Part 2: Abandoning the Emerson Aerospace Review?

Growing or Shrinking the CSA: How and Why the Emerson Space Working Group Report Differs from Volume Two of the Final Emerson Aerospace Review.

          By Chuck Black

While it's a good thing that the space industry has climbed far enough up the news cycle to receive coverage during the current federal election, it might be premature to expect any reasoned or in-depth coverage, especially in the "mass" media, without some additional context.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau at a campaign rally in Toronto on August 7th. As outlined in the October 12th, 2015 Space News editorial, "Space on the Canadian Campaign Trail," former CSA head and current Liberal party candidate Marc Garneau has said that his party would boost funding for space technology development. The Liberals have also promised, much like the NDP, to make another attempt at creating a "long-term space plan." Photo c/o Aaron Vincent Elkaim/Canadian Press.

The first part of this series, under the title "While All Can Contribute, Not Everyone Will Get into the Final Report," discussed the 2012 David Emerson led aerospace review, the most recent federal government review of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the industry originally set up to support and service it.

It was the largest review ever conducted, and was designed to allow "all the stakeholders in Canada" to have a voice in the future direction of the industry. It was surprisingly successful, although not every stakeholder had their recommendations included within the final report.

This was mostly because, by 2012 those stakeholders had become a large, powerful and disparate group, at least when compared to the CSA, a single moderately sized government agency set up to manage and fund the projects those stakeholders were supposedly bidding on.

According to the Space Economy at a Glance 2014, which covered the 2012 period:

Canada has a well-developed space industry, including about 200 private companies, in addition to research institutions and universities, some of which have some commercial activities. 

The ten biggest companies accounted for almost 88% of revenues and 64% of employment (Canadian Space Agency, 2013). Space manufacturing is mainly located in Ontario (more than half of the workforce) and in Quebec (19% of workforce). Some 7,993 people were employed in the space sector in 2012, an increase compared to 2011, with more than half defined as “highly” qualified’ (engineers, scientists and technicians). 

Total Canadian space sector revenues amounted in 2012 to $3.3Bln CDN...

In essence, by 2012, Canadian space revenues were almost ten times larger than the $363.2Mln CDN CSA estimated budget for the same year. This made it very difficult for the CSA to dictate industry policy or manage and fund enough programs to maintain the CSA as a key partner to the industry.

NDP leader Tom Mulcair (shown above, in an NDP publicity still) has said that if his party wins the right to form the next Canadian federal government, it would commit 40Mln CDN over four years to bolster the CSA Space Technology Development Program (STDP), a program generally perceived of as being an "effective and efficient means" to provide initial funds for innovative, breakthrough technologies. As outlined in the October 4th, 2015 post, "NDP Candidate Peggy Nash Talks About Aerospace and Space Policy," at least part of the CSA's ongoing problem is perceived by the NDP as being a "lack of leadership" at the political level under previous conservative and liberal governments. Photo c/o NDP.

And most were no longer interested in surviving solely on Canadian government contracts. They were instead concerned about expanding into new markets, which is the typical concern of fast growing, private sector firms. As outlined in the 2012 CSA "State of the Canadian Space Sector," report, "the majority (80%) of space sector revenues in 2012 were derived from private (non-governmental) sources."

At least one industry player, Richmond BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA), the prime contractor for both the renowned Canadarm program and the various RADARSAT satellites, was beginning to think it could no longer rely on CSA and Canadian government contracts to grow the company.

This wasn't always the case. As outlined in the April 17th, 2015 post on "100 Years of Aerospace History in Canada: From McCurdy to Hadfield; The REAL Story Behind RADARSAT, COM DEV and MDA," as recently as 2008, MDA was "being allocated almost half of the CSA budget, with contracts worth $430Mln CDN."

However, by 2012, a shrinking CSA list of funded projects, as compared to the greatly expanded MDA list of clients, acquired in part through the $875Mln CDN purchase of Palo Alto, California, based Space Systems Loral (SSL) in June 2012, had built MDA into a $2Bln CDN per annum powerhouse which couldn't be supported (or even much influenced) by the relatively tiny contracts the CSA could reasonably provide.

The CSA either needed to find more funding (a lot more) or else step out of the way and officially cede its role as policy maker, manager and funding agent. 

Conservative leader Stephen Harper speaks during a campaign stop at a steel manufacturer in Burlington, Ont., on Tuesday, September 1, 2015. The incumbent conservative party has mostly refused to make any comments related to space policy and have preferred to run on their record, which seems inopportune since, as outlined in the October 12th, 2015 Globe and Mail article, "Conservatives, NDP focus on reeling in front-runner Trudeau," the party seems to have slipped into second place behind the front running liberals. The election will be held on October 19th. Photo c/o Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press.

The Emerson report on the space industry, "Volume 2: Reaching Higher Canada's Interests and Future in Space," argued for the CSA to cede its role.

As outlined in the December 5th, 2012 post, "What the Space Volume of the Aerospace Review Actually Says," the final Emerson recommendations included:

• An understanding of the long term high level of growth in the space industry (just under 10% a year), which was accompanied by an equivalent contraction in national space agency budgets. The report called this a global "re-balancing" as the traditional players (the CSA, NASA and other space agencies) began to step aside in favor of newer players like MDA, Hawthorne, CA. based Space Exploration Technologies and others who weren't locked into the "cost plus" contracts traditionally favored by space industry subcontractors.

• An ongoing acknowledgement of procurement problems and a lack of direction within government in general and the CSA in particular with regard to "Canada's space program and its role in advancing national priorities." This acknowledgement came with a recommendation to establish another level of government, a "Space Program Advisory Council" reporting to the Minister of Industry and tasked with CSA oversight, along with the development of a series of one, five and ten year space plans and milestones.

• A second recommendation to narrow the CSA mandate to the point where it would no longer be a "policy-making body" or "directly involved in designing and manufacturing space assets purchased by the government." It would instead advise and support the Minister of Industry, act "as a technical supervisor" to project specific committees and to the Minister of Public Works in order to help negotiate "co-operative agreements with other countries' space agencies," plus co-manage (along with the National Research Council) new space technology development.

There was one exception to the overall thrust of the final report.

In conjunction with the reduced role and new oversight, the report recommended the stabilization of "overall CSA funding" and the expansion of funding for programs which supported the development of space technologies "for the enhancement of industrial capabilities," such as the CSA Space Technology Development Program (STDP), by an additional $10Mln CDN per year over each of the next three years.

In essence, Emerson assumed that the CSA's best role would be the judicious cultivation of small companies attempting to commercialize CSA derived innovations. The big companies like MDA, who traditionally partnered with the space agency, were reaching the critical mass necessary to take care of themselves.

The "core" CSA operational budget from 2001 - 2013. Not only is the Canadian space industry growing, the CSA core budget has been shrinking under the last three Canadian prime ministers (two liberal and one conservative). Emerson didn't think this state of affairs would ever be reversed and argued for a decrease in CSA responsibilities to match the decreased funding. Not included in the totals are one-time funding packages provided through the Economic Action Plan (EAP) for ongoing rover development in 2010 or for major multi-year capital projects such as RADARSAT-2 and RADARSAT Constellation. The totals are calculated in constant 2001 Canadian dollars using the consumer price index and assume an annual inflation rate of 2%. Graphic c/o Emerson Aerospace Review.

But the Emerson Space Working Group Report, one of six subsidiary working groups set up by Emerson to "provide information and advice on key issues," didn't want to shrink the CSA. Under the leadership of MDA senior executive David M. Caddy (who evidently remembered the "happy times" when much of the CSA budget funded his employer), the Space Working Group advocated the opposite.

They called it "capacity building," the development of a large scale domestic infrastructure funded by government and funneled into traditional space agency partners (like MDA), in order to fund future "space opportunities" of "strategic importance." Their recommendations included:

• The urgent development of a long term space policy framework, an operationally focused space plan with defined goals and milestones much like the 1967 Chapman Report, which would be precise enough to define future requirements such as the Polar Communications and Weather (PCW) project, which was expected to cost $600Mln CDN or more and have a long lead time.

• A renewed emphasis on space technology development in industry, flight demonstration of new technologies and applications, and space science programs, which would require the "intelligent use of government procurement as an instrument of industrial development."

• A review of the planning and management of the Canadian space program to reflect a "whole-of-government national approach" to national priorities leading to a "revitalized partnership" between government, industry and academia to guide Canada’s space program. Several commentators, notably Marc Boucher in his November 29th, 2012 SpaceRef.ca post "Aerospace Review Report Cites Insufficient Policy Clarity and Calls for Greater Commitment to the Space Sector," considered this recommendation as a veiled request to elevate the CSA to a national level "on par with other departments or (as) a separate Crown type organization," and with an equivalent increase in budget and status.

These points are the key to understanding where the Space Working Group differs from Volume Two of the 2012 Emerson Aerospace Review. Given the high growth rate in the industry (just under 10% a year) an activist strategy focused on maintaining the traditional role of the CSA could only be achieved with a substantial increase in the CSA budget and a focus on large scale projects.

It's worth noting that Canada isn't the only country where space policy discussions have slipped into the political arena. Graphic c/o David Fitzsimmons/ Politicalcartoons.com.

Of course, the Space Working Group Report conclusions were picked over by Emerson and mostly subordinated into Volume 2 of the final Emerson report.

This was because, while all involved accepted the validity of planning for future projects like PCW, the incumbent Conservatives under Prime Minister Stephen Harper preferred to fund programs of this nature outside of the CSA "core" operational budget, which made it easier to track and postpone (if necessary), and which also bypassed any questions related to CSA procurement capabilities, which both the final Emerson Report and the Space Working Group Report had noted were in need of improvement.

Capacity building also added a premium to costs, since infrastructure would be built over time and funded even when it wasn't needed.

But Harper did at least attempt to implement the overall Emerson recommendations, putting into place the requested additional layers of committees as outlined in the February 2nd, 2014 post "Conservatives Form Committees; NDP Says 'Incompetence Crippling Space Sector!'" As outlined in the follow-up February 3rd, 2014 post, "Will Canada Support the Growth of Small "NewSpace" Companies?" the Harper government even provided additional funding for the STDP, although not to the level recommended by Emerson.

Chuck Black.

But that wasn't enough for the NDP and the Liberals, who've been sniping at Emerson, each other and the Conservatives ever since.

The Canadian federal election occurs on October 19th. Just don't expect it to answer many of the questions related to Canada's future in space.
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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.

COM DEV For Sale: Is the Failed exactEarth Public Offering to Blame?

          By Chuck Black

Richmond, BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) attempted to sell its space assets to US based Alliant Techsystems (ATK) in 2008; Ottawa based Telesat Canada has been trying to sell itself off for years; and, in July 2015, Lethbridge, AB. based BlackBridge Corp, owners of the RapidEye earth-imaging constellation of five satellites, was purchased by San Francisco, CA. based Planet Labs Inc. for an undisclosed amount.

Now, another Canadian space company, Cambridge, Ontario based COM DEV International (COM DEV) has publicly confirmed what many had been suggesting for some time. The firm, which has made equipment for "more than 80 percent of all commercial communications satellites ever launched" according to its website, is now up for sale.

Chart showing COM DEV price and range on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) from June 12th, 2015 until the close of business on Friday, October 9th. It's worth noting that privately held COM DEV subsidiary exactEarth LLP announced that it was spinning off into a separate, publicly traded company on June 30th, 2015, just as COM DEV pricing was about to reach its highest point for the period. The follow-on, July 31, 2015 exactEarth announcement that it would be postponing its public offering marked the beginning of a two month drop in COM DEV pricing, which was only arrested on October 7th when a COM DEV  press release, confirming rumors that the company was up for sale, touched off a flurry of stock purchases. Chart c/o TradingView. 

As outlined in the October 7th, 2015 COM DEV press release "COM DEV Responds to Market Speculation," the company has acknowledged that, as part of a review of its "strategic alternatives," it has been, "involved in confidential discussions with third parties with respect to potential strategic transactions involving the Company (COM DEV), with the assistance of its financial advisor Canaccord Genuity." 

The press release goes on to say that, "while such discussions are ongoing, no assurance can be given that any transaction will be announced or completed. COM DEV does not intend to make further comment unless or until there is a transaction to announce."

Canaccord Genuity Group is the largest independent investment dealer in Canada. The company has been involved with deals for Amaya Gaming Group in its $4.9Bln USD (6.18Bln CDN) acquisition of PokerStars, Yamana Gold's $3.9Bln USD (4.92Bln CDN) joint acquisition (along with Agnico Eagle) of Osisko Mining and dozens of other deals over the last decade in the aerospace & defense, agriculture, cleantech, private equity and other industry verticals.

As per the March 9th, 2015 COM DEV press release, "COM DEV provides strategic update on exactEarth."Canaccord was brought aboard to advise COM DEV subsidiary exactEarth on the "implementation of private and public funding options as well as potential merger and acquisition opportunities" and initially focused on the July, 2015 attempted exactEarth spin-off, but seems to have expanded its focus since then.

October 9th, 2015 screen shot of the COM DEV website. The company has a staff of more than 1,250, annual revenues of over $200Mln CDN, and facilities in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, India and China where it designs, manufactures and integrates advanced products, subsystems and microsatellites that are sold to major satellite prime contractors, government agencies and satellite operators, for use in communications, space science, remote sensing and defense applications. Over the last 40 years, COM DEV has won contracts to provide its equipment on over 950 satellites and spacecraft. Graphic c/o COM DEV. 

According to the October 7th, 2015 Reuters article, "Satellite equipment maker COM DEV in advanced sale talks: sources," several people familiar with the matter have indicated that Comtech Telecommunications, Honeywell International, L-3 Communications Holdings and Thales SA are among the companies that were approached by COM DEV about a potential deal.

Perhaps the real secret of COM DEV's future actions was contained in the March 14th, 2013 Globe and Mail article, "Stock to watch: Activist investor sends Com Dev into a new orbit," which discussed COM DEV shareholder Crescendo Partners LP and its intention to nominate three directors to the COM DEV board at the upcoming annual general meeting, which was held on April 24th, 2013.

As outlined in the article, Crescendo has "a reputation of tangling with Canadian technology companies (including 20-20 Technologies, Emergis, Geac Computer, DALSA, Bridgewater Systems, and Matrikon), and pushing for their sale to unlock shareholder value."

The article quoted David Barr, a portfolio manager and chief investment officer with Vancouver-based PenderFund Capital Management Ltd., as suggesting that Crescendo would likely first attempt to spin out the exactEarth subsidiary into a separate company and then position COM DEV for a sale.

Chuck Black.

According to the 2013 article, these events were expected to happen over the next two or three years, which would be about now.

For more on exactEarth and COM DEV, check out the July 5th, 2015 post, "The REAL Story Behind the Upcoming (Maybe) exactEarth IPO."

For more on the developing situation at COM DEV, stay tuned.
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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.

Moon Express & Rocket Lab Partner on Google Lunar X-Prize

          By Brian Orlotti

On October 1st, Moon Express, a California-based firm competing for the $30Mln USD ($39.3Mln CDN) Google Lunar X-Prize, announced that it has signed a contract with startup Rocket Lab Inc. for five launches on its innovative new Electron rocket, with the first launch scheduled for 2017.

December 2013 Moon Express info-graphic showing the various missions of the MX-1.  As outlined in the DEcember 8th, 2013 Gizmag article, "Moon Express reveals design for its MX-1 lunar lander," three-quarters of the (600 kg /1,320 lb) launch mass of the MX-1 will be fuel for its main rocket engine, in order to propel the spacecraft toward the Moon, and then soft land on the lunar surface. Graphic c/o Moon Express.

The deal is a milestone for the NewSpace industry, bringing together the pieces needed for its first venture beyond Earth orbit.

The Electron rockets will carry Moon Express' MX-1 landers to the Moon on a series of missions, which will entail evaluation of the lander's systems, fulfillment of the Google Lunar X-prize goals (which include capturing high-definition video/images as well maneuvering a rover on the lunar surface) and, ultimately, acquiring lunar soil and rock samples and returning them to Earth.

XM-1 and Bob Richards. Photo c/o Gizmag.

Moon Express was co-founded in 2010 by Dr. Robert (Bob) Richards, a Canadian entrepreneur with an extensive resume in the space sector, including a stint as director of the space division at Optech Incorporated (a Toronto, Ontario based firm specializing in laser-based imaging i.e. LIDAR) and is co-founder of the International Space University (ISU), Singularity University and Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS).

The company's business plan is centred around providing robotic transportation to the Moon's surface as well the sale of lunar data. Moon Express' long term goal is the extraction of lunar resources, such as rare-earth elements (like niobium, yttrium and dysprosium) as well as water (for making rocket fuel).  To achieve these goals, the company has developed the MX-1 spacecraft.

The MX-1 robotic spacecraft platform is a toroidal (doughnut-shaped) design powered by solar cells and having an engine that uses both hydrogen peroxide and kerosene fuels. Moon Express envisions the MX-1 as a flexible, multi-role spacecraft platform that can perform a variety of tasks (the “iPhone of space,” according to the company's website) cheaply and cost-effectively.

In addition to lunar exploration, the company foresees the MX-1 platform fulfilling roles in earth observation, space debris cleanup, satellite refueling, cube-sat deployment and as a space tug.

Info-graphic showing the features and functionality of the innovative design. As outlined in the September 19th, 2015 Nanalyze article, "Rocket Lab: Carbon Fiber Rockets Powered by 3D Printing," Rocket Lab’s competitive advantage over other rocket launch systems is their rocket itself which is "91% cheaper to launch than current methods." According to the article, "the company expects their first commercial launch this year with the first 30 rocket payloads being fully booked. Online bookings extend out over the next four years and some launches as far out as 2019 are already fully booked." Graphic c/o Rocket Labs.

The MX-1 landers will travel into space aboard Electron rockets manufactured by Rocket Lab Ltd, a New Zealand-based firm founded in 2007 by engineer Peter Beck and backed by investors that include venture capital firms Khosla Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners (backers of such firms as LinkedIn, Pinterest, Skype, Verisign and Yelp) as well as US aerospace leviathan Lockheed Martin.

Rocket Lab's Electron rockets are 1.2m wide, two-stage, liquid-fuelled vehicles designed to deliver a 150 kg payload to a sun-synchronous orbit 500 kilometres above Earth. Though not yet in service, the Electron will make use of several innovations that, if successful, promise to both lower the cost and increase the reliability of launch.

Rutherford engines on Electron rocket next to Peter Beck  Photo c/o Rocket Lab.

Firstly, 3D printing is used extensively in the manufacture of the Electron. The rocket's structure is made of 3D-printed carbon composites, which both harnesses carbon fibre's immense strength and low weight and dramatically lowers manufacturing time and cost. Secondly, the Electron utilizes a unique engine named the Rutherford (in honour of New Zealand-born physicist Ernest Rutherford).

The Rutherford Engine is a liquid oxygen/kerosene engine that, in contrast to traditional rockets, uses electrical turbo-pumps. The Rutherford engine also utilizes 3D-printing for its main components, including the thrust chamber, fuel injector, pumps and main valves. These innovations combine to give the Electron rocket an extremely competitive price of just $4.9Mln USD ($6.4Mln CDN). For comparison, the price of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is $61.2Mln USD ($80.2Mln CDN).

Moon Express and Rocket Labs share impressive pedigrees. But with an unproven rocket and competition from other Lunar X-Prize teams, (such as Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology Inc, which plans to deploy its own lunar lander in 2016 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket), victory remains far from certain.

Editors note: As per the October 7th 2015 Space.com article, "Private Moon Race Heats Up with 1st Verified Launch Deal," Israeli based SpaceIL has also announced a launch deal agreement with Spaceflight Industries, an American space company which recently purchased a SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher. The company will manifest SpaceIL’s spacecraft as a co-lead spot, which will sit in a designated capsule inside the launcher, among a cluster of secondary payloads.

Brian Orlotti.

Whichever team succeeds, a return to the Moon will signal the next logical step in the evolution of both humanity and the NewSpace industry.   

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Brian Orlotti is a network operations centre analyst at Shomi, a Canadian provider of on-demand internet streaming media and a regular contributor to the Commercial Space blog.

NDP Candidate Peggy Nash Talks About Aerospace and Space Policy

          By Chuck Black

Peggy Nash in 2014.  Photo c/o Dean Goodwin.

Talk to anyone in the NDP about how federal government policies affect the aerospace and space industries and you'll eventually be referred to Peggy Nash. 

The official opposition shadow cabinet industry critic and incumbent NDP candidate for Parkdale-High Park talked to this blog about the 2012 Emerson Aerospace review, the current election campaign, and how a lack of "leadership" under previous liberal and conservative governments has crippled our domestic space sector.

Nash has a long history tracking the space industry. In 2008, as a member of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (INDU), her participation helped to block the sale of Richmond, BC based MacDonald Dettwiler's (MDA) space assets to US based Alliant Techsystems (ATK).

At the time, MDA was looking for access to the lucrative US military and civilian satellite marketplace to replace the shrinking Canadian markets anticipated as part of the wind-down of the Canadarm and RADARSAT-2 programs. As outlined in the April 10th, 2008 CBC News post, "Federal government blocks sale of MDA space division," the final decision was considered unprecedented.

But Nash feels vindicated by the eventual outcome. MDA's June 2012 purchase of California based Space Systems Loral (SSL) yielded the US based satellite manufacturing capability necessary to comply with US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and it began winning US government and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contracts shortly afterwards.

"MDA remains a Canadian company," Nash said. "The assets developed in Canada for the Canadarm and RADARSAT programs have remained available for future Canadian space activities."

NDP leader Tom Mulcair, seen above campaigning in Montreal on September 7th, has also paid attention to the aerospace industry during the current election campaign. As outlined in the September 8th, 2015 CBC News article, "Tom Mulcair unveils NDP plan to boost aerospace jobs," Mulcair's campaign promises have included the creation of a $160Mln CDN fund to spur innovation and manufacturing and he has calling aerospace a "key sector" which the Conservatives are neglecting. He has also noted that no government minister attended the recent Paris air show to represent Canada. Photo c/o Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press.

More recently, Nash asserts that the 2012 Emerson Aerospace Review, an arm's length, federal government mandated review of Canada's aerospace and space sectors, has "provided some very interesting recommendations."

But Nash doesn't feel that the second volume of Emerson, which was focused around the removal of most procurement functions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the creation of two new CSA oversight committees, the first dealing with procurement and the second tasked with liaison between CSA and other government departments, is the solution needed to begin moving the space industry forward.

"The real problem is that the CSA has essentially been ignored by successive Conservative and Liberal governments," and Nash feels that the only long-term solution is to restore a measure of autonomy to the agency. "The solution to our current situation certainly includes a procurement component. But the real need is to restore core CSA funding to the point where CSA can initiate programs and not just respond to other government departments or commercial concerns."

A chart from the federal policy document on titled "Canada's Space Policy Framework," which was released to mixed reviews by Industry Minister James Moore on January 7th, 2014. Criticized for its brevity (only thirteen pages in PDF format) and lack of transparency after the much larger and far more public success of the comprehensive Emerson Aerospace review, the space policy framework called for putting "Canadian interests first," which was generally conceded to be a statement focused around "political" interests being put first and "positioning the private sector at the forefront of space activities," which was generally taken to mean that the CSA would no longer be able to act as a public advocate for its own projects. Graphic c/o CSA.

"If we want Jeremy Hansen and David Saint-Jacques to go to space anytime soon, we need to contribute to their costs and maintain the required infrastructure," Nash continued. "And the CSA also needs a proper president, who can lead the agency and advocate for its goals."

According to Nash, the NDP sees aerospace as a "key sector," and leading indicator of the Canadian economy. Nash believes:

The Conservative party is mostly focused around commodities such as oil and natural resources.

But there is no more innovative sector than the space sector, and innovation is where our next great industries are going to incubate and grow. 

The aerospace sector is a leading indicator, providing high value added jobs to Canadians -- the key to a successful economy. 

Chuck Black

Over the next three weeks, Canadian voters will get to judge the validity of these, and other statements.
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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.

Rocket Spaceflight Accurately Described by Scottish-Canadian Scientist in 1861

          By Henry Stewart

William Leitch (ca. 1861). Image c/o The Space Library.

Author and space historian Robert Godwin has released a paper claiming primacy for Ontario in the historical space race.

His research credits the fifth principal of Queens University in Ontario, Presbyterian minister William Leitch (1814-1864), with being the first trained scientist to have applied scientific principles to accurately describe the rocket as the best device for travelling in space.

As outlined in Godwin's paper, "The First Scientific Concept of Rockets for Space Travel," which is available online for subscribers of the Space Library, Leitch first published his description of the principles of rocketry in an Edinburgh journal in 1861 and also included it in his 1862 book "God's Glory in the Heavens."

Previous histories of spaceflight have maintained that the first scientific concept for rocket-powered space travel was envisioned at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Robert Goddard, who both claimed Jules Verne as their inspiration.

But Godwin says William Leitch made his suggestion to use rockets four years before even Jules Verne’s famous “space gun.” 

According to Godwin:

There is no doubt in my mind that Leitch deserves a place of honour in the history of spaceflight. 

The fact that he was a scientist is the key to this story. He wasn't just making a wild guess. Not only did he understand Newton's law of action and reaction, he almost dismissively understood that a rocket would work more efficiently in the vacuum of space; a fact that still caused Goddard and others to be subjected to ridicule almost six decades later. 

And whereas Goddard and Tsiolkovsky got their first inspiration from the science fiction of Wells and Verne, Leitch seems to have been inspired by the advances in powerful telescopes, and the newly spin-stabilised military projectiles being manufactured in London, and Isaac Newton...

The first observatory at Queens, which William Leitch established in 1862. The current Queen's Observatory houses a 14-inch reflecting telescope in a dome on the roof of Ellis Hall and is used primarily for student training and public demonstrations. Photo c/o The Space Library.

But Leitch's proposals slipped through the cracks of history because he died at a young age and the copyright to his writings fell victim to the bankruptcy of his publisher in 1878. According to Godwin:

His suggestion to use rockets in space remained in print for over forty years, but his name had been stripped away from the work. The problem was compounded by the title of his book being changed at the last minute to remove all references to astronomy, which led to it languishing for 150 years in the theology section of libraries. 

But it was still in print when Goddard and Tsiolkovsky made their mark on the field. 

Leitch comprehended everything from the catastrophic implications of cometary impacts to the special relationship between light and time. He was a genius...

Leitch studied at the University of Glasgow in the same classroom as William Thomson, the legendary Lord Kelvin, and even assisted Kelvin in an experiment on electricity. In 1859 Leitch was appointed to the post of Principal of Queen's University in Kingston Ontario. He died in Canada in 1864 and is buried near Canada’s first Prime Minister, whom he evidently knew.

According to Godwin, "he was buried on October 4th of that year: a date which has a certain resonance for space historians,” The first Sputnik was launched in 1957, exactly ninety three years after Leitch's burial.

I also wonder what he would have thought of Elon Musk being a graduate of Queens,” Godwin continued, referring to the CEO of SpaceX, the United States’ leading space company.

A monument to Leitch at the Cataraqui Cemetery in Kingston, Ontario. He is buried near Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada's first prime minister. Photo c/o The Space Library.

Having preached in a parish near St Andrews in Scotland, Leitch’s children became early golf enthusiasts. Leitch’s granddaughter was the legendary golfing champion Cecilia Leitch.“William Leitch was an expert on ballistics and the effect of gravity on trajectories. It must have been in the DNA,” Godwin joked.

Critiques and comments on Godwin's paper have been generally favorable. 

Frank Winter. Photo c/o Frank Winter.

In a four page review available online for subscribers of The Space Library, Frank Winter, the former curator of rocketry of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, DC., stated:

We can no longer take it for granted that the consistently cited trio of founders of space flight theory---Tsiolkovsky, Goddard, and Oberth---were the only individuals who seriously thought and wrote about the rocket as the most viable means of achieving space flight...

William Leitch is less well known than the first three, but he should now be included in the overall picture, especially since he pre-dated them."

David Baker. Photo BIS.

On studying Godwin's findings David Baker, the editor of the British Interplanetary Society's (BIS) Spaceflight Magazine said:

Rob Godwin has conducted a valuable piece of outstanding research, revealing for the first time how an intellectual mind from the 19th century anticipated the Space Age and explained how rockets could lift mankind to the stars, long before anyone else had defined it, in simple, lucid and scientifically accurate terms.

This work is a landmark addition to the history of rocketry and Godwin is to be complimented for having himself made another important contribution to the genre.

Michael Ciancone. Photo c/o LinkedIn.

In Houston Texas, Michael L. Ciancone, the chair of the American Astronautical Society (AAS) history committee, commented:

This paper by Robert Godwin puts flesh to the bone of William Leitch, a 19th century scientist and theologian who published some thoughts on rocketry that represent one of the earliest known references to the use of rockets for spaceflight. 

These perspectives are valuable because the history of spaceflight is a tapestry of experiences that contains more than the threads representing the big names in rocketry.

Dave Williams. Photo c/o McGill.

And in Toronto, Ontario, Dafydd "Dave" Williams, the retired Canadian astronaut (STS-90 and STS-118), former director of the space and life sciences directorate at the Johnson Space Center and current president and CEO of the Southlake Regional Health Centre called it:

A very impressive piece of research…& very exciting to learn that these principles of spaceflight were postulated & articulated so far before aerodynamic flight, let alone spaceflight."

Godwin's paper is being presented October 8th, 2015 in North Bay, Ontario as part of the annual World Space Week celebrations and is available online for subscribers of The Space Library.

For further information on the Space Library, William Leitch or to download a copy of Robert Godwin's paper about "The First Scientific Concept of Rockets for Space Travel," please contact Hugh Black at HMB Communications.

Please Consider Subscribing to The Space Library.

For only $5 dollars a month, you get access to 30,000+ pages of space information and papers, including "The First Scientific Concept of Rockets for Space Travel" by Robert Godwin and hundreds of hours of audio and video.

Your contributions help to support new research and the maintenance of the existing repository.

Join The Space Library Today!

ASTROSAT Launches from Satish Dhawan Space Centre

          By Brian Orlotti

On September 28th, ASTROSAT, India's first orbiting space observatory, was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. Canada is a key participant in the mission, with Canadian-developed sensors on ASTROSAT itself as well as a Canadian nano-satellite hitching a ride on the rocket as a secondary payload.

The Astrosat launch on September 28th. Video c/o DD News. 

A project of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the 1,550kg ASTROSAT is the world's first satellite capable of studying the universe in multiple wavelengths of light (x-ray, ultraviolet, and visible) simultaneously.

Canada's contribution to ASTROSAT consists of the UltraViolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT), a group of three imagers (2 ultraviolet and one visible light). UVIT will play a key role in ASTROSAT's work since ultraviolet light (along with x-ray light) is the primary wavelength in which exotic astronomical objects such as black holes, neutron stars and quasars can be observed.

The contribution will entitle Canadian scientists to observation time on the satellite, allowing Canadian astronomers to conduct unique research. The UVIT is funded by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) with in-kind support from the National Research Council of Canada (NRC).

UVIT was developed as a collaboration between the CSA and astronomer Dr. John Hutchings of the NRC. UVIT's prime contractor is Cambridge, Ontario based COM DEV International.

A video overview of the ASTROSAT mission. Screenshot an video c/o ISRO.

The second Canadian connection is the exactView-9 (Ev9), a nano-satellite that was carried onboard the same rocket as ASTROSAT as a secondary payload. Ev9 is a sea vessel monitoring nano-satellite operated by Cambridge, Ontario based exactEarth Ltd. and built by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) Space Flight Laboratory (SFL), in Toronto, Ontario.

Ev9 is the newest member of the company's exactView global ship monitoring constellation, which currently consists of 7 polar-orbiting and one equatorial orbiting satellite (Ev9). Ev9 orbits around the equator every 97 minutes providing expanded and detailed coverage to the busy tropical shipping regions of the world.

Brian Orlotti.

The launch of ASTROSAT highlights Canada's continuing skill at building the tools that help humans understand both our universe and our own planet. 

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Brian Orlotti is a network operations centre analyst at Shomi, a Canadian provider of on-demand internet streaming media and a regular contributor to the Commercial Space blog.

Preserving our Space History: An Interview with Space Library Curator Robert Godwin

          By Chuck Black

As the owner and founder of Apogee Space Books, the space curator of the Canadian Air & Space Museum (CASM) and a frequent contributor to the Commercial Space blog, author Robert Godwin knows that there is a great deal of disparate information from a wide variety of online distributors like Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, You-Tube, Linked-In, Amazon and others which provide a steady stream of mostly "decontextualized" content chronicling our recent history of space exploration.

Author/ publisher Robert Godwin in the Burlington, Ontario based Apogee Books storage facilities checking out a few of the hundreds of boxes of data and documents slated for the eventual inclusion in the Space Library. According to Godwin, while the current Library contains just under 31,000 pages, documents and files, there are another 300,000 hard copies, pages and distinct electronic files which are currently in storage but could be added to the repository. The big problem is funding the tech support and precautionary monthly data back-ups required to keep the library online and functioning. Photo c/o Chuck Black.

He thinks that there is a better way to organize and curate the information, which is often biased, incomplete, difficult to corroborate and released through channels which don't provide any incentive for knowledgeable people to share their findings with others.

His solution is the Space Library!

"Knowledgeable people with important information relating to our space history are growing old and dying and their families are simply throwing their documents, files and papers in the garbage," said Godwin, during a recent interview. "The Space Library can provide a way to preserve these documents by incentivising the public release of this information in a way which can be easily understood and used."

The Space Library starts with the mediawiki engine, a free software open source package written in PHP (originally for use on Wikipedia) which is infinitely scalable and capable of managing multiple contributors who don't need to know how to write code.

The main page of the Space Library highlighting the mediawiki origins of the data container in its graphic design. The current funding model for the Library is the same model used by Ancestry.com, which charges a fee to access genealogical and historical records. Graphic c/o the Space Library.

To this wiki container, Godwin added the ability to embed video/ audio and the capability to track citations, authors and users. "We've built a customized hyperlinking mechanism which not only tracks usage and where the new user was referred from but also allows the author or contributor to charge for access and the use of data," said Godwin. The fee for use structure acts as an incentive for contributors, who are paid depending on the number of times their contributions are accessed.

Unlike Wikipedia, the Space Library doesn't allow for anonymous credentials to be used by those wishing to gain access. Knowing who wrote an entry will go a long way towards assuring the credibility of the information provided, said Godwin.

Space Library content is expected to include;

• "Lots and lots of NASA stuff" collected over a period of almost two decades as background material for dozens of Apogee published books on a variety of space focused topics starting with "Apollo 8 The NASA Mission Reports," in November 1998, which was developed at the request of retired astronaut and second man on the Moon Buzz Aldrin. 

• A comprehensive index of NASA 16mm film footage from the 1960's and 1970's along with a listing of NASA still photographs. Godwin hopes to "eventually add a complete index of films and photographs," to the Library.

• Original journals published in the 1920's from the German Rocket Society; a complete index of Journals of the British Interplanetary Society; and digital copies of the much rarer Bulletin of the British Interplanetary Society, edited by renowned science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke.

An appendix to chapter 11 of the June 10th, 1961 NASA document on "A Survey of Various Vehicle Systems for the Manned Lunar Landing System," coordinated by H.O. Ruppe from the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center Future Projects office. The complete document is typical of those available online at the Space Library.

• A place for patents issued by governments worldwide to space scientists and engineers covering the early years of spaceflight. 

• First generation radio recordings from the early Lunar science conferences and press events.

• Audio interviews with most of the early leaders of the US space program.

• Private collections of documents from NASA scientist Don Beattie, Canadian space pioneer Phillip Lapp, filmmaker Michael Lennick, space scientist Fred Ordway and others.

• Rhett Turner's original Voice of America audio broadcasts covering the Apollo Moon landing, which included interviews with Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and many other rare conversations and press conferences, comments from Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, plus Don Beattie, the program manager for the Apollo lunar surface experiments, Werner Von Braun, the director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle.

Chuck Black

Over time, it's also expected that most of the books published through Apogee will be added to to the library.

For more information on the Space Library or to sign up go to TheSpaceLibrary.com. To contribute to the project, contact Rob Godwin at Apogee Books.
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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.

A Stiff, Castable and Advanced Beryllium Alloy for Electronics, Aerospace and Space Applications

          By Chuck Black

A small, publicly traded Canadian corporation has grabbed the attention of the international aerospace community with unique manufacturing technology, which utilizes lightweight, rare metals and specialty alloys to create parts with improved tolerance to temperature extremes and excellent vibration characteristics.

IBC CEO Anthony Dutton outlining the advantages of Beralcast® on the September 17th, 2014 Business News Network (BNN) Commodities program. Applications include the manufacture of lightweight components for electronics, industrial, and air and space flight requiring rigidity and high-stiffness across a wide range of environmental conditions, but which have traditionally been manufactured using lower performance and/or higher cost materials such as cast aluminum, magnesium, titanium, metal matrix composites, nonmetallic composites, pure beryllium and/or powder metallurgy beryllium-aluminum. The IBC Beralcast® alloy will be used in the azimuth gimbal of the F-35 Lighting II electrical optical targeting system (EOTS) because of its extreme stiffness, which increases the targeting efficiency of the EOTS, and lowers the cost of manufacture. Screenshot c/o BNN. 

Last week's announcement that an "unnamed Asian precision manufacturing customer" had placed two orders totaling over $1.2Mln CDN with Vancouver, BC based IBC Advanced Alloys (IBC) for components made out of the IBC Beralcast® castable beryllium-aluminum alloy came on the heels of a September 9th, 2015 order from aerospace giant Lockheed Martin (LM) for F-35 strike fighter components made out of the same material, the third LM order since June 2015.

As outlined in the September 21st, 2015 Stockhouse post, "IBC Advanced Alloys (V.IB) locks down two new orders worth more than $1.2 million," the company expects to begin delivery of the finished cast components for this new order in the first quarter of 2016 and expects additional follow-on business once its ability to fulfill orders on time and on budget is verified.

According to Chris Huskamp, the president of IBC’s engineered materials division, the company plans to focus initially on the defence market before approaching other industry verticals. He feels the company should be able to ramp up production quickly to fulfill new orders, because of its existing facilities in Franklin, Indiana and Wilmington, Massachusetts. "We have identified a wide range of new opportunities and are engaged with several groups," he said, during a recent interview. 

Of course, the real secret to IBC's recent success isn't just the marketing plan. It's the technology. 

Military applications aren't the only applications which use beryllium and could benefit from new technologies focused around the use of lower cost and higher performing beryllium alloys and casting. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), seen above, has 18 hexagonal gold plated beryllium sections for its mirrors. The optical systems of the Spitzer Space Telescope are also entirely built of beryllium metal, which holds its shape well in the wide variety of temperatures expected in the highly variable environment of outer space. As outlined in the company sales literature, IBC has built parts, using the Beralcast® family of alloys, for both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). Photo c/o Wikipedia. 

Beralcast® is essentially an alloy of beryllium, aluminum and certain other trace elements which retains the useful properties of beryllium, but can also be cast into complex shapes, unlike beryllium alone, which is brittle and requires substantial machining in order to be formed into anything useful. 

Machined parts normally cost far more to manufacture and use more raw materials, much of which usually ends up as scrap. According to Huskamp, the casting process for Beralcast® normally uses 98% of the raw materials, which approximately quadruples the efficiency of materials usage compared to machining. In addition, the casting process does not require any post-machined chemical milling.

Parts can also be created in weeks, rather than months. "It's not quite 3D printing, but it's almost as good," said Huskamp in a recent interview. "Beryllium aluminum castings have have dramatically altered the cost structure for companies which traditionally used berylium for its excellent thermal conductivity, stiffness, high melting point and lightness."

The alloy is even weldable, for defect repair. 

Current applications include disk drive armatures (the light weight, high stiffness and good heat transfer capabilities of the material allow disk drives to retrieve more electronic data), advanced electro-optic electronic components (like the F-35 EOTS) and virtually any commercial and military application requiring lightweight, and/or high stiffness parts. 

Chuck Black

It will be interesting to see what the company client list looks like in six months.

IBC was founded in 2007 to take advantage of the rapidly growing market for advanced and specialty materials. It trades on the TSX Venture Exchange ("IB") and on the OTCQX ("IAALF").
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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.