Canadian Space Agency Shuts Down Frenchwoman's FaceBook Fan Page

On the heels of recent budget cuts, which have shrunk the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) public outreach capabilities and the well known restrictions on Federal government departments using social media, it seems odd to find someone within the beleaguered agency intent on discouraging enterprising third parties from publicizing Canadian space accomplishments and capabilities.

Screenshot from the official CSA facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/CanadianSpaceAgency showing the recent jump in fans in early August 2012. Screenshot c/o Facebook.

Unfortunately, this does seem to be what we've found.

Someone within the CSA, acting on behalf of the CSA, has filed a formal complaint with social networking site FaceBook, over an independent CSA fan page in order to protect CSA "copyrighted logos, identifiers and intellectual property." This complaint has led to the shutting down of the fan site even though the specifics of any CSA "intellectual property" referenced in the complaint have not been publicly identified.

Another CSA fan page. Graphic c/o CSA Fans Group.

Even better, according to shuttered fan site co-administrator Catherine Laplace-Builhe in her new facebook page, titled "petition online to reinstate the fan page Canadian Space Agency" the CSA hasn't just simply shut down her advocacy site. Laplace-Builhe also feels that the CSA has "stolen" the 7770 supporting fans from her site and added those fans to the far smaller listing of 600 fans on the formal CSA administered Facebook page.

A second Facebook Canadian Space Agency fan page, covering much the same topics, also containing CSA logos and links to various CSA press releases but with only 300 or so Facebook fans, so far remains operational.

According to an August 16th, 2012 e-mail received from CSA representative Julie Simard, the independent fan site was shut down by Facebook, which "followed their established procedures" when responding to the CSA complaint. According to the referenced Facebook procedures:

When we (Facebook) receive a a claim of copyright infringement from a third party alleging that content on the site infringes their copyright, we may need to immediately remove or disable access to that material on Facebook without notice to you (the site administrator). We are not in a position to adjudicate disputes between parties.

According to Simard, the migration of fans to the CSA administered Facebook page was also not the CSA's responsibility. "The Facebook Pages Terms clearly states that “all migrations are at (their) discretion” states Simard. According to the Facebook page terms "only authorized representatives may administer a Page for a brand, entity (place or organization), or public figure."

However, the Facebook Page Terms also indicates that "any user may create a Page to express support for or interest in a brand, entity (place or organization), or public figure, provided that it is not likely to be confused with an official Page or violate someone's rights."

It seems hard to believe that the fan page could be confused with the official CSA Facebook page, especially given the obvious disparities between the amount of fans on the two sites.

Catherine Laplace-Builhe from Google+

Laplace-Builhe, who lives in Paris, works at a travel agency with strong connections to the growing space tourism industry and administers a variety of Facebook and other sites focusing on European, Japanese and Canadian space science activities (including the online Cat Laplace Builhe Daily), has had previous problems with Facebook and its ill defined copywrite rules.

As outlined in my August 23rd, 2010 "this Week in Space for Canada" post, her Facebook CSA fan site was also temporarily disabled in 2010 as a result of a complaint from photographer Anthony Ayiomamitis relating to improper attribution of the June 20th, 2008 NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day.

But she's also a member in good standing of the growing online media, which is comprised of sites like Spaceref.com (and the affiliated Spaceref.ca site) the Space Politics blog, the Space Review website, Clark Lindsay's HobbySpace blog (which recently morphed into the subscription service NewSpace Watch), the Space.com service and quite a few others (including the site you are reading now) which increasingly define, disseminate and drive the media coverage in this area.

Right now, there is no indication of whether the CSA decision to shut down the fan site was taken at the senior level or at a junior level. But its summer and most senior CSA people are on vacation. Once those senior heads get back to the office, they'll likely realize that the wisest move for the CSA right now might just be to stand back and allow new media experts like Laplace-Builhe to carry on with what they know best and continue promoting Canadian space activities.

NewSpace Competition a Potential Model for Canada

           by Farnaz Ghadaki,

There are easily 180 entrepreneurship and business plan type competition events worldwide (at least, according to bizplancompetitions.com) but only three are listed as space sector related and of these three none are Canadian based.

The $100,000 first prize for the 2012 BPC.

The most notable is the NewSpace Business Plan Competition (BPC) hosted by US-based Space Frontier Foundation (SFF).

Created to “foster the development of commercial space companies centered around critical space technologies” according to the SFF website, this competition is a good model to set up for Canada.

The SFF launched the BPC in 2006, when the first winner amongst five finalists (two with Canadian members) was awarded $2,000. Since then, SFF has hosted four more BPC’s, each getting bigger and better. Courtesy of the Heinlein Prize Trust, the 2009 BPC prize grew to $5,000, and an additional contribution from NASA took the prize level to $32,500 for 2011. This year the award increased by about 340%, to a whopping $110,000 total cash prize, thanks to a grant from NASA's Emerging Commercial Space Office.



The increasing prize money, coupled with the rapid growth of the private space sector, have spiked the number and quality of applicants to a total of 55 this year (vs. 25 last year). Prize money aside, the success of the BPC also contributes to SFF’s planning process, its fine-tuned model for the competition and more importantly the time and dedication of the team and its supporters.

The 2012 BPC was announced at the beginning of this year and Canadians learned about it first at the 9th Annual Astronomy and Space Exploration Society (ASX) Expanding Canada's Frontiers symposium in Toronto on January 20th, during a presentation by BPC project manager Tom Olson. Executive summary applications were accepted until May 25th and on June 15th, a committee of 11 selected and announced the 10 finalists.

The selected finalists then had to submit a full written business plan by July 6th, and go through a two day boot camp to prepare for a final six minute pitch (plus a further six minute Q & A with the judges) on July 27th at the 2012 NewSpace Conference in Santa Clara, California.

A distinguished panel of five judges with expertise in investment and business development (including Canada’s own Eva-Jane Lark of BMO Nesbitt Burns) carefully selected the winners who were announced at the Awards Gala on July 28th.



Among the ten finalists (whose impressive offerings ranged from new propellant technology to bio-engineered products and satellite-related hardware/ software) only one had a Canadian team member: Joel Spark of NanoSatisfi LLC. But despite a great presentation by NanoSatisfi CEO Peter Platzer, the cool ArduSat product (an open-source cubesat) and recent headlines about their overwhelming success on Kickstarter, this partially-Canadian owned company (profiled, but not identified as such in the June 21st, 2012 CBC News community blog article "What would you send into space if you had the chance?") was not a winner this year.

Instead, the $100K prize went to Space Ground Amalgam, LLC, the $10K second prize went to Digital Solid State Propulsion, LLC, and an honorable mention went to Terapio Corporation. According to the business plans, these three companies will use the developed plans and new connections to seek an additional $3.5 - $10 million USD's to fund their businesses.

“The prize money [..] is actually only a small part of what the competition offers”, said Spark. He felt that NanoSatisfi got tremendous exposure from the contest “After Peter gave his pitch, within seconds of sitting down, there was an investor tapping him on the shoulder,” said Spark.

2012 NanoSatisfi team members Reka Kovacs, Joel Spark, Peter Platzer and Jeroen Cappaert.

Also of benefit was the two day Boot Camp, where finalists not only practiced their pitch with ten outstanding coaches, but also received valuable feedback from industry experts attending the NewSpace Conference (which attracted a record of over 500 attendees this year).

Tom Olson attributes "the huge success of this year's BPC to a combination of many factors, including but not limited to: prizes, vision and scope, outreach to multiple sectors (including nano- and biotech), and the dedicated hard working people." For those who'd like to learn more, videos of the conference proceedings are available at Space Vidcast.

Although there are many business plan competitions in Canada (for example, the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition, Enterprize Canada, IBK Capital - Ivey, BMO Apex, and TIE Quest), and at least two space-related competitions focused on technical designs (the Canadian Satellite Design Challenge (CSDC)  and the currently on hiatus U of T Space Design Contest (UTSDC)), there is currently no Canadian business plan competition focused on space activities.

Having one, especially with a growing commercial space sector, would not only foster economic growth and innovation (particularly in the area of space science and technology capacity building which is of interest to the Canadian Space Agency), but would also keep our Canadian talent in the country and give them a forum to get together and come up with creative solutions.

Will the Mars Rover Invigorate US & Canadian Space Budgets?

An example of how closely Canadian technology and expertise is embedded into the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is provided by the August 11th, 2012 post on the Space.com website titled "NASA Rover's New Red Planet Address: Yellowknife, Mars." The article quotes Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger as stating the the MSL site was named in tribute to the capital of Canada's Northwest Territories, a city that has long served as the jumping-off point for geologists interested in studying North America's oldest rocks.



Canadian built technology aboard Curiosity includes the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer ( developed by a team of Canadian researchers including Ralf Gellert at the University of Guelph and others from the University of New Brunswick Planetary and Space Science Centre, the University of Western Ontario Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration and others under the direction of prime contractor MacDonald Dettwiler) plus the image sensors for the various navigation and hazard avoidance cameras (which were built in the Teledyne DALSA semiconductor foundry in Bromont Quebec).

Brock University scientist Mariek Schmidt, who is part of the team working on the latest NASA Mars mission.

As well, according to the August 11th, 2012 Toronto Post article "Can humans live on Mars? Canadian scientists looking for the answer," at least three Canadian scientists will be joining a team of 29 at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories, starting in September to begin sifting through the data being provided by the rover.

Any connection to the successful and publicly popular American Mars rover should reasonably be expected to boost the fortunes of the embattled Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the space industry in general.

Unfortunately, that's likely not going to happen. According to the August 7th, 2012 Florida Today article "NASA hopes recent successes will boost its support in Congress," space experts are concerned that:

NASA’s recent successes, remarkable as they are, don’t change the fiscal climate that is compelling President Barack Obama and Congress to constrain the size of the federal government.

If lawmakers are unable to agree on a deal to reduce the deficit cut at least $1.2 trillion over 10 years, automatic spending cuts at almost every federal program will take effect in January.

As outlined in the February 25th, 2012 post on the Spacepolicyonline.com website "Mars Shaping Up as NASA Budget Battleground" the FY2013 NASA budget includes a 20% decrease in the planetary exploration budget, which has forced NASA to withdraw from a series of planned Mars missions with the European Space Agency (ESA) that were intended to lead eventually to returning a sample of Mars to Earth.

Although not identical, a similar situation prevails in Canada, where the current Conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper remains committed to a series of long-term austerity measures and federal cutbacks (as outlined in the March 29th, 2012 Conference Board of Canada's federal budget analysis) which are designed to balance the federal budget by 2014-2015.

According to the CSA 2012 - 2013 Report on Plans and Priorities, the overall CSA budget will decrease from $388 million CDN in 2012 - 2013 to $289.1 million CDN in 2014 - 2015 with the budget for space exploration (a bucket which includes both manned and unmanned projects like the MSL) decreasing from $151.0 million CDN in 2012 - 2013 to $93.0 million CDN in 2014 - 2015.

Oddly enough, the report indicates that CSA salaries (expressed in terms of FTE's or full time equivalents) will remain at exactly the same level (687 FTE) during the entire three year period covered by the report.

Diagram of the MSL spacecraft: 1 - Cruise stage; 2 - Backshell; 3 - Descent stage (the "Sky crane"); 4 - Curiosity rover; 5 - Heat shield (4.5 m diameter); 6 - Parachute. From wikipedia.

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According to the March 1st, 2012 Spaceref.com article "GAO Summary: Cost Overruns, Schedule Delays, Ongoing Technical Problems With Mars Science Laboratory" which referenced excerpts from the March 1st, 2012 "NASA: Assessments of Selected Large-Scale Projects" report (GAO-12-207SP), the overall cost of the MSL mission is approximately $2.5 billion USD and the project costs have increased "$881 million since its original baseline in 2008, which includes an 84 percent increase in development costs."

All of which suggests that MSL is not a paragon of fiscal responsibility and its success will not likely  lead to calls for increased funding for space activities any time soon.

Schools out for Summer

I'll be taking the taking the next month off from writing so I can recharge my batteries and go to the beach. The Commercial Space Blog will return with all new articles on Tuesday, August 14th.



Of course, its not quite as if nothing more will get published from now until August 14th.

The Space Conference News (SCN) and Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA) websites will continue to function normally. The next SCN post (covering the August 2012 period) will go up on July 15th and subscription service members will receive their latest edition (covering the period from August until October, 2012) at the same time.

I'll likely also be posting CSCA submissions to the Aerospace Review written by Adam Trumpour ("Fostering Innovation, Creating New Markets: Novel Approaches to Space Policy and Programs"), Arny Sokoloff ("Creating an Indigenous, Canadian Small-Satellite Launch Capability") and myself ("Using Tools from the Mining Industry to Spur Innovation and Grow the Canadian Space Industry") on the CSCA website over the next few weeks.

The twitter feed (@acuriousguy.com) will also continue to function.

As well, the 2013 edition of the Futron Space Competitiveness Index, should be available over the next few weeks and I've made a few minor contributions to the section on Canada (which is evidently enough to get me listed as a "contributor" to the publication).

And finally, I'll also be contributing articles to the latest issue of the NewSpace Global (NSG) monthly publication, titled "Thruster." NSG is an information services provider that brings "timely, accurate and critical information regarding the commercial space sector (i.e., "NewSpace") to the financial industry so that our clients can make more informed business decisions" and I look forward to helping them with this mission.

Enjoy your summer. I look forward to reconnecting with everyone next month.

The 1967 Recommendation to Build a Canadian Launcher

It's not generally known that Canada's original blueprint for space activities understood that "Canada will, within the next decade, need to launch small scientific satellites at a rate which will justify supply from Canadian sources."

This specific statement is part of the 11th and final chapter (focused on "Recommendations") of the report entitled “Upper Atmosphere and Space Programs in Canada” which was written over 45 years ago, but which is still publicly referenced and as good of a description of our Canadian space interests as anything currently coming out of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

The report, a technical study originally commissioned in 1967 by the Science Secretariat (which was then a part of the Federal Government Privy Council Office), recommended using Canadian satellite and space technology for commercial activities such as communications and resource management instead of focusing only on scientific research.

John Chapman in 1967.

Over time, the report became “Canada’s Original Blueprint” for space activities and is now known simply as the “Chapman Report,” out of respect for senior author, John H. Chapman (1921-1979). 

The Chapman name was also attached to the John H. Chapman Award of Excellence, established in 2000 to celebrate and honor the members of the space community for the advancement of the Canadian space program, so you just know the author and his report were well respected.

But it's not commonly known that the report dealt with the issues surrounding the development of a Canadian small-sat launch capability. For example, there is this sentence in chapter 11 specifically recommending:

The initiation of a design and cost study for a small-satellite launch vehicle and related facilities for Canadian use.

Of course, by now there are a lot of those studies lying around, since every few years a new one is commissioned. The most recent, as outlined in the December 9th, 2009 Spaceref.ca article "A Rocket to Call Our Own? Canadian Space Agency Explores the Business Case," were commissioned during the 2008 - 2009 period and  have never been  made public.

A 1981 photo of a Black Brant X, Canadian suborbital sounding rocket. 

Which is a shame, because the Chapman Report went far further than simply recommending further studies. Chapter 11 also understood that: 

The domestic need for launch vehicles and space hardware is growing. Developments of this nature in other countries are fully supported by government on military or other grounds.

Therefore we recommend:

• That industrially based, study and research and development programs, fully funded, be undertaken on launch-vehicle systems and components to meet Canadian needs. 
• That systems management and prime contract activities be awarded to Canadian industry for the development and supply of the major hardware portions of the Canadian space program.

In essence, the Chapman report also recommended awarding contracts to Canadian companies to develop and build rocket components with the expectation that eventually the country would be fully capable of launching Canadian rockets from Canadian facilities with Canadian payloads into orbit.

In the 1960's this was a reasonable expectation since Canada then possessed substantial rocketry expertise as outlined in the report and at least one rocket actual launching facility located in Churchill, Manitoba.

In those days, the sky really was the limit for Canadian technology.

Maybe the CSA should release some of the those rocketry studies, just so we know if/ and/ or when the Chapman report contributors "fell off  the turnip truck," at least regarding this one, specific recommendation.

Three Short Stories from our Canadian Space Sector

The June 26th, 2012 announcement by BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) of the intent to acquire 100% of US based Space Systems/Loral (SSL) for US$875 million in order to open up the US commercial market and provide new markets for its Canadarm and DEXTRE derived on-orbit satellite servicing technology, essentially ends the firms current reliance on government contracts.



From now on, MDA will focus more on the international business environment and less on trying to get the attention of the Canadian government through a variety of private and public activities as outlined most recently in my May 27th, 2012 post "Federal Government says "Yippee Ki Yay" to MDA."

Here are three other short, anecdotal stories from those with Canadian connections who have decided not to bet their futures on the current Canadian business environment for space focused companies:

James Cameron.

• The April 24th, 2012 announcement by Planetary Resources Incorporated, a US based mining company backed by major financiers such as Canadian film director James Cameron, of a multi-year plan to inventory and eventually mine asteroid resources suggests strongly that others already recognize the natural synergy and business cycle similarities between the space and mining industries. Investors in the company also include Google co-founder Larry Paige, executive chairman Eric Schmidt and investor and board member Kavitark Ram Shriram, internet entrepreneur/ astronaut Charles Simonyi and Henry Ross Perot, Jr., the chairman of the board of Perot Systems. Of course, individual Canadian investors like Cameron and his international colleagues who understand the concepts behind these new types of businesses are currently investing where the business environment supports their business activities.

Elon Musk.

• Given the recent successes of US based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) with the independent private development of a whole series of orbital launch vehicles (as described in the Falcon rocket family Wikipedia entry) for far less cost than typical for wholly government funded projects, it’s important to note that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is South African born; his mother is Canadian and he is a naturalized US citizen who could certainly have located his businesses in Canada (or anywhere else in the world), given the appropriate local support and business environment. 

• Even Canadian born serial space entrepreneur Dr. Robert Richards, the former Optech International Director, the co-founder of the International Space University (along with Planetary Resources Co-Founder Peter H. Diamandis) and current Google Lunar X PRIZE competitor Moon Express, Inc. has decided that it’s more useful to become an American citizen and build American companies. According to the December 29th, 2010 Spaceref.ca article “This Week in Space for Canada," the good Canadian doctor immigrated to the US because “Canada was not a good place to build a commercial space company.”

Hopefully, the Aerospace Review (which just finished up its call for public submissions on June 30th) will have a few suggestions for  addressing some of the concerns surrounding the organizations and people discussed above who have opted into going somewhere else in order to build their space company.

MacDonald Dettwiler buys Space Systems Loral for $875M

Daniel Friedmann looking pleased.

The deal  may still officially require regulatory approval, but it looks like iconic Canadian space systems company MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) has followed through on the stated intent of CEO Daniel Friedmann to buy a space company with US roots to gain a foothold in the lucrative US market.

The acquisition turns the company into a global communications player and opens doors for MDA to begin subcontracting US space projects like those for on-orbit satellite servicing through the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The essence of the deal is outlined in the June 27th, 2012 Reuters article "MacDonald Dettwiler to buy Loral subsidiary for $875mln" which states:

Loral Space & Communications Inc. has agreed to sell its satellite manufacturing subsidiary, Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) to Canadian communications rival MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd for about $875 million.

The deal is set to enhance Macdonald Dettwiler's position in the communications arena and creates potential for increased business with both commercial and government clients.

The article goes on to quote an MDA spokesperson, who said that the acquisition "will immediately boost its earnings," make the expanded company a "major player in commercial communications" and provide it with "critical mass in the US market." 

The old and the new. From the June 27th, 2012 MDA conference call on the acquisition.

As outlined over a year ago in my May 9th, 2011 post "Fighting Words from MacDonald Dettwiler," the company always intended to buy a US based space company using money acquired through the January, 2011 sale of the MDA property-information business.

Even the recent MDA proposal to DARPA for on-orbit satellite servicing (as described in my February 19th, 2012 post "Details of MDA On-Orbit Satellite Servicing Proposal") is now also likely to move forward.

As explained by MDA CEO Friedmann during the June 27th, 2012 MDA conference call on the acquisition, MDA has consistently performed well in the design phase of the DARPA programs, but until now has been unable to guarantee that final manufacture would be on US soil, which is a requirement for the DARPA contract.

The MDA/ SSL deal includes a 1.3 million sq. ft state of the art satellite facility in Palo Alto, California which could be used for the final assembly of any DARPA contracted satellite.

Overview of MDA SS/L facilities in Palo Alto. From the June 27th, 2012 MDA conference call on the acquisition.

According to Friedmann, the acquisition will not immediately effect ongoing layoffs in Canadian facilities. As discussed in my May 14th, 2012 post "MDA & RADARSAT Constellation's War of the Words" the company has recently been laying off Canadian employees involved with the RADARSAT Constellation and Canadarm programs. 

Five Canadian NewSpace Companies to Watch

While the mass media wraps itself around the latest Chris Hadfield exploit in preparation for what looks to be the last Canadian astronaut trip until at least 2014 (when Winnipeg natives Rob Bendall and Vince Jandrisch are scheduled to begin ferrying tourists to the edge of space in their new capacity as Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo pilots), its easy to forget some of the smaller Canadian companies contributing to space activities.

Here are five of them, listed below in alphabetical order:

• Cimetrix Solutions - It's hard to believe that a company focused almost entirely on reselling rapid prototyping solutions developed by others could contribute in a substantive way to Canadian space exploration. But rumour has it that the company contributed several thousand dollars and a custom built 3D manufactured nose cone to the Waterloo Rocketry Team for its entry into the 2012 Intercollegiate Rocketry Engineering Competition, held last weekend in Green River, Utah. In essence, companies like Cimetrix provide the practical tools needed for the rapid prototyping methodologies required by newspace firms as described in my February 7th, 2012 post "Our Next Industrial Revolution Could be Off-World."

• exactEarth Ltd. - This data services company, jointly owned by COM DEV International and Madrid based HISDESAT Servicios Estratégicos S.A. is focused on using advanced microsatellite technology to monitor international ship traffic (under the exactAIS banner). The company is growing, consistently profitable and the only Canadian concern able to launch anything into orbit in 2011 (as outlined in my August 23rd, 2011 post "Political Passing, Antarctic Mapping, Grounded Russians, JWST Increases and exactEarth Launches"). As outlined in my June 5th, 2012 post "State Politics Delays exactEarth Baikonur Launch" the company currently has two more micro-satellites awaiting launch.

• MapleSoft, a Cybernet Group Company -This is a Canadian subsidiary of a larger international company (the Japanese based Cybernet Systems, which acquired Maplesoft in 2009) which has had great success selling high-performance software tools for engineering, science and mathematics to organizations like the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and others. As is the case with most Canadian high technology companies, Maplesoft maintains close working relationships with a specific university faculty, which in this case is the University of Waterloo (U of W) Symbolic Computation Group. 

• UrtheCast - As per the company website, this firm is "launching the world's first ever high definition, streaming video platform of planet Earth." Using partnerships with Russian aerospace giant RSC Energia, Canadian space icon Macdonald Dettwiler (MDA) and quite a number of other firms, the company has built two HD cameras for the Russian module of the International Space Station (ISS) which are expected to be installed on the ISS next year. The company advocates an open source model of the development of applications for the geographic or spatially referenced information which the cameras will collect.

• Xiphos Technologies - The company builds low cost flight processors for on-board spacecraft, aircraft and other platforms requiring protection from harsh environments and high radiation. In many ways the most successful in terms of employees and revenue, this company is also one of the most low profile. Xiphos has been serving space and UAV markets for 15 years and has a flight heritage on a dozen different satellite missions.

Undoubtedly there are more, but these five companies are good places to start getting a sense of where fortunes are likely to be made over the next decade and how Canadian companies are likely to make them.

Jerry Pournelle, the CoDominium and ITAR Policy

Jerry Pournelle in 2005.

At first glance, one might find it hard to categorize science fiction author Jerry Pournelle as a "conspiracy theorist."

But advocates of the US laws relating to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) might want to take note that an entire series of Pournelle novels takes place in a near future society which restricts the development of technologies that can be used in warfare.

Since even pillows can be used to smother opponents, this state of affairs eventually halts progress and improvement for pretty much everything.

Which is bad, although the stories themselves are very, very good.

Beginning with the 1971 Analog Magazine serialization titled "A Spaceship for the King," which was later expanded out into the 1981 novel "King David's Spaceship," Pournelle and his co-authors (Larry Niven and S. M. Stirling) created an alternative Earth where a transnational bureaucracy (the CoDominium), originally designed to facilitate relations between the United States of America and a revived Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, ends up controlling Earth and its resulting interstellar empire.

To maintain their rule, the CoDominium routinely suppresses all scientific research and development. Scientists are overtly censored, spied upon, and can even be deported off Earth.

More covertly, public sources of information in the CoDominium universe are contaminated with false data and confused by the encouragement of contradictory rules and regulations for disparate organizations which proliferate to encourage the division of knowledge into increasingly smaller, unconnected and useless sub-specialties.

The end result in the CoDominium universe is that progress halts (which makes for a series of pretty good stories related to the mercenaries of Falkenburg's Legion), then collapses until a more progressive civilization takes hold (as outlined in the classic novel "The Mote in God's Eye").

While surely none of this has any direct relevance for the real world, it's important to note that Pournelle's wikipedia bio references stints of political activism (as research director for the 1969 mayoral campaign of Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty and as contributor to the US Strategic Defense Initiative sections of Ronald Reagan's 1983 State of the Union Address), personal friendships with major political figures and long periods of aerospace industry employment on top secret projects for Boeing, the Aerospace Corporation, and the North American Rockwell Space Division. 

It also includes a version of Pournelle's "Iron Law of Bureaucracy" which states that:

...in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself.

Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representatives who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent.

The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.

As the US moves forward with ITAR reform, the creation of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations governing commercial spaceflight and the development of safety principals appropriate to the space tourism industry, it might it be useful to remember this law and some of the other writings of Jerry Pournelle.

Even if much of his work, sounds ever so slightly, like a "conspiracy theory."

Timmins, Ballooning, the French and Lots of Hot Air...

Timmins, Ontario from the air.

It looks like the City of Timmins, Ontario has entered into an agreement with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the French Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) to build, operate and maintain the infrastructure for a giant balloon launching base, which will support "at least one launch every two years."

At least that's the story as outlined in the June 15th, 2012 press release on the CSA website under the headline "Canada–France Collaborate on Balloon Launches: City of Timmins Selected as Launch Base."

But while the French benefits are explicitly defined as finding a launch site for their upcoming Polarized Instrument for Long-Wavelength Observations of the Tenuous ISM (PILOT) and a variety of other high altitude balloon missions discussed in the January 22nd, 2012 CNES "Call for Scientific Research Proposals using Balloons," the benefits to the CSA and Timmins are less well defined.

According to the CSA press release, the partnership will "provide Canadian scientists and engineers with a new platform to test technologies and advance space science." But according to Daniel Leveque, the CSA co-project manager for the program, the specifics of any Canadian experiments or contributions coming still need to be defined.

This high altitude weather balloon from the California Near Space Project,  crossed the United States and then the Atlantic Ocean before landing in the Mediterranean Sea in 2011.

In a phone conversation earlier today, Levesque explained that potential Canadian experiments and contributions will be discussed at an upcoming conference being scheduled for October 2012.

This new conference will be a follow-on to the April 2010 Workshop on Suborbital Platforms and Nanosatellites and will likely include most of the same participants. Similar conferences (with most of the same participants) were also held in 2007, 2008 and 2009 but Levesque is optimistic that an announcement of opportunity followed by several requests for proposals related to potential Canadian balloon experiments will be issued after this latest 2012 conference.

Steve MacLean.

Of course, Levesque also said the CSA's announced $10 million dollar contribution to the project is only to build the base and does not include the cost of any payloads.There also seems some ambiguity over the dates these funds are expected to be available for use.

According to CSA president Steve MacLean, 

balloon missions are cost-effective and can be prepared more quickly and more frequently, making them ideal for training university students. Offering hands-on learning opportunities helps Canada retain the next generation of space scientists and engineers, and keeps our country innovative and competitive... 

Canadian Space Agency "Pulling Financial Support" for International Space University

Bob Richards.

Serial space entrepreneur and co-founder of the International Space University (ISU) Dr. Robert D. Richards has confirmed a recent rumor circulating through the academic community that the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is "pulling their financial support of ISU."

The ISU, a private non-profit institution of higher education focused on space science and applied technology, is supported by a variety of Canadian and international organizations including Bristol Aerospace, the Boeing Company, ComDev International, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the Israel Ministry of Defense, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Macdonald Dettwiler (MDA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Optech Incorporated, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Military College of Canada the United States Air Force (USAF) and quite a number of others.

The CSA is also currently listed on the ISU partners and sponsors webpage.

But, according to Richards, the CSA informed the ISU on April 12th that funding would be curtailed and that CSA representatives could no longer participate on the ISU Board of Directors.

"Canada has been a valued and dedicated ISU sponsor since pre-CSA times. So many leading Canadian space sector people are ISU grads who have been key to Canada's space activities and have paid the investment back to Canada many times over, its' hard to fathom (the decision)" he stated in response to an e-mail query earlier today.

A CSA withdrawal from the ISU would also seem to contradict the stated CSA public policy (most recently outlined in the May 24th, 2012 Space.com article "Space Agency Leaders Say Global Cooperation Vital for Future Exploration") advocating increased international co-operation among space agencies and stakeholders.

Canadian born Richards is is currently co-founder and CEO of Moon Express, Inc., a US company awarded a $10M commercial lunar contract by NASA and a competitor in the Google Lunar X PRIZE. In 1987, together with Todd B. Hawley and Peter Diamandis, Richards helped create the ISU.

Requiem for a Heavyweight Rocketdyne

The publicly held American multinational United Technologies Corporation (UTC) is now "in negotiations with one buyer to sell storied rocket engine maker Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and a deal may soon be announced," according to the June 11th, 2012 LA Daily News article "Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne about to be sold to private-investor group."

 The Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne space shuttle main engines from Endeavour's and Atlantis' final missions in the Engine Shop at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in November 2011.

As outlined in the May 22nd, 2012 Reuters article "United Tech says Goodrich deal to close in July," the Rocketdyne subsidiary was always expected to be sold by UTC, along with the industrial arm of the Hamilton Sundstrand division, and the Clipper Windpower operation, in order to fund the $16.5 billion UTC takeover of aircraft components manufacturer Goodrich Corporation.

But a private investment deal could end up giving the historic company (originally formed after the second world war to study the German V-2 missile and adapt its engine to US requirements)  new capabilities and perhaps even the potential to compete in the international marketplace against privately held Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX).

Mike Griffin.

A June 11th, 2012 post on the NASA Watch under the title "Rocketdyne Sold - Griffin as New CEO?" even states that the new owners, working through a group organized by the Chase Bank, have hired ex-NASA Director Michael D. Griffin as the new Rocketdyne CEO.

All of which suggests the possibility of one final hurrah for the once promising and innovative company which simply grew too old and dependent on fixed price government contracts.

Which kinda sounds like the plot of the 1956 teleplay "Requiem for a Heavyweight." Written by Rod Serling (who later went on to create "The Twilight Zone"), the teleplay focused on Harlan "Mountain" McClintock, a once-promising but now washed-up boxer who faces the end of his career after being savagely defeated by a younger, and more capable foe.

Boxing is all "Mountain" McClintock has ever known and he's both terrified of trying something new and intensely loyal to the coach who has nurtured him from his youth, but also bets against him (much like the US government has hedged its bets once or twice with Rocketdyne in its various incarnations).

Of course, analogies rarely transfer directly to the real world.

Rocketdyne possesses serious political connections and legacy assets in the intellectual property surrounding the RL10 rocket engines, the RS-68 first stage engine for the Delta IV, the RS-25 engines used as the space shuttle main engine and quite a few other programs and projects.

And no one expects that the new owners will be "punch drunk."

Expect the official announcement of the sale and the new management team to be made over the next month.

Long Running High School Space Science Contest Will NOT Hold 2012 Competition

2012 UTSDC graphic.

The University of Toronto Space Design Contest (UTSDC), will not be holding a competition in 2012 and seems unlikely to be revived anytime soon.

The contest was an independent, student run organization operating out of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto and held annual competitions from 2004 until 2011 for high school students to solve challenging space-related science and technology problems.

But the contest website hasn't been updated since last years results were posted in May 2011, the contact form for the website is "offline" and inquiries to the University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering (which links from the UTSDC for contest "donations") have gone unanswered.

Brian Foo, Guangye Cao, Jonathan Scothorn, Alex Foo, and Stefan De Young, members of the Ottawa Carleton Educational Space Simulation (OCESS) 2007 UTSDC team.

According to a January 22nd, 2012 post from contest co-chairs Lucy Li and Steven Yu on the UTSDC facebook page:

Unfortunately, the student organizing committee will not be hosting the annual event for the 2011 - 2012 school year as we undergo internal reorganizations to ensure the success of future events. With that said, we are extremely glad that you express interest for this event, and we will definitely keep you up to date as our plans for the 2012-2013 school year take shape.

We are very sorry that we cannot entertain your enthusiasm this year, but we truly hope you will continue to join us for next year’s event, either as a high school contestant, or an undergraduate volunteer. We promise you it will be worth the wait.

According to the 2010-11 UTSDC sponsorship package, the operating budget for the contest was approximately $25,000 CDN with 2/5th's this total normally generated through registration fees from the participants and the remainder generated through a variety of sponsorship packages.

Past sponsors for the event have included the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Apogee Books, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Com Dev International (COMDEV), the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics and the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS).

State Politics Delays exactEarth Baikonur Launch

Satnews.com is reporting that the launch of the exactEarth 1 (EV1) automatic identification system (AIS) micro-satellite has been delayed until the "conclusion of current negotiations between Russian and Kazakh officials over drop zone issues."

The micro-satellite, manufactured by Com Dev International subsidiary exactEarth LLP is one of a series of four micro-satellites the company plans to launch in 2012 and 2013. The firm provides a global vessel monitoring and tracking service based on satellite AIS detection technology.



According to the June 4th, 2012 Satnews Daily article "exactEarth... Imminent Integration (Satellites)" the micro-satellite "has arrived at the launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and is ready for integration into the Soyuz launch vehicle" but the original launch date will be delayed and no new launch date has so far been announced. 

That launch my not happen anytime soon.

Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

As outlined in the May 30th, 2012 Space Daily article "Russia, Kazakhstan in Deadlock Over Rocket Launches" the disagreement between Russia and Kazakhstan is longstanding and any potential solution could require the two sides to sign an addition to the 1994 Baikonur rent agreement, which would then need to be ratified by the Kazakh parliament.

According to the article:

Failure to sign the document already prevented Russia from launching a European weather monitoring satellite MetOp-B on May 23, and will most likely jeopardize a cluster launch of Belarusian, Canadian, German and two Russian satellites on June 7 and the launch of Russian satellite Resurs-P in August.

The context for the disagreement is fascinating and reads like the plot of a cold war spy novel.

In 1994, Russia agreed to terms to rent the Baikonur Cosmodrome, then the primary Russian launch facility and originally a part of the ex-Soviet Union, from a newly independent Kazakhstan for an annual fee of $115 million USD. But the 2007 crash of an unmanned Proton rocket near a city where Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev happened to be visiting seems to have led to a request from Kazakhstan to reopen the negotiations on the agreement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian response to the Kazakh request seems to have been somewhat less nuanced.

According to the November 27th, 2007 Reuters and New Scientist article "Russia to build new cosmodrome on home soil" Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by announcing "a decree that clears the way for the construction of the new (Russian) cosmodrome which will begin hosting launches in 2015."

Since then, the negotiating positions of the two states have been slowly deteriorating and it remains to be seen if anything can be done in the near future to put Russian rocket launches back on any sort of a schedule.

Look for other satellite launch dates to slip as this disagreement begins to escalate.

Meteorites, ITAR, a Secret Consortium of Research Universities & Astronauts from Manitoba

June brings a certain lethargy to Ottawa and government departments in general as Parliament prepares to adjourn until the second Monday following Labour Day. However, important events and activities normally continue with or without government participation and this is true even for space focused activities.

A meteorite from the University of Alberta collection.

With that in mind, here are a few of the stories, events and activities currently being tracked in the Commercial Space blog:

• According to the June 2nd, 2012 Ottawa Citizen article "Meteorite research puts Canada in higher orbit,"scientists and geologists are are preparing for the time, "when major space powers will send robot probes to asteroids or Mars" and Canada is well placed to take advantage of these activities. The article quotes Carleton University professor of Earth sciences Claire Samson as stating that, "meteorite research in Canada is not well funded. (But) we are innovative and creative and we do it anyway.” Sampson also discussed innovation and how it often lies in finding new uses for existing equipment, such as using a re-purposed medical CT scanner to look inside rocks without the need to break them apart.

An ITAR compliant blog?

• A June 1st, 2012 post on the Space Safety Magazine website under the title "Renewed Hope for Export Control Reform" is suggesting that the recent release of a combined report from the US Departments of Defense and State titled "Risk Assessment of United States Space Export Control Policy," offers good news for satellite exporters. The report "recommended that communications satellites that do not contain classified components, remote sensing satellites that fall below specific technical performance thresholds, and components for such satellites be moved from the USML to the less restrictive Commerce Control List (CCL), making it easier for US companies to sell those items to foreign customers." But as outlined in my November 11th, 2011 post "Is The Space Industry Really "Uniting in Criticism over ITAR?"," large US corporations normally benefit from complex regulations such as ITAR and often advocate them because the increased cost of compliance serves as a barrier to entry for new competitors. Given that, no one is seriously expecting changes to the regulations anytime soon, no matter how many new government reports happen to get released.

Suzanne Corbeil.

• A twenty year old unofficial and generally unknown consortium of the fifteen most research intensive Canadian universities plans to become a “more forceful” voice for its members. According to the May 30th, 2012 University Affairs article "U-15 begins to formalize its organization" the organization (known as the U-15) will continue to focus on advocating federally funded research for its members which currently include Dalhousie University, McGill University, McMaster University, Université Laval, Queen's University, the University of Alberta, the University of British Columbia, the University of Calgary, the University of Manitoba, the Université de Montréal, the University of Ottawa, the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo and the University of Western Ontario. According to new Executive Director Suzanne Corbeil, “we will continue all of the things we were doing behind the scenes, but we’re (now) able to add a (public) voice to the dialogue."

Rob Bendall.

• An old school bush pilot from Manitoba and an Ex-Snowbird flyer are now scheduled to fly SpaceShipTwo into space and will likely become Canada's next astronauts. As outlined in the May/ June issue of Canadian Aviator magazine, Winnipeg natives Rob Bendall, a former bush pilot and Vince Jandrisch, an ex-Canadian forces Snowbird demonstration pilot will be among the first to fly paying customers to the edge of space aboard the Virgin Galactic fleet of suborbital spacecraft. The first commercial flights are expected sometime in 2014.