CASI AERO Honours Space Pioneers

          By Chuck Black

It's mostly focused on the larger "aero" component of the aerospace industry this year, but the 67th Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI) AERO Conference and Annual General Meeting did manage to take some time out from its busy three day schedule to honour Canadians contributing to the conquest of our final frontier.

Major Paul Maskell, the current DND Sapphire project manager with MDA principal engineer Robert Leitch and DND systems engineer Farid Aziz. The three accepted the 2015 Alouette Award on behalf of the DND and MDA Sapphire project teams at the 2015 CASI Senior Awards banquet. Photo c/o author. 

The awards and accolades were dished out as part of the 2015 CASI Senior Awards banquet, which was held on May 20th, 2015 in Montreal. They included:

The Alouette Award, which was presented to both the Department of National Defence's (DND) Surveillance of Space (Sapphire) project team along with the MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) Sapphire project team, for successfully working together to deliver the satellite to the Canadian Armed Forces.

The award recognizes outstanding contribution to advancement in Canadian space technology, applications, science or engineering and is awarded annually for outstanding achievement in the field of astronautics.

Sapphire, Canada's first military satellite, is a small spacecraft designed to monitor space debris and satellites within an orbit 3,728 to 24,855 miles (6,000 to 40,000 kilometres) above Earth. As outlined in the January 30th, 2014 MDA press release, "MDA announces Canada's DND Sapphire satellite completes commissioning and has transitioned into operations," the satellite has been providing data to the United States Space Surveillance Network since January 2014.

Chris Hadfield checks in via skype during the the 2015 CASI Senior Awards banquet. Photo c/o author.

The Trans‐Canada (McKee) Trophy, which was presented to retired Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Chris Hadfield for representing "the true spirit of exploration and discovery." during his distinguished career as a fighter pilot, astronaut and as the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station (ISS).

Hadfield, raised on a farm in southern Ontario and inspired as a child while watching the Apollo 11 Moon landing on TV, was the first Canadian to walk in space and is officially a civilian astronaut, since he retired as a colonel from the Canadian Armed Forces in 2003 after 25 years of military service.

The trophy, established in 1927, is Canada's oldest aviation trophy. It was created by Captain J. Dalzell McKee, an American citizen and pilot, who flew from Montreal to Vancouver that year and was so impressed by the services provided by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the Ontario Provincial Air Service that he established the endowment to promote Canadian aviation which, unofficially at least, still bears his name. 

JM Floryan. Photo c/o UWO.

Of course, Hadfield and the Sapphire team weren't the only Canadians honoured at the gala. Other awards included:

• The McCurdy Award, which commemorates the many engineering and other contributions made by John Alexander Douglas McCurdy during the early years of aviation, was presented to Professor Jerzy Maciej Floryan from the University of Western Ontario for his contributions in the area of hydrodynamic stability, flow control and interfacial fluid mechanics.

• The C.D. Howe Award, presented for achievements in the fields of planning, policy making, and overall leadership in the aerospace industry was presented to the Honourable David Emerson for his contributions as head of the 2012 Aerospace Review.

• The Roméo Vachon Award, presented for outstanding display of initiative, ingenuity and practical skills in the solution of a particularly challenging problem in Canadian aeronautics and space activities, was presented to Stephan Werlen, for his contributions at the National Research Council of Canada in support of the Pratt & Whitney Canada altitude test cell, icing cell, high pressure compressor rotors (HPCR) and wind tunnels.

The event, held this year in collaboration with the Green Aviation Research and Development Network (GARDN) in Montreal from May 19th - 21st, focused on a variety of "green initiatives" to reduce the carbon footprint of the aerospace industry.

CASI bills itself as a nonprofit technical organization for aeronautics, space and remote sensing. It hosts a variety of events, including the recently concluded 65th International Astronautics Congress (IAC), which was held in Toronto from September 29th - October 3rd, 2014 and the bi-annual CASI Aero and CASI Astro conferences.

The next CASI ASTRO will be held in May 2016. Stay tuned.

Funding the "Son of Sapphire!"

          by Chuck Black

The multi-year maze of financial hoops and hurdles facing any proposed Canadian government military space project is back in the news with recent reports that the Department of National Defence (DND) is looking to build a follow-on to the successful Surveillance of Space (Sapphire) satellite.

The Sapphire ground system architecture. The ground segment is composed of a Spacecraft Control Center (SCC), a Satellite Processing and Scheduling Facility (SPSF) located in Richmond BC. S-band command telemetry and data is sent to Sapphire from ground stations in Abbotsford BC and Guildford, UK. Data is also shared with the Space Surveillance Operations Center (SSOC) in North Bay, which shares data with the US Space Surveillance Network. Graphic c/o MDA.

Sapphire, Canada's first military satellite, was constructed by Richmond based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) using an SSTL-150 bus produced by UK based Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) and an optical payload built by Cambridge based COM DEV International. Launched in 2012, it was designed to monitor space debris and satellites within a medium Earth orbit (between low Earth and geostationary orbit) and is expected to function as a component of the US Space Surveillance Network (SSN) until at least 2017.

The new program (known officially as Surveillance of Space 2 and unofficially as the "Son of Sapphire") was originally part of the $100Bln CDN "wish list" of potential government military expenditures released on June 16th, 2014 as part of the Canadian government Defence Acquisition Guide (DAG), but didn't initially seem any closer along the path to procurement than any of the other listed programs.

However, according to the July 24th, 2014 SpaceNews article, "Canada Eyes “Son of Sapphire” as a Way To Keep Helping US Watch over Space," there are compelling reasons to fast forward approval and funding of this particular program. As outlined in the article, the original Sapphire was:

...seen as a key contribution to the US - Canadian defense relationship. In 2012 the Canadian and US militaries entered into a five-year agreement for sharing orbital surveillance data, with Sapphire playing a role in that. At the time of its launch, then-Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay called Sapphire an important milestone in the country’s military space program. He noted that Sapphire “is an essential component of our robust defense for Canada and North America, through NORAD.”

According to the article, a follow-on program would would go a long way towards maintaining access to the US data provided by the SSN (which is operated through NORAD), after the current SSN agreement expires in 2017.

Current ground assets of the US Space Surveillance Network, which  detects, tracks, catalogues and identifies artificial objects orbiting Earth, such as active/inactive satellites, spent rocket bodies, or fragmentation debris. Graphic c/o Wikipedia. 

It's also the logical follow-on to a program which was itself designed to replace the original Canadian contribution to the SSN, a series of three ground-based telescopes in Canada functioning as space surveillance sensors, which were decommissioned in 1992.

It's unlikely that the US will wait as long as it did the last time for Canada's next contribution to a program generally conceded to be a "joint operation," so its likely that the "Son of Sapphire" will be fast-tracked for future funding.

Although the first Sapphire was listed as costing approximately $96.4Mln CDN including design, development, building, ground infrastructure and personnel according to the January 30th, 2014 DND website update "Space Situational Awareness and the Sapphire Satellite (BG 14.002)," the follow-on project was estimated in the current DAG to cost somewhere between $100Mln and $249Mln CDN.

Expect the final numbers to be on the high side of that estimate. After all, the first step in the modern government procurement process is normally to low-ball preliminary cost estimates in a bid to gain political support.

Let the games begin.

The Real Winners of the PSLV-20 Rocket Launch

While seven satellites went into orbit today aboard the Indian Space and Research Organization’s (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) flight C20 and the majority of the credit for the successful launch certainly belongs with the ISRO, at least one other Canadian organization looks poised to benefit.

...
The University of Toronto Institute of Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) Space Flight Laboratories (SFL), built two of the satellites (the CanX-3a BRIght Target Explorer and the CanX-3b TUGsat1, which are part of the BRITE constellation of micro-sats), tested and helped launch another (the third in a series of Aalborg University Cubesats or AAU-Cubesat3) and originally helped to develop the methodologies used to build both the Department of National Defence (DND) Surveillance of Space (Sapphire) satellite and the Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat).

The manufacturing methodologies used in Sapphire and NEOSSat originally developed out of the Canadian experience with earlier satellites, such as the Microvariability and Oscillations of STars (MOST) space telescope. As outlined in the May 9th, 2010 post titled "the Microsat Way in Canada" this methodology focused on inexpensive, quickly constructed components used frequently to build up a body of expertise by testing to failure (instead of just testing for functionality), because of the usefulness of the real world knowledge gained.

This methodology was eventually formalized in a paper titled "The Microsat Way in Canada" by Peter Stibrany and Kieran A. Carroll, two employees at Dynacon Enterprises (one of the contractors for MOST). The paper included many the core concepts in what would later become the standard operating procedures at UTIAS-SFL and other organizations.

MOST was developed as a joint effort of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Dynacon Enterprises (which went on to develop NEOSSat under the name MSCI), the University of British Columbia and the UTIAS SFL. 

...
All of which gives the UTIAS-SFL a direct connection to five of the seven satellites launched.

There's even an indirect connection to a sixth satellite, the innovative Surrey Training Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator 1 (STRaND1), built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) and operated by a "Google Nexus One smartphone with an Android operating system" according to the February 25th, 2013 press release "World’s first “phonesat”, STRaND-1, successfully launched into orbit."

Both UTIAS SFL and SSTL (which also helped out with Sapphire) use satellite bus designs derived from designs used by the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT-NA) in the 1970's and 80's for satellites containing amateur radio payloads.

 UTIAS SFL even provides a low-cost launch service through it's Nano-satellite Launch Services (NLS) program.

Nanosatellite Launch Services 8, the eighth launch under the UTIAS SFL Nanosatellite Launch Service (NLS) program, organized the CanX 3a, CanX 3b and AAU-Cubesat3 payloads aboard PSLV-20. To date, the NSL program has successfully launched 16 spacecraft from various countries.

Organizations like these are where the next generation of innovation in satellite design is going to come from, and the UTIAS SFL is a leading player in the process.

Which makes UTIAS-SFL one of the real winners from the PSLV-20 launch.

Canadian Satellites Set to Launch: This Time for Sure!

      by Brian Orlotti

The Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

The clock is still ticking for a quartet of Canadian satellites being launched on an Indian rocket.

The Indian Space and Research Organization’s (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) flight C20 is currently scheduled for a February 25th, 2013 liftoff from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. The launch has suffered both recent (February 14th & February 18th) and long-term delays as outlined most recently in the January 14th, 2013 blog post "Robotic Refueling, Sapphire, NEOSst, CanX 3a, 3b and CASSIOPE on a Falcon 9," but now seems set to finally move forward

The flight C20 payload includes the Department of National Defence (DND) Surveillance of Space (Sapphire) satellite, the Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) and the CanX-3a BRIght-star Target Explorer (BRITE) and the CanX-3b (TUGsat1) micro-satellites. The Canadian satellites are a secondary payload, with space being shared with satellites from India, France, Denmark and the UK.


...
Sapphire will be Canada’s first operational military satellite. Loaded with optical sensors, its primary missions will be monitoring orbiting satellites and tracking space debris. Defence Research Development Canada (DRDC) proposed Sapphire in response to China’s 2007 test of an anti-satellite missile, which left much debris in low Earth orbit and served as a stark warning to other nations that their commercial and military space assets were vulnerable to attack.

SAPPHIRE key elements. c/o E/O Portal.

Sapphire will serve as the core of the proposed Canadian Surveillance of Space System and will also link to the United States’ Space Surveillance Network. Sapphire was developed by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) of Richmond, BC, COM DEV International (COM DEV) of Cambridge, ON and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) of Surrey, England.

NEOSSAT will be the first space telescope designed specifically to search for near-Earth asteroids that could potentially collide with the Earth, such as what happened with the February 15th explosion of a meteorite over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. The suitcase-sized satellite will orbit approximately 800 kilometres above our planet, searching for near-Earth asteroids that would be difficult to spot using ground-based telescopes.

...
Aside from planetary defense, this data will be crucial for future government and private missions to nearby asteroids. NEOSSAT will spend half its time looking for these small objects and the other half monitoring space debris in Earth orbit that could collide with other satellites and cause major telecommunications outages. NEOSSAT was jointly developed by DRDC, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Microsat Systems Canada Inc. (MSCI) , Spectral Applied Research and COM DEV.

CanX-3. c/o UTIAS SFL.

CanX-3a, also known as BRIght-star Target Explorer (BRITE), is a CanX-class nanosatellite designed and built at the University of Toronto Institute of Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) Space Flight Laboratories (SFL). A 20 cm cube, its primary mission will be making photometric observations of some of the brightest portions of the sky to examine stars for their variability (fluctuations in brightness) as part of a two satellite constellation with CanX-3b. It is expected that these observations will be at least 10 times more precise that what can be achieved with ground-based instruments. BRITE incorporates a high-performance attitude control system, using reaction wheels developed by UTIAS SFL in collaboration with Sinclair Interplanetary of Toronto, ON. BRITE was developed by the UTIAS SFL with support from the CSA.

TUGSAT-1. c/o Gunters Space Page.

CanX-3b, more properly known as BRITE-AUSTRIA/TUGSAT-1, although reasonably considered to have been mostly "made in Canada" is funded by the Austrian Space Agency and slated to officially be the first Austrian satellite. Working with CanX-3a as part of a two satellite constellation, BRITE-AUSTRIA/TUGSAT-1 will inhabit an 800 km polar orbit and track the brightness oscillations of massive luminous stars using differential photometry. A Mission Control Centre has been set up in Graz, Austria with additional ground stations in Toronto and Vienna to be brought online later.

Also aboard PSLV flight C20 are the Satellite with ARgos and ALtika (SARAL) co-operative altimetry technology mission between the ISRO and the French Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), the Surrey Training Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator 1 (STRaND1), a microsat demonstrator mission utilizing commercial off-the-shelf components from standard smartphones running on the Android open source operating system and the third of a series of Aalborg University Cubesat (AAU-Cubesat3), a student project from Aalborg University in Denmark (which also just happened to use UTIAS SFL facilities for testing)

With so many space assets squeezed aboard a single launcher, Canadian and international space-watchers will certainly have their fingers crossed as the watershed launch approaches.

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEOSSat architecture c/o eoPortal Directory.

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

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

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

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

2012 in Space for Canada: A Year in Highlights

Here are some of the major high and low points for the Canadian space industry in 2012:

• BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) started the year off on a sour note with the expiration of its $280 million USD agreement to build a space infrastructure servicing (SIS) vehicle for on-orbit satellite repair and refueling with satellite services provider Intelsat General Corporation. As outlined in the January 15th, 2012 post "MDA Satellite Servicing Agreement with Intelsat Expires," the original intent of the partnership was to leverage US connections to allow MDA to bid on American government contracts. When Intelsat was unable to do this, the partnership dissolved.

• As described in the December 11th, 2011 post " Canadian Space Rovers on the Chopping Block," funding for a series of Canadian Space Agency (CSA) lunar and Martian rover designs ran out on schedule in March, after the construction of several prototypes. By the end of the year, as outlined in the October 20th, 2012 post "Lots and Lots of Rovers Looking for Missions," the CSA had spent a great deal of time and effort attempting to interest many other organizations in the rovers, but no formal agreements had been signed.

Industry Minister Christian Paradis announcing the aerospace and space review on February 27th. The full text of the ministers speech is available here.

• The Federal government announced that the long awaited review of the Canadian aerospace ("and space") industry would finally move forward and appointed former MP David Emerson as its head. As outlined in the February 26th, 2012 post "Aerospace (and Space) Policy Review Head Announced," the review mandate was to "explore how government, industry and other key stakeholders can address the key issues facing the aerospace and space sectors, such as innovation, market access and development, skills development, procurement, and supplier development." The review expected to present its final report to the Federal Industry Minister before the end of the year.

• In March, the Federal government released a new budget which included no funding for the phase D, implementation stage of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) and called for a 10% across the board funding reduction in federal government departments, including the CSA. Most Canadian space focused companies (such as COM DEV International, as outlined in the April 16th, 2012 post "COM DEV Learns from its History") began to quietly diversify their client base away from government contracts.

• As outlined in the April 3rd, 2012 post "3500+ Advocates, Scientists, Space Agency Heads & Experts in Toronto for IAC 2014," the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) announced that their 65th Annual conference will take place in Toronto in 2014. The bid, initially organized by the Canadian Space Society (CSS), was updated and finally submitted by the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI), which helped organize previous IAF events in Canada. IAF Executive Director Christian Feichtinger visited Ottawa just days before the final announcement was made in order to make a presentation at the 2012 Canadian Space Commerce Association Annual Conference on March 28th. 

RADARSAT Constellation.

• As outlined in the April 9th, 2012 post "Global Space Industry Grows 41% Over Five Years," the 2012 Space Report, a yearly assessment of the global space industry, indicated a continued pattern of strong growth proceeding substantially faster than the rest of the worldwide economy. Of course, the Canadian situation is a bit more complex. As outlined in the December 17th post "2011 State of the Canadian Space Sector Now Online," the Canadian space industry was starting to slow down during this period.

• MDA, in a bid to restore phase D funding for RCM, issued an increasingly strident series of press releases and interviews in a variety of publications throughout the spring. As outlined in both the May 14th blog post "MDA & RADARSAT Constellation's War of the Words" and the May 27th blog post "Federal Government Says "Yippee Ki Yay" to MDA" these appeals had limited effect on Federal government action due to the concurrent reports of large RCM cost overruns. In November 2012, with no funding on the horizon, the Federal government finally made a public statement of the obvious in response to a question posed in the House of Commons by NDP MP Hélène LeBlanc and indicated that RCM would be delayed by at least two years. By the end of the year, despite public statements of support, the Federal government had still not allocated any further RCM funding.

• In June, MDA finally succeeded in cutting the "gordian knot" of government contract reliance and entry barriers into the lucrative US marketplace by purchasing a space company with US roots. As outlined in the June 27th, 2012 post "MacDonald Dettwiler buys Space Systems Loral for $875M," the new acquisition allowed MDA immediate access into the US market and changed the company focus from government satellite contracts to private telecommunication satellite manufacturing. Best of all, Defence Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) contracts, a prize MDA had long coveted to help commercialize their SIS technology, began flowing almost immediately and Canadian government funded RCM contracts suddenly became less important to the overall profitability of the firm. Of course, only time will tell how this new state of affairs will effect Canadian employment opportunities at MDA. 

• Cambridge based small-sat company exactEarth LLP launched one of only two complete Canadian satellites into orbit in 2012. Their exactView EV1 automatic identification system (AIS) satellite, part of a growing constellation of nautical tracking satellites, was launched into orbit from Baikonur on July 22nd. Two months previously on May 18th, the much larger Nimiq 6 communications satellite (manufactured by Space Systems Loral and operated by Telesat Canada for Bell TV) launched from the same location aboard a Proton M launch vehicle. Four other Canadian satellites, the Department of National Defence Surveillance of Space (Sapphire) satellite, the Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) and the CanX-3a and CanX-3b micro-satellites, bundled together as secondary payloads with the joint Indo-French developed Satellite with ARgos and ALtiKa (SARAL), were delayed from their initial December, 2012 launch date and are currently not expected to launch before February 2013.

• Lethbridge, AB based RapidEye Canada Ltd. acquired German based RapidEye AG on August 29th. The company, complete with a satellite constellation of five Earth imaging satellites originally designed by MDA, began with seed financing from a few private investors and Vereinigte Hagelversicherung, a German agricultural insurance provider in a process indicative of the emerging "NewSpace" industry. Five other emerging companies were profiled in the June 26th, 2012 post on "Five Canadian NewSpace Companies to Watch" and former CSA president William MacDonald ("Mac") Evans joined the board of one of them (UrtheCast) in December 2012.

• Right on time, David Emerson released his final Aerospace Review Report on November 29th to generally positive reviews and promises from the Federal government not to let the report languish "unread on a shelf." As outlined in the December 5th post "What the Space Volume of the Aerospace Review Actually Says," the review was a surprisingly robust endorsement of both the larger "aerospace and space industry" and the small, emerging Canadian "NewSpace" sector of innovative, space focused businesses. But it also called for new oversight of the CSA and recommended the removal of both its current policy-making role and any direct involvement in the design and manufacture of "space assets purchased by the government."

• And finally, in what could be the "last hurrah" of the CSA in its current form, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and his Expedition 34 crew members Roman Romanenko and Tom Marshburn docked to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 21st. For Hadfield, this is the start of a five month journey in which he will become the first Canadian to command the space station when the next crew arrives in March. However, no further Canadian astronauts are expected to visit the ISS after Hadfield completes his mission. Add this to the Emerson recommendations, the lack of currently announced funding for RCM, the launch delays for NEOSat and SAPPHIRE plus the lack of any new, funded projects for the CSA and it's reasonable to consider Hadfield's mission as the last real space project the CSA is going to participate in for a long, long time.

What's going to happen next year in space for Canada? Tune in beginning January 1st, 2013 to find out.

More Radarsat, Hadfield, Launch Delays and Profitable Dealmaking

Collin Kenny.

Here's a quick listing of stories currently being tracked for the Commercial Space blog:

• The latest "mass media" editorial to come out in favor of the stalled Radarsat Constellation (RCM) program is the November 25th, 2012 Ottawa Citizen article "Canada needs new satellite eyes." Written by Liberal party senator Colin Kenny, the former chair of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, the article focuses on the military ramifications and expected job losses should the program become permanently derailed. While some of the statistics used to bolster the overall arguments seem excessively inflated (such as the statement that
  At stake in this venture are more than 1,000 jobs
  
  Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Canada+needs+satellite+eyes/7607442/story.html#ixzz2DN3ytFUo
  At stake in this venture are more than 1,000 jobs
  
  Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Canada+needs+satellite+eyes/7607442/story.html#ixzz2DN3ytFUo
  "at stake in this venture are over 1000 jobs") it is certainly helpful to see a continued interest in this area from Federal politicians.

• Of course, RCM isn't the totality of the Federal government space program. Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Chris Hadfield is also waiting patiently for a ride aboard the upcoming Expedition 34/35 long duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The current schedule is for Hadfield to launch December 19th, 2012 from Kazakhstan to carry out scientific experiments, operate the Canadarm2, perform other robotics tasks as required and oversee operations as the first Canadian ISS commander beginning in March 2013. 

• But some launch windows take longer than others. Four Canadian satellites (the Department of National Defence Surveillance of Space (Sapphire) satellite, the Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) and the CanX-3a and CanX-3b micro-satellites), bundled together as secondary payloads with the joint Indo-French developed Satellite with ARgos and ALtiKa (SARAL), are currently scheduled for launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre aboard an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on January 12th, 2013. As outlined in the September 16th, 2012 Commercial Space blog post "Sapphire, NEOSSat, CanX 3A & 3B Standing By... " the currently anticipated launch date is four full years behind schedule. 

• Meanwhile, back in the private sector, there seems to be a great deal of money to be made in the space industry, especially if you're able to sell into the US. For example, according to the November 26th, 2012 4-Traders website article "COMDEV wins follow-on contract for U.S. Government Satellite Program," Cambridge based COMDEV International has been "has been awarded a follow-on contract to deliver active and passive microwave equipment in support of a major U.S. Government procurement" with a full contract value of up to $19M CDN.  

• Richmond based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) might also have received an early holiday gift. As outlined in the November 20th article "ABS Gets Loans to Build Three Sats: MDA, SpaceX, Boeing Set to Benefit," on the NewSpace Watch website, Asia Broadcast Satellite Ltd. has just received a $461M USD loan from the US Import/ Export Bank to build three communications satellites. One loan, for $171M USD's will cover the completion of the ABS-2 communications satellite, currently being built by SS/Loral, which was recently purchased by MDA.

The Confusing Geopolitics of Canadian Space

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

James Fergusson.

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

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

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

The Indian Polar Satellite Lunch Vehicle (PSLV).

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

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

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

So Canada needed to ask for permission.

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

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

Which brings us to our second, breaking story.

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



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

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

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

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

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



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

How's that for confusing and complicated?

Space Research, Suborbital Flights, University Satellites, Capacity Building and More...

Here's a couple of quick updates on interesting commercial space focused stories from Canada and around the world.

• An academic research report on Space Tourism in India, conducted by students and faculty members of the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) in Dehradun, India in association with the Institute of Air & Space Law at McGill University in Montreal and released on March 31st, 2011, states that "Space Tourism is one area where India can play a vital role with its affordable yet reliable solution. With the growth in the economy and the rapidly increasing middle and upper class, it is expected that a new industry on space tourism will evolve." The abstract for the report is available for download online by clicking on this link. 

Michael Broadhurst.

• While Canadian specific academic research in the area of space tourism is limited, it's worth noting that several Calgarians have so far plunked down $20,000 deposits on $200,000 tickets for short rides on the British based Virgin Galactic suborbital Spaceship Two, according to Michael Broadhurst, Vision 2000 Travel manager and prairie accredited sales agent (ASA) for Virgin Galactic who is quoted in the March 31st, 2011 Calgary Herald article "Calgarians sign up for space flights." According to his partner, Stephanie Anevich, the Toronto based executive vice-president of Vision 2000, (who I spoke with over the phone today) the company is very excited to be part of the original Virgin Galactic ASA team in Canada. Vision 2000 now has 6 ASA’s and advisers who focus on space travel.

• But if you're going into space and expect to get thirsty during your trip, then Australian beer company Thirsty Swagman might just have a second, more palatable alternative. According to the April 4th, 2011 press release "First Beer in Space Tour Set for 2012/2013" the company is offering passengers purchasing Virgin Galactic tickets through its online website (called Beer in Space) the option of chugging down a cold one at 300,000 feet in zero gravity. According to the company founder Kenneth Hart, “beer is the nectar of the gods, and soon you can touch the heavens to drink it."

• According to the April 4th, 2011 Wired Web Press Canada press release "Carlton University Students to Compete in Canada's First Satellite Design Challenge" a team of engineering students from Carlton University have registered to compete in Canada’s first Canadian Satellite Design Challenge (CSDC). The contest, organized by BC based Geocentrix Technologies, is open to teams of university students who design and build an operational small-satellite, based on commercially-available, "off-the-shelf" components. The satellites will undergo full launch and space environment qualification with the ultimate goal of launching the winning satellite into orbit and conducting science research. The Carlton entry brings the total number of competitors for the challenge to thirteen including Carlton, Concordia University (Montreal, QC), Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS), the University of Alberta (Edmonton, AB) and the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC).

• Meanwhile, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is attempting to increase its capacity, at least according to the April 1st, 2011 SpaceRef.ca article "Canadian Space Agency Ramps up Capacity Building Efforts." The article comments that the CSA plan is designed to support "the continuing development of a critical mass of researchers and highly qualified people in Canada in strategic areas." These areas include atmospheric measurements using space-borne Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), carbon cycle science with space-borne data assimilation and modeling, soil moisture measurement and applications with space-borne data plus quite a few other highly targeted and very specific areas. Of course, any preselected and highly targeted list of activities strongly suggests a government agency that already pretty much knows where it expects to spend the $2.25 million allocated to the project over the next three years.

• Speaking of needing extra capacity, Canadian space powerhouse MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) seems to be having the latest in an ongoing series of great weeks with the April 4th, 2011 Canada News Wire announcement that "MDA to provide advanced technology solution to Boeing for communications satellites." This latest "multimillion dollar agreement," comes on the heels of a contract from the Department of National Defence (DND) to operate and maintain the DND Surveillance of Space (Sapphire) system (as outlined in the March 29th, 2011 SpaceRef.ca article "MDA to Provide Operations and Maintenance for DND Sapphire Satellite System") and an agreement with satellite operator Intelsat to provide on-orbit satellite refueling and services (as outlined in my March 15th, 2011 post "MacDonald Dettwiler gets "Anchor Customer" for Brampton Robotics Plant"). It's starting to look more and more like Canada's space future will be decided and defined by private industry and not by government long term space planning.

And finally, it's worth noting the October 2010 Popular Science article "The 123,000 MPH Plasma Engine That Could Finally Take Astronauts To Mars" which highlights the Ad Astra Rocket Company and its founder Franklin Chang Díaz, who is building a rocket engine that’s faster and more powerful than anything anyone has ever flown before (with a little help from Canadian subcontractor Nautel).

The article seems to have encouraged others to come forward with competing designs. Here's a sample of some of the ideas being discussed, in this case from the Russian Republic.

Favoring Informed and Spirited Public Discussion

With all the violent rhetoric, political confusion and public pigeonholing going on in both Canada and the United States over the last little while, it's important to remember that the core of a vibrant democratic society is informed and spirited public discussion.

Randy Shelly

One of those contributing to the discussion and development of an informed Canadian space policy is Randy Shelly, who recently responded to the January 3rd, 2011 David Pugliese article "Space Agency, DND seek to launch rockets for Canada" with one of his own.

Titled "Canada's Satellite Plan," the January 6th, 2011 response to the Pugliese article makes the perfectly reasonable point that "...(while) I share the desire for an independent Canadian space industry, including our own launcher ... we have to keep in mind that our jobs are to serve the Canadian taxpayer, rather than ourselves."

According to Shelly, the current vision of the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is to develop launchers capable of "launching small satellites, which range up to 1,000 kilograms, but are more typically in the 250 kilogram to 500 kilogram range."

He thinks Canada should be focusing on smaller satellites in the under 100 kilogram range. In a conversation from his home in Ottawa, he states:

I believe that the CSA and DND rightfully consider it important to have better control over small satellites (100 - 1000 kg) as opposed to micro-satellites (which are typically in the 10 - 100 kg range) because these are likely to have more national importance in the near term. RADARSAT Constellation is a good example of this.

But I also personally believe that a launcher to handle these larger payloads is just barely out of Canada's league because of Canada's small tax base (when compared to those with this capability) and because most countries who do possess this ability typically draw on their ballistic missile launch capabilities, which is an expertise Canada cannot claim. 

But Shelly, who managed the Canadian Forces Surveillance of Space (Sapphire) program from 2004 until 2009 and presently acts as a consultant and subject matter expert for the project (through his personal firm Raedwulf Space and Defence) feels there are Canadian companies able to develop the smaller launchers now.

Pardon my expression, but this is no longer rocket science.

Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), the research and development arm of the DND has had discussions with a couple (of the Canadian firms), and there is no doubt that they could do the job (of launching small payloads into orbit).

But we do have to keep in mind that expecting even the smaller launcher to be commercially viable right out the gate is just naive. We would still need government development money and ongoing government financial support to make this work.

The important point is that we can do this and it could be well worth the investment.

In essence, Shelly makes useful points on a topic of which he possesses substantial expertise. While he is one of the first to respond on this issue, he should not be the only one to add important information to the public discussion of policy options.

Canada's Military Space Policy:
Part 3, Towards Northern Sovereignty

The recent announcement by Colonel André Dupuis, the Director of the Department of National Defence (DND) Directorate of Space Development (DSpaceD) that DND is set to release an "updated" but not substantially changed Canadian military space policy early in 2011 suggests a series of obvious questions.

Past, present and future prime ministers in 1968. Pierre Trudeau, John Turner, Lester Pearson and Jean Chretian overlooked by the press and the image of Sir Wilfred Laurier.

In part one of this blog post, titled "The Axworthy Doctrine," I attempted to answer some of those questions by showing how the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990's led to a Canadian reassessment of the four traditional pillars of our national defense strategy and a new focus on international peacekeeping. This new policy required space focused communication and surveillance capabilities and led directly to our first military space policy in 1998.

Part two of this post (titled "The Changing Political Landscape") discussed why Canada never had a military space policy prior to 1998 by going back to the 1960's and the federal liberal party under Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau.

Pearson, Trudeau and their successors essentially refused to differentiate between space based military assets for communication/ surveillance and space ‘weaponization’ (placing weapons in space) in order to be perceived of as strong, international supporters of the United Nations Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963) and the UN Outer Space Treaty (1967).

This led to the shutting down of most Canadian military space programs and a focus on space science, exploration and technologies with civilian applications that could be spun off into profitable companies.

Not that there was anything wrong with this "civilian" focus but without military communications and surveillance programs the Canadian Forces was placed in the position of needing to consistently borrow US satellite and logistical assets.

After awhile, all the borrowing exposed Canadian officials to US concerns that Canada was no longer paying it's "fair share" on defenses. Unfortunately, the American's were right and this state of affairs has lasted ever since.

By 2008, James Fergusson, the Director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba could legitimately claim in his "Report on Canada, National Security and Outer Space" that:

Canada has no overarching national space policy, and space is not addressed in either of the latest national security and defence policies.

Space is so structurally buried and fragmented within government that voices advocating for more appropriate treatment of space security issues are marginalized, even within such departments as Industry Canada (the Canadian Space Agency's parent department) and the Department of National Defence (DND).

The Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) budget, and accordingly, its interests and activities have been diminishing and narrowing around space science and exploration for the last decade (dominated by human space flight and international space station programs), leaving little investment opportunity for other space pursuits (i.e., space-based services and access to space). 

The DND, while pursuing the development of a small space-surveillance satellite (Project Sapphire), has progressively scaled back its space interests and pursuits since its mid-1990s peak. Even then, those interests and pursuits were modest, end-user focused, and highly reliant on American leadership and resources.

Current Canadian PM Stephen Harper.

Fortunately for the military space advocates, by 2008 the liberals were no longer in power and the recently elected conservative Stephen Harper government was busy developing what they called the Canada First - Defense Strategy.

Officially focused around increased funding (from $18 billion in 2007-2008 to over $30 billion in 2027-2028) and new equipment purchases for what is supposed to be variety of domestic and international missions, the new policy is in reality focused on protecting Canadian claims of arctic sovereignty.

Why would Canada be doing this?

According to the July 7th, 2007 article "Canada boosts military presence in the Arctic" on the New Scientist TV website:

... the country is in dispute with its neighbour, the US, over the ownership of the northwest passage. If sea-ice continues to shrink, this passage could knock a third off the trip from Europe to Asia. Currently, the shortest route involves crossing through the Panama Canal.

Harper's determination to show that Canada will not be booted out of the Arctic is such that he has decided to put $2.9 billion (US) towards building up his nation's military presence in the area. This will help buy eight new ice-breaker military patrol ships and build a new port in the north of Canada.

According to the article, our long-term allies seem to have become our major competitors, at least in the high arctic.

If the Harper government really wants new military purchases, expanded operations and increased infrastructure they will also require expanded communications and area surveillance capabilities of the type most effectively provided by space based assets.

But this time, the Canadian government might actually have to purchase these assets and not just borrow them from patient allies.

The technologies we need to utilize and how we might get them will be the subject of our 4th post on this topic.