the Budget 2019 commitment to universal high speed internet access for all Canadians.

Telesat plans to have the constellation in service in 2022 and is expected to decide on a prime contractor to manufacture the satellites in the second quarter of 2019. The Telesat constellation is expected to contain 292 satellites, but could potentially grow to 512 satellites.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog. 

Toronto Based Kepler Communications Hires Former Inmarsat Executive as Strategy Advisor

          By Henry Stewart

While its entertaining to report on student focused events and educational outreach posts originating from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), sometimes one of the grown-ups in our domestic space industry does something deserving of note.

As the then Inmarsat VP of business development and strategy, McDougal was one of the presenters at the 2nd Annual European Satellite Day, which was held on September 5th, 2013 in Brussels, Belgium. Photo c/o Flicker. 

For example, Toronto ON based Internet-of-things satellite start-up Kepler Communications has just up-ended the typical career path of a distinguished Canadian working abroad.

"As a Canadian who has worked overseas all my professional life, it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to work with the Toronto-based Kepler team – smart, highly motivated and ambitious,’’ according to  Patrick McDougal, Kepler's new strategy advisor. "I am delighted to contribute my experiences as I believe that they have what it takes for long-term success. I’m happy to be with them for the next stage of the journey.’’

As outlined in the April 30th, 2019 Kepler Communications press release, "Kepler Hires Former Inmarsat Chief Strategy Officer Patrick McDougal," McDougal joined Kepler this month as a strategy advisor to support its business units. According to the press release:

McDougal is a veteran business strategist within the satellite telecommunications industry with over 30 years of senior experience working for global leaders in the sector such as Inmarsat (29 years) and Intelsat (4 years). 

Before joining Kepler, McDougal was a member of the executive management team at London UK based Inmarsat plc where "he led a number of initiatives including the acquisition of various companies, securing EU-wide spectrum licenses that advanced Inmarsat’s market strength, and global oversight of the company’s overall corporate business development efforts," according to the May 1st, 2019 Telecompaper post, "Kepler hires former Inmarsat chief strategy officer McDougal."

Welcome home, Mr. McDougal. Best of luck with your latest venture.

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

DARPA Still Looking to Build Out US On-Orbit Satellite Servicing Capabilities

          By Chuck Black

Westminster CO based Maxar Technologies may have dropped out of the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program, a public-private partnership with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in January 2019, but that doesn't mean that DARPA isn't looking to replace Maxar with new private sector partners able to help them develop this emerging technology.

As outlined in the April 19th, 2019 Next Gov post, "The Pentagon is Investing in Space Robots to Repair Satellites," the latest DARPA RSGS plans calls for lots and lots of space robots orbiting silently and prepared for action.

As outlined in the post, DARPA currently believes that:

...space-based robots offer the best bet for inspecting and repairing high-altitude satellites, especially with the number of satellites set to skyrocket due to a budding Space Force and federal agencies and industry ramping up operations in outer space. 

Under the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites program, DARPA will partner with teams to build both robots that can maintain and upgrade satellites, as well as the spacecraft to move the bots through space. Once deployed, the tech would periodically check in on different satellites and service them as needed.

As outlined in the January 30th, 2019 post, "Why did Maxar Subsidiary SSL "Terminate" its Participation in the DARPA GEOsynchronous Satellite Servicing Program?," the original Maxar plan was to test a single robotic servicing vehicle (RSV) capable of repairing large GEOsynchronous orbiting satellites as required.

The current plan is focused around smaller but more numerous repair satellites built to different designs and capable of performing different repairs and refueling functions. According to the post:

The robotic repairmen would “both provide increased resilience for the current U.S. space infrastructure and be the first concrete step toward a transformed space architecture with revolutionary capabilities,” DARPA officials wrote in the solicitation. Ultimately, each system would be expected to perform “dozens of missions over several years.”

The program is scheduled to last roughly five years, and DARPA will host a "Proposers Day" on May 22nd for those interested in competing in the program.

While its dropped out of the DARPA program, a Maxar subsidiary, the Palo Alto CA based SSL, retains its role as prime contractor for the NASA RESTORE-L robotic satellite servicing mission. The RESTORE-L is a fixed price NASA contract worth between $600 - $700Mln US ($800 - $925Mln CDN) designed around an SSL 1300 satellite bus equipped to service orbiting satellites.

But SSL, as outlined most recently in the April 10th, 2019 Space News post, "Maxar’s path to growth runs through Worldview Legion" has had its workforce slashed and is in the process of being integrated into the larger Maxar corporate structure. After dropping out of the DARPA RSGS program it will be interesting to see if Maxar can retain its lead role in the RESOLVE-L program.

The first RESOLVE-L on-orbit satellite servicer is currently scheduled for launch sometime in 2020.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog. 

New US Bill Asks NASA to Encourage Space Mining and Assess the Establishment of a Space Resources Institute

          By Chuck Black

A proposed new bill introduced into the US House of Representatives by Scott Tipton (R-Colorado) and Ed Perlmutter (D-Colorado) is calling for the US to encourage space mining activities and for NASA to assess the usefulness of establishing a space resources institute.

But the bill is beginning to raise "off-the-record" eyebrows in Canada among space mining advocates who feel the US legislation could create barriers for international cooperation and damage the potential for making any sort of private sector profit from space based resources.

The legislation, known as the Space Resources Institute Act (H.R.1029) was first presented to the 116th Congress on February 12th, 2019, but languished until referenced by the Washington DC based National Space Society (NSS) in their April 24th, 2019 NSS press release, "National Space Society Endorses the Space Resources Institute Act (H.R. 1029)."

According to the NSS press release:

The National Space Society (NSS) enthusiastically supports the Space Resources Institute Act (H.R. 1029), a bi-partisan bill submitted by Representatives Scott Tipton and Ed Perlmutter. H.R. 1029 directs NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine to submit to Congress “a report on the merits of, and options for, establishing an institute relating to space resources, and for other purposes.” NSS looks forward to seeing a similar bill submitted to the Senate. 

NSS has long called for the utilization of space resources to ensure that space exploration, development, and settlement become cost-effective and sustainable. Chair of the NSS Executive Committee Dale Skran stated, “Establishing a space resources institute to investigate potential technologies and techniques for finding, extracting, and utilizing space resources, including water, minerals, and solar energy, would be a rational next step on the way to enabling sustainable space settlement.”

The bill called for  NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine to submit a report, within the next six months, on the benefits of and options for establishing an institute that would be focused on:

• Identifying, developing, and distributing space resources, including by encouraging the development of foundational science and technology; and,

• Reducing the technological risks associated with identifying, developing, and distributing space resources.

The institute could be based in a physical location or established virtually and could also include partnerships with universities and companies representing aerospace and extractive industries.

In essence, it's a bill asking for more research, not action and everyone needs to begin somewhere. However, that could be where some of the real problems with this sort of national legislation could begin, at least for organizations based outside of the US.

For example, NASA already has a mechanism in place dedicated to funding virtual institutes for fundamental research. It's called the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) and supplements existing NASA lunar science programs and could certainly serve as a useful model for the proposed space resources institute.

As outlined on the SSERVI overview, the organization mandate is to bring together multiple entities (academic, industry, government and international) to address significant research issues that cannot be managed by stand alone entities.

But the international, cooperative efforts are all on a "no exchange of funds" basis. To cooperate with the SSERVI, or any similarly structured organization, Canadian and other externally based organizations would be required to share any intellectual property used in a cooperative venture but wouldn't be paid for it.

The only benefit to the contributor would be the chance to participate in program it couldn't create on its own. The US based coordinating organization would gain the IP and would therefore be able to reproduce the venture entirely on its own in the future.

Over time, the knowledge and skill-sets required to fulfill the various missions and mandates would all flow into the US based coordinating organization while the external, participating organizations would slowly lose their ability to organize independent missions.

Eventually, those external organizations would become simple component manufacturers for others, much like the current Canadian Space Agency (CSA) operates in conjunction with NASA.

All of which suggests that there are a great many problems and big gaps in the knowledge of how everything is supposed to work with the new bill, which could be a part of the reason why the bill calls on NASA to "assess" and not "implement."

Both of the US sponsors of the space mining institute legislation represent Colorado, where the Golden CO based Colorado School of Mines Space Resources Program as been a leading institution for the study of space resources and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) since the 1990's.

It's perfectly sensible for the sponsors represent their own constituents but other nations and organizations should look out for their own self-interests.

Maybe the real trick for Canada is to move forward with independent, domestically focused legislation designed to assist our own industries instead of waiting for some other nation to get the ball rolling and then react to the new state of affairs.

Canada could lead, instead of follow.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog. 

The New Procure Space Exchange-Traded Fund Facilitates Space Industry Investments

          By Brian Orlotti

Levittown NY based asset management firm Procure Holdings and New York NY based Space Investment Services, a firm founded by former Space Foundation Director of Research Micah Walter-Range, have joined forces to create the Procure Space Exchange-Traded Fund (UFO ETF). The new fund is structured to allow everyday investors a chance to own their own stake in the growing space industry.

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of fund that owns stock in multiple companies across one industry or several industries. Investors may buy and sell an ETF with its price fluctuating over time. ETFs advantages include lower purchase prices and fewer broker commissions over purchasing individual stocks.

The UFO ETF was created to address a common investor issue; a lack of publicly-traded companies that generate the majority of their revenue from space business.

Firms like Hawthorne CA SpaceX, Kent WA based Blue Origin, Huntington Beach CA based Rocket Lab and Mojave CA based Virgin Galactic are on the cutting edge of space technology but, being privately owned, are inaccessible to the majority of investors.

The UFO ETF focuses, wherever possible, on firms that derive 80% or more of their revenue from space.

The ETF is not restricted to US companies either, with stakes in MacLean VA based Iridium Satellite Communications, London UK based Inmarsat and Betzdorf Luxembourg based SES as well as industrial manufacturers like Melbourne FL based Harris Corporation and  Leiden Netherlands based Airbus.

Front cover of the Q4 2018 Space Angels quarterly report on the international space industry. The complete report is available online for download here. Graphic c/o Space Angels.

The UFO ETF comes at a time of increasing investment into the private space industry.

New York NY based investment firm Space Angels recently released a report stating that more than $20Bln US ($27Bln CDN) has been invested into 435 space companies over the last decade. These investments have recently accelerated, with Q1 2019 seeing 29 fund raising rounds inject $1.7Bln US ($2.3Bln CDN) of equity into space companies, nearly double the previous quarter.

Space Angels pointed to the pouring of resources into satellite internet networks by a variety of firms including SpaceX, London UK based OneWeb and Seattle WA based Amazon.

It is heartening to see the space industry, once derided by investors with giggles and snorts, now a magnet for capital. With its now-swelling coffers, the space industry can at last lay the foundations of an off-world economy and propel humanity into a new age.

Let a thousand rockets boom.

Brian Orlotti.

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Brian Orlotti is a network operator at the Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION), a not-for-profit network service provider to the education and research sectors.

Second Thoughts About Bolting Canada's Space Future to the US Lunar Gateway

          By Chuck Black

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may have formally announced Canada's multi-billion dollar commitment to the proposed US Lunar Gateway in the weeks leading up to the release of Budget 2019, but that was before domestic pundits began expressing their reservations.

Space policy isn't the only area where Canada's PM is facing an uphill battle. As outlined in the April 21st, 2019 CBC News post, "With 6 months to go, Justin Trudeau is up against history," incumbent governments "usually lead in the polls this far out from an election," but Trudeau isn't and is struggling in the run-up to the next Canadian election. It's also worth noting the widely held, bipartisan consensus throughout government that MDA is the only company capable of building a Canadarm, a categorization which puts the firm on much the same indispensable government procurement list as Montreal PQ based SNC-Lavalin. Whether or not this is a shrewd place to park over the long-term is problematic. Photo c/o Christopher Katsarov/CP.

Then mercurial US President Donald Trump seemingly abandoned the Gateway in favor of a far more aggressive proposal to return US astronauts to the Moon by 2024. As noted in the April 17th, 2019 Space News post, "Op-ed | Lunar Gateway or Moon Direct?," no one is really sure if some sort of Gateway is even necessary under the revised plan now being developed by NASA.

Given that, much of the second guessing currently winding it's way through the public conscious suddenly takes on a far more reasonable air. Since the US plan is being revised, maybe Canada should also have a second look.

Here are a few recent editorials on the topic:

According to the March 28th, 2019 Policy Options post, "Ask Canadian's what kind of space Program they want," polls show that "Canadians would rather spend public money on other priorities, like education and health care. Similarly, sending an astronaut to the moon may not be what Canadians would prioritize from their space program, compared with the myriad of other aspects of space exploration where we could be investing." 

The article went on to state that, "space policy-making is dominated by technical and industry perspectives."

The Canadian government "needs to ensure that the space policy framework creates an environment which presents a level playing field for all companies, and stimulates true key industrial capabilities for Canada; intellectual property which resides here, and jobs and profits that remain in Canada," according to an undated post on the Future Economy website under the title "Spotlight on the Space Economy; Positioning Canada for Success in the Future of Space,"

The post also included interviews with retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, current Canadian Space Agency (CSA) president Sylvain Laporte, ADGA Group CEO Françoise Gagnon and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) Assistant Deputy Minister Glenn Mason. 

Future Economy is "a multimedia publishing house that builds on over two decades of international media and events experience," so it's possible that they are in the midst of organizing a conference on this topic.

A Canadian robotics expert, who initially believed that he should welcome Trudeau's new space plan is no longer quite so certain. 

As outlined in the April 18th, 2019 The Conversation post, "Canada’s approach to lunar exploration needs to be strategic or we’ll be left behind," Carlton University assistant professor Alex Ellery called the Lunar Gateway "an incremental progression from the International Space Station (ISS) that has dominated American (and Canadian) human spaceflight for the past few decades. 

Of course, the history of the ISS has been mired in controversy — it was expensive, purposeless, took decades to design, re-design and finally build. It has neither yielded any great scientific advances nor has it advanced human Mars exploration as originally proposed."

Ellery noted that Canada's contribution to the Lunar Gateway will be funneled through a single company. According to Ellery "the Gateway promises to be another white elephant like its predecessor the ISS."

And finally, the April 20th, 2019 Advocator post, "Canada Has to Revamp the National Lunar Exploration Strategy," noted that:

Voices are already raising against this plan. A few condemn the fact that the Canadian Space Agency continues to use the services of a singular company instead of looking at other enterprises which should be able to provide competitive alternatives. Others criticize Canada’s minor ambitions as a country. 

While the other participants in the project are working hard to develop strategies which will allow them to build a veritable lunar colony Canada seems content to remain a mere observer. 

Unless our strategy is revised and improved, we will remain a witness to the greatness of others, while paying for the privilege.

He might be President and CEO of the Canadarm's ultimate prime contractor, but Maxar CEO Dan Jablonsky isn't willing to bet his company on Trudeau government largess. As outlined in the April 10th, 2019 Space News post, "Maxar’s path to growth runs through Worldview Legion," Jablonsky is currently hunting options to keep his core, corporate assets from being broken up and sold. According to the article, all Maxar business units, except for MDA in Canada, have been integrated into a single corporate entity, which kinda suggests that MDA could be sold. An MDA sale for a reasonable amount of money (say, half a billion dollars) could potentially end up being the single best option to raise enough money to insure the funding of the WorldView Legion Constellation, which Maxar management considers essential to future profitability, while retaining core assets within a single, US based corporate entity. This would also allow the company to retain its highly profitable US military contracts. Photo c/o Keith Johnson/SpaceNews.

As outlined in the February 28th, 2019 post, "Canada Becomes the First Nation to Formally Commit to the NASA Lunar Gateway Plan," Trudeau's initial announcement committed Canada to becoming the program's first international partner and allocated $2.05Bln CDN over twenty-four years to fund the program.

Most of the new funding would go to the design and development of a "3rd generation" Canadarm for the Lunar Gateway, which would serve the same function as earlier Canadarm's installed on the ISS and on US space shuttles.

Brampton ON based MDA Corporation, a subsidiary of Westminster CO based Maxar Technologies, will almost certainly receive the lions share of the new funding as the prime contractor for the new Canadarm.

MDA and Maxar both know this.

As outlined in the January 1st, 2019 post, "2018: The Year in Space for Canada," both organizations spent large portions of 2018 lobbying the Trudeau government to support and fund the US Lunar Gateway.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog. 

Nunavut’s Cubesat is a Community Activity

          By Brian Orlotti

While the big money being spent on Canadian space activities continues to go towards salaries and office space in Ottawa and Montreal and into components for large US led initiatives, the participants in the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Canadian Cubesat Project (CCP) are slowly beginning to roll out their smaller, locally focused projects.

And one of the more interesting projects is a team up between London, ON based Western University and Nunavut Arctic College (NAC) to build Nunavut’s first satellite.

As outlined in the May 7th, 2018 post, "Canadian Cubesat Project Finally Moving Forward," the program, rolled out last summer, provided grants of between $200,000 - $250,000 to fifteen proposals submitted by university professors to build and launch small cubesats (normally a low weight, 10×10×10 cm cubic satellite) by 2020.

The CSA solicited post-secondary schools across Canada for proposals for a miniature CubeSat that professors and students could design and build together. In 2018, the CSA awarded grants to 15 projects among submissions from every territory and province.

A CubeSat normally has a mass of no more than 1.33 kgs (2.9 lbs) per unit and often uses commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats are typically placed in orbit by deployers on the International Space Station (ISS), or launched as secondary payloads on a rocket. Cubesats were intended to democratize satellite technology by adopting a standardized form factor and COTS components to reduce costs.

The objective of each Cubesat project differs, ranging from space exploration to asteroid geology. Taking a different tack, the Western/Nunavut team chose to place two 180-degree cameras on both sides of their CubeSat, enabling them to create 360 degree imagery of the Earth, Moon and other astronomical bodies that can be viewed using virtual reality headsets.

The satellite is being pitched as an inspirational tool for the people of Nunavut.

Overview of the CCP. Graphic c/o CSA.

Western University, owing to its aerospace and engineering programs, serves as technical lead on the project. Over the past year, Western students have worked on a preliminary design.

As outlined in the April 9th, 2019 Nunatsiaq Post article, "Nunavut reaches for the stars with CubeSat," Western staff traveled to Nunavut in February 2019 to confer with NAC on ways to increase NAC’s involvement in the project.

Several ideas have been put forth, including holding public surveys on what sort of imagery to capture (i.e. ice flows, Norther Lights, etc.), etching symbols and syllables from Inuit folklore into the CubeSat, and having students in NAC’s jewelry and metalwork program design and create a component of the satellite.

In addition, a contest was recently held to submit names for the satellite.

Essentially, it's becoming a community activity, which is an interesting way of looking at a satellite development program. Maybe there are lessons to be learned here for the rest of us. Given the current PR coming out of the CSA, it's something that the rest of the Canadian space community should note.

The CCP’s CubeSats are to be launched from the ISS in 2021 or 2022. The Western/NAC satellite will have an operational life of 1 year.

Brian Orlotti.

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Brian Orlotti is a network operator at the Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION), a not-for-profit network service provider to the education and research sectors.

Israel's Beresheet Spacecraft Crashes on Moon But SpaceX Lands all Three Falcon Heavy Rocket Boosters for the First Time

          By Henry Stewart

As noted by Israeli Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the one obvious takeaway from yesterday's two major pieces of space news was, "if at first you don't succeed, try try again."

Netanyahu made the comment in a control room near Tel Aviv, after watching the attempted landing of the Beresheet (Hebrew for "in the beginning") lunar lander. The attempt was a joint project between SpaceIL, a privately funded Israeli non-profit organization, and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel's government owned primary aerospace and aviation manufacturer.

As outlined in the April 11th, 2019 BBC News post, "Israel's Beresheet spacecraft crashes on Moon," the first privately funded mission to the Moon has crashed on the lunar surface after the apparent failure of its main engine during decent.

As noted in the article, so far only government space agencies from the former Soviet Union, the US and China have made successful Moon landings.

A little later on the same day and as outlined in the April 11th, 2019 The Verge post, "SpaceX lands all three Falcon Heavy rocket boosters for the first time ever," Hawthorne CA based SpaceX managed to soft-land all three of the rocket’s booster cores after completing its primary mission of boosting the Arabsat 6A communications satellite into orbit for Riyadh based Arabsat.

As noted in the article:

SpaceX first tried these landings a little more than four years ago with its Falcon 9 rocket boosters. The first attempt at sea (in January 2015) ended in a spectacular fireball after the booster slammed into the drone ship, video of which SpaceX released on Vine. The second attempted landing was in April 2015, and the booster almost made it, but ultimately tipped over and exploded. 

SpaceX landed its first rocket booster in December 2015 at Cape Canaveral on the original concrete landing pad. From there, it took three more tries to stick one of the sea landings. But between that point and last year’s inaugural Falcon Heavy launch, SpaceX rattled off 20 successful landings with just one failure. And since last year’s first Falcon Heavy launch, the company has only had one unsuccessful booster landing.

SpaceIl and the Israeli's seem to know the lesson SpaceX obviously knew in 2015, when their first few attempts to land a reusable rocket met with less than stellar success and they kept going.

They will continue to try and try again. It's a lesson we should all be reminded.

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

Telesat Hires a Four Year Old US Based Start-up to Launch its Satellites

          By Brian Orlotti

On April 5th, Los Angeles CA based Relativity Space, a manufacturer of 3D-printed rockets, announced that it has signed its first commercial contract with Telesat, the Ottawa-based commsat operator and pillar of Canada’s space sector.

The agreement is a major coup for the young American NewSpace firm and a sad reminder of Canada’s willingness to support foreign space industries at the expense of its own plentiful and skilled homegrown talent.

As outlined in the April 5th, 2019 Space News post, "Relativity signs contract with Telesat for launching LEO constellation," the contract covers the launch of an unspecified number of Telesat LEO satellites on Relativity launch vehicles, starting no earlier than 2021. The companies declined to disclose the terms of the contract.

Relativity Space was founded in 2015 by former Blue Origin and SpaceX engineers Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone. Ellis and Noone both felt that their employers were not harnessing 3D printing’s full potential in the manufacture of rockets and forged out on their own.

During their initial fundraising round, they courted American billionaire Mark Cuban and impressed him enough to obtain an initial $500,000 US ($655,000 CDN) of seed capital. At the same time, Relativity Space was accepted into the Mountain View CA based Y-Combinator tech accelerator.

The company has since raised over $44.5Mln US ($59Mln CDN) and now has 60 employees.

Relativity’s main product, the Terran-1 rocket, is a 3D-printed, expendable, two-stage launch vehicle. The Terran-1’s maximum payload will be 1,250 kg to low Earth orbit, or a normal payload of 900 kg to 500 km sun synchronous orbit.

The Terran-1 will be powered by the Aeon 1, a 3D printed, liquid methane and liquid oxygen-fueled engine. Made of a nickel alloy, the Aeon 1 consists of about 100 parts.

To build Terran-1 and Aeon-1, Relativity created its own custom metal 3D printer called ‘Stargate.’ Stargate utilizes 18-foot-tall robotic arms equipped with lasers that melt metal wire. These arms can deposit about eight inches’ worth of metal onto a large turntable in just one second.

Directed by custom software, these robotic arms can produce entire rocket bodies and fuel tanks as one piece. The Stargate 3D printer enables Relativity Space to reduce the part count of a typical rocket from 100,000 to 1,000 and build entire rockets in 60 days.

The company has a launch site at Cape Canaveral in Florida and a test facility at NASA’s Stennis Space Centre. It is currently in the process of acquiring a launch site in California that will expand its launch capabilities for customers.

Relativity’s first launch of the Terran-1 is slated for late 2020. Terran-1’s price is around $10Mln US ($13.3Mln CDN) for a 1,250-kilogram payload launch to low Earth orbit.

The Relativity-Telesat deal comes on the heels of Amazon’s unveiling of its plans to create a SpaceX Starlink-esque low-earth-orbit satellite network of its own, with Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ own rocket company, Kent WA based Blue Origin, doing the heavy lifting.

As outlined in the January 31st, 2019 Space News post, "Telesat signs New Glenn multi-launch agreement with Blue Origin for LEO missions," Telesat has also struck a deal with Blue Origin to launch satellites for its future low-Earth-orbit broadband constellation.

Useful wisdom from Lebanese-American writer, poet, visual artist and Lebanese nationalist Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931). Photo c/o Wikipedia.

It is a cruel irony of history that as a storied Canadian space firm like Telesat pays a US startup to build rockets, Canada’s own capable and ambitious young rocket engineers are starved of both funding and support.

Talented groups like the University of Toronto Aerospace Team (UTAT) and the McGill Rocket Team are forced to hone their skills in competitions south of the border due to lack of funding and regulatory mechanisms in their homeland. Groups whose talented members, lacking investment capital to form their own companies will, upon graduation, emigrate to work in other nation’s space industries.

As next-generation American, Chinese, Indian and New Zealander rockets soar into space to begin the next epoch of humanity, Canada seems content to stand ashore slurping a Tim Horton's "double double" with an oh-so-Canadian shrug.

Brian Orlotti.

  ______________________________________________________________

Brian Orlotti is a network operator at the Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION), a not-for-profit network service provider to the education and research sectors.

Now Amazon Wants to Build a 3200+ Constellation of Low Earth Orbit Micro-Sats to Provide Broadband to Rural Areas

          By Chuck Black

Seattle WA based Amazon.com has joined the list of companies planning to build large constellations of hundreds or thousands of low Earth orbiting satellites able to provide broadband internet connectivity to rural areas not currently being served.

As outlined in the April 4th, 2019 Geekwire post, "Amazon to offer broadband access from orbit with 3,236-satellite ‘Project Kuiper’ constellation," Amazon hasn’t disclosed who would build the satellites or when they would be launched and hasn’t yet filed with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for US market access for the system.

But it has provided a name for the new constellation. As outlined in the Geekwire post:

The effort, code-named Project Kuiper, follows up on last September’s mysterious reports that Amazon was planning a “big, audacious space project” involving satellites and space-based systems. The Seattle-based company is likely to spend billions of dollars on the project, and could conceivably reap billions of dollars in revenue once the satellites go into commercial service. 

It’ll take years to bring the big, audacious project to fruition, however, and Amazon could face fierce competition from SpaceX, OneWeb and other high-profile players. 

Project Kuiper’s first public step took the form of three sets of filings made with the International Telecommunication Union last month by the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of Washington, D.C.-based Kuiper Systems LLC. The ITU oversees global telecom satellite operations and eventually will have to sign off on Kuiper’s constellation. 

According to the article, "Amazon said the satellites would provide data coverage for spots on Earth ranging in latitude from 56 degrees north to 56 degrees south. About 95 percent of the world’s population lives within that wide swath of the planet."

This would put the Amazon constellation in direct competition with Ottawa ON based Telesat which, as outline on their Telesat LEO. Why LEO web page is hoping to do much the same thing using only a few hundred micro-sats.

An Amazon spokesperson told GeekWire said it’s too early to say whether Kent WA based Blue Origin, another company founded and controlled by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, will have a lock on the launch contracts, saying, “We will of course look at all options.”

As outlined in the January 31st, 2019 Space News post, "Telesat signs New Glenn multi-launch agreement with Blue Origin for LEO missions," Telesat has:

agreed to launch satellites for its future low-Earth-orbit broadband constellation on multiple New Glenn missions, Blue Origin announced January 31st. 

The agreement, for an unspecified number of launches and satellites, makes Telesat the fifth customer to sign up to use the reusable launcher, which is slated for a maiden flight in 2021.

In essence, it's a small world.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog. 

2019 Turing Award Presented to Canadian Researchers

          By Brian Orlotti

Three researchers, two of them Canadian, have won the 2019 Turing Award, generally considered to to be the world's top computer science award, for their work in developing machine learning and neural networks.

From left, Yann LeCun, Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio. Photo c/o Facebook, via Associated Press; Aaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times; Chad Buchanan/Getty Images.

Université de Montréal professor Yoshua Bengio, University of Toronto professor emeritus Geoffrey Hinton and New York University professor Yann LeCun will each share the 2019 award.

The three have close ties and are perhaps best known for their work outside of academia.

Bengio also acts as and scientific director of Mila, Quebec's artificial intelligence institute  Hinton is a vice-president and engineer fellow at Menlo Park CA based Google, and the chief scientific advisor at the Toronto ON based Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. LeCun is vice-president and chief AI scientist for Menlo Park CA based Facebook. He completed his postdoctoral work at Hinton's University of Toronto lab and then worked with Bengio at US based Bell Labs.

As outlined in the March 27th, 2019 Canada AI post, "Canadian Researchers Who Taught AI To Learn Like Humans Win $1M Turing Award," the Turing Award is a $1Mln US ($1.3Mln CDN) annual prize given by the New York NY based Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) to an individual or group selected for contributions "of lasting and major technical importance to the computer field."

The award is named after British mathematician, computer scientist and World War II code breaker Alan Turing. It has been sponsored by Google since 2014, though the company says it is not involved with the selection committee.

Machine learning and neural networks are two related fields which have given today’s computers the ability to learn by imitating the human brain and its networks of neurons to find patterns in data. Together, they form the core of the artificial intelligence (AI) which powers much of the modern world’s software, from web and smartphone apps to voice, image and facial recognition to language translation.

The development of new AI applications is the largest source of growth in the Canadian robotics industry. AI software applications increasingly act as controlling mechanisms for manufacturing and robotics equipment, allowing them to learn new processes that increase their flexibility and usefulness.

AI learning capabilities are also expected to be included with the next generation Canadarm being planned as Canada's contribution to the US led Lunar Gateway.

Machine learning and neural networks are poised to transform our society and economy in the coming decades. That Canada is a world leader in this field is due in no small part to the foresight and support of both the Canadian government and the private sector. Our country’s AI success story is a reminder that while Canada has declined in its traditional strengths, such as space and aerospace, Canadians can still excel when we choose to.

Brian Orlotti.

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Brian Orlotti is a network operator at the Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION), a not-for-profit network service provider to the education and research sectors.

Canada's New "Sorta" Space Plan Only Really Covers the Canadian Space Agency, Not "Whole of Government" Activities

          By Chuck Black

Almost a month after the March 6th, 2019 formal release of "Exploration, Imagination, Innovation - A New Space Strategy for Canada" by the governing Justin Trudeau Liberals, it's becoming increasingly obvious that the new Canadian space strategy is simply not the comprehensive "whole of government review" of activities, policies and legislation expected.

According to the February 23rd, 2015 Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat website on the Whole of Government Framework, since 2005 the Treasury Board has "supported the development of a common, government-wide approach to the collection, management, and reporting of financial and non-financial information on program objectives, performance, and results." The whole-of-government framework maps "the financial and non-financial contributions of departments, agencies, and Crown corporations receiving appropriations to a set of 16 high-level Government of Canada outcome areas within four Government of Canada spending areas—Economic, Social, International, and Government Affairs." Graphic c/o Treasury Board of Canada.

At the very least, it's certainly not a long-term space plan.

It is instead a very limited listing of upcoming Canadian Space Agency (CSA) activities and priorities focused almost entirely around component contributions to the US led Lunar Gateway, a program currently in a state of flux.

It's not that there's anything wrong with that. It's simply that, after waiting for over fifteen years for something a little bit more comprehensive and perhaps a little more Canadian, we were hoping for better.

For example, the new plan doesn't really reference other space focused initiatives from other Federal government departments, such as the new Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan (CMMP), a Canadian government program last discussed in the March 4th, 2019 post, "The New Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan Stakes its Claim on the Space Industry."

The new plan doesn't really reference academia or the private sector either, except perhaps to congratulate them for their past accomplishments and to offer up a few more opportunities for funding.

The new Canadian space strategy isn't even really a self contained plan since its primary justification is as a smaller component of the Liberal’s 2017 Innovation and Skills Plan which is focused almost entirely around jobs creation.

Traditional long-term space plans, beginning with the 1967 "Chapman Report," known more formally as "Upper Atmosphere and Space Programs in Canada" by J.H. Chapman, P.A. Forsyth, P.A. Lapp and G.N. Patterson, were far larger and contained considerably more information collected from a variety of government departments.

For example, as outlined in the June 1967 Science Council of Canada overview of the 1967 Chapman report, under the title "Report No. 1, A Space Program for Canada," the 140+ page Chapman report was divided into three parts:

The first describes current and projected government, university, and industrial programs for the 1961 to 1971 period in considerable detail. Statistical information on these programs is compiled from the original sources. The comments and recommendations of the study group are included.  

The second part is devoted to the texts of agreements, memoranda of understanding, and other international arrangements in effect on October 31, 1966, and which record the official undertakings with regard to the Alouette-ISIS Scientific Program, the International Communications Satellite Program, the St. John's, Newfoundland, Tracking and Telemetry Station, and the operation of the Churchill Research Range. 

Part three of the report is in the nature of an appendix to the first part, presenting the High Altitude Research Program of McGill University in considerably greater detail. 

This was a reasonably comprehensive listing of pretty much everything the Canadian government was supporting in this area at the time.

John Chapman (1921 - 1979) and another of his legacies, the Alouette-1 satellite. As outlined in the Fall 1992 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Canadian Review post, "The 30th Anniversary of Alouette I," Chapman "was convinced of the need to develop the capability to design and build space hardware in Canadian industry and to move away from the practice of relying solely on the expertise of the government laboratories. As a result, Alouette II and the ISIS satellites were built, with steadily increasing participation by Canadian industry." Photo's c/o IEEE Canada.

But the new, twenty page Liberal space strategy is only a seventh the size of its illustrious predecessor and far less comprehensive. Once we get past the ministers message and a couple of nice full page and half page graphics, the remaining pages are divided into three sections:

A series of discussions on "Canada's Legacy in Space," including the role of space in developing Canadian science expertise and a short essay on "The Socio-Economic Benefits of Space," which covers metrics related to gross domestic revenues, employment and industry and private sector opportunities for future growth. 

An overview of "Canada's Vision for Space," focused around science and the need to utilize space focused technologies as "a key element" of the Federal Government’s 2017 Innovation and Skills Plan, focused around generating new middle class jobs in  innovative sectors. 

Several pages on "Delivering the Vision," which included $1.9Bln CDN for a next-generation AI-enabled deep-space robotic system (essentially, a new "Canadarm") for the US led Lunar Gateway program, a re-commitment to the Canadian astronaut program, substantial new educational outreach and several other programs relating to solving "everyday challenges" for Canadians.

While the new policy does mention "science," at least in passing, it certainly doesn't attempt to inventory space focused initiatives taking place across Canada through the National Research Council (NRC) or other government and private sector organizations.

Such an inventory, a standard component of the traditional "whole of government" approach to the problem is certainly not impossible to generate. A good place to start could be the Industry Page on this blog.

The lack of an inventory would suggest that the new policy is not the comprehensive, final word on Canadian space initiatives pitched by the Canadian government.

Also, while the new strategy does mention the need to "create a modern regulatory framework," it doesn't go into any detail on which specific regulations need to be addressed and updated. As outlined in both the December 14th, 2018 post, "2019 Federal Pre-Budget Consultation Report Mentions "Significant, Ongoing Investments to Advance Canada’s Space Program"" and the March 5th, 2018 post, "That Commercial Ground Station Built by New North Networks in Inuvik Still Can't be Used," specific areas requiring updated legislation have certainly presented themselves to those willing to do the appropriate research.

Others are slowly coming to the conclusion that the new space strategy is neither a panacea nor a "whole of government" document.

As outlined in the March 25th, 2019 SpaceQ post, "Opinion: Finally, a New Canadian Space Strategy – But Wait, What do we do With This?," a few are beginning to ask about the absence of a Canadian government commitment to regulatory reform in the document.

As outlined in the April 1st, 2019 Ottawa Citizen post, "Steer: Space needs more Canada – but Canada needs a better approach to space," at least one person, Dr. Cassandra Steer, an independent space security consultant contracted to Kanata ON based Space Strategies Consulting Ltd., has also questioned the absence of commitment to international space security initiatives in the new space policy.

These concerns are just the beginning. Expect more to surface over the next few months as the full extent of the Liberals failure in the area begins to sink in.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog. 

Rocket Crafters Developing 3D Printed Rocket Fuel for its Hybrid Engine

          By Brian Orlotti

Cocoa FL based space startup Rocket Crafters Inc., has patented a new method of 3d printing rocket fuel and is seeking new funding to commercialize its technology.

Founded in a garage in Cocoa, Florida some 15 miles from Kennedy Space Centre, Rocket Crafters is led by former astronaut Sid Gutierrez, its chairman, and US Air Force veteran Rob Fabian, its president.

In 2017, Rocket Crafters was granted a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to test its patented hybrid rocket engine, which combines a 3D-printed solid plastic fuel with liquid nitrous oxide during ignition. This contrasts with traditional rocket engines that mix a liquid fuel and oxidizer.

The fuel, of the same type of plastic used in Lego bricks, is printed as a long horizontal core. The company found that 3D printing the fuel in a linear form reduces imperfections in the plastic, making for a more efficient, predictable burn.

Linear fuel cores were also found to faster to print than the previously used cylindrical forms. Also, Rocket Crafters found that adding aluminum to the plastic fuel further increased burn efficiency. The company is targeting its engine towards the small satellite launch market.

In late 2018, however, the company pivoted to patenting its 3D-printing process for fuel after co-founder Ronald Jones left the company and took his patents to form a new company, the Indialantic, FL based Firehawk Aerospace.

Advocates of hybrid rocket engines claim they are far safer than traditional ones because they eliminate the risk of a catastrophic explosion. The two components of a hybrid system cannot ignite except at very high temperatures. Rocket Crafters argues that hybrid engines would require less airspace to be closed during a launch since there would be zero risk of a large explosion.

Despite the rosy picture of hybrid engines painted by Rocket Crafters, the company has also admitted that hybrids in general have had a history of issues with unpredictable thrust and excessive vibration.

Rocket Crafters is currently in a Series A round of venture capital fundraising, with a goal of $5.7Mln US ($7.6Mln CDN).

The company is also in discussions with Exploration Park FL based Space Florida, the state’s space marketing and economic development agency. In addition to engine development, the company also seeks to build a new office and production facility. Rocket Crafters has scheduled its first test flight for this fall at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Hybrid rocket engines have the potential to make much safer launch vehicles, despite their developmental issues. As the commercial industry expands and matures, all new avenues of technology must be explored to maintain its momentum.

Brian Orlotti.

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Brian Orlotti is a network operator at the Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION), a not-for-profit network service provider to the education and research sectors.

The Mars 2020 Rover is About to Go Over Budget

          By Henry Stewart

NASA's current flagship robotics mission, the $2.46Bln US ($3.29Bln CDN) Mars 2020 rover, is "following the pattern of its predecessors and seeing its cost rise because of technical issues."

As outlined in the March 18th, 2019 Science post, "Cost of Mars 2020 mission may rise by up to 15%," the mission’s cost will increase by "no more than 15%" according to Lori Glade, NASA’s acting director of planetary science.

That's still a sizable sum and will take money away from other NASA missions. Cost growth above the 15% threshold would also trigger requirements for US Congressional notification and mission modifications, according to a plan put in place by NASA in 2016 intended to limit cost overruns.

As outlined in the March 19th, 2019 Space News post, "NASA dealing with cost growth on planetary science flagship missions," there had been "widespread rumors in the planetary science community that Mars 2020 was facing cost overruns."

According to the article:

The agency said problems with two instruments, the planetary instrument for x-ray lithochemistry and scanning habitable environments with raman and luminescence for organics and chemicals, as well as rover’s system for caching samples that will be returned to Earth by future missions, contributed to the cost growth.

Mars 2020 is part of a larger NASA multi-mission plan to collect Martian rock and soil samples for eventual return to Earth. Any cost overruns and delays in the Mars 2020 mission will likely also impact and delay the anticipated follow-on missions.

As outlined in the December 4th, 2018 Don't Let Go Canada post, "Canadian-Based Company Selected to Design Next-Generation Mars Rover," Brampton ON based MDA Space Systems will have the opportunity to contribute to the follow-on programs.

The Mars 2020 rover is currently scheduled to launch on in July 2020, and touch down in Jezero crater on Mars in February 2021.

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