Canadian Intelligence Agency "Warning Country's Top Universities" About Chinese Telecom Giant Huawei

          By Chuck Black

The full story is hidden behind a legacy media paywall, available only if you're willing to buy a newspaper or sign-up for a subscription.

University of Toronto (UofT) VP of Research and Innovation Professor Vivek Goel and Huawei’s Central Research Institute President Jun Zha celebrate the signing of a "bilateral strategic partnership agreement between the two groups," in Toronto ON in September 2018. As outlined in the September 14th, 2018 UofT News post, "UofT, Huawei extend research partnership," the new, five-year agreement, is an extension of an existing partnership which has provided more than $3.5Mln CDN in research funding to UofT projects over the last few years. Photo c/o UofT. 

But it's a story with far reaching implications for academic cooperation between Canadian universities, their international partners/funders and pretty much anyone the United States might happen to disagree with.

It's therefore a story well worth looking into.

As outlined in the December 10th, 2018 Globe and Mail post, "CSIS cautions universities about ties to Chinese telecom giant," Canada's spy agency is "warning the country's top universities to be cautious" about their extensive relationships with Shenzhen China based Huawei Technologies.

As outlined in the post:

The Globe and Mail has learned officials with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) including assistant director of intelligence Mike Peirce, delivered the warning to research vice-presidents, from a group of leading research-intensive universities, known as the U15, at a meeting in Ottawa on October 4th.

At least one follow-up meeting is planned for about twenty McGill University academics on December 19th. According to the Globe, several of those academics are currently engaged in research underwritten by Huawei.

According to its website, the U15 is a consortium of the largest Canadian universities. They perform approximately "$8.5Bln worth of research annually" including approximately "83% of all contracted private sector research in Canada" and hold 81% of all "Canadian university patents." Their website is also available in multiple languages, including English, French, Portuguese and written Chinese.

There is no better way to learn about Chinese connections to Canadian academia than to read "Canadian Universities in China’s Transformation: An Untold Story" by Ruth Hayhoe, Julia Pan and Qiang Zha. As outlined in the book, "Canada was one of the first Western countries to sign an agreement to provide development aid to China in 1983, and the Canadian International Development Agency invited universities to cooperate in ways that would facilitate "the multiplication of contacts at the thinking level." Collaboration occured in areas "as different as environmental science, marine science, engineering, management, law, agriculture, medicine, education, minority cultures, and women’s studies." While Norman Bethune might be pleased, its also quite likely that the US intelligence community was less than happy. Graphic c/o McGill Queens University Press. 

The Globe post goes on to state:

People who attended the October meeting described it as an information session where CSIS officials did not reveal classified information, but shared their concerns about Huawei's development and deployment of next-generation wireless technology across Canada. 

The story came hot on the heels of last week's detainment of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou as she was changing planes at Vancouver International Airport.

As outlined in the December 10th, 2018 CBC News post, "Flight would be 'inconceivable,' lawyer for Huawei CFO argues at bail hearing," Meng (who is also the daughter of Huawei's founder, Ren Zhengfei) was arrested in Vancouver on December 1st, 2018 on suspicion of fraud involving violations of US sanctions against Iran.

American prosecutors are currently fighting for her extradition to the US from Canada, although the real concerns of the Americans almost certainly go much deeper.

After all, Meng is a Chinese citizen working for a Chinese multinational who was travelling through Canada which is, officially at least, outside of US jurisdiction and thousands of miles away from Iran.

It's generally conceded that the telecom technology championed by companies like Huawei is essentially "dual use" technology, with a variety of both commercial and security related applications. Canada has an extradition treaty with the US covering these sorts of violations of US law.

The US almost certainly wants to keep control of the security applications and is absolutely intent on limiting Huawei's reach among traditional US allies. The decision to invoke treaty obligations was likely the obvious choice to enforce US law and to send a message to US allies to keep their distance from technologies controlled by China.

But for Canada, the situation is far more problematic and could lead to long-term consequences well outside of the telecom industry.

As outlined the April 6th, 2018 CBC News post, "Chinese ambassador calls for Canada's cooperation in US trade fight," Canada has been attempting a precarious neutrality in the middle between China and the US almost since the day US president Donald Trump assumed power in January 2017.

For it's part, Canada's aerospace industry has been looking to expand into China for years.

There's even a Canadian based space company which is betting on its strong Chinese connection. As outlined in the January 22nd, 2018 UofT News post, "Liftoff! U of T startup's business takes flight with satellite launch in China," Toronto ON based Kepler Communications used a Chinese booster to launch and deploy its first nano-sat on January 19th, 2018. The article noted that:

The launch – touted as a first for a commercial communications satellite operating in low earth orbit on a frequency known as the Ku-band – is an important first step toward Kepler’s goal of providing low-cost data communications for connected devices on Earth and beyond.

As outlined in the November 22nd, 2018 Yahoo Finance post, "Small in space: Toronto company's satellites no bigger than a loaf of bread," Kepler is expecting to launch its second nano-sat over the next few months and a total of 140 nano-sats over the next few years, although it won't say where those launches will take place.

Since nano-sats are also traditionally considered to be "dual use" services with both commercial and security applications, here's hoping that Kepler's future prosperity isn't restricted by US concern over its Chinese connections.

As noted in the December 10th, 2018 CBC News post, "China's threats over Huawei CFO's arrest rattle Canadian business," the options for payback (on all sides) are essentially limitless.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.

Kickstarting the Space Industry

          By Henry Stewart

Futurist Isaac Arthur has created an interesting video on "Kickstarting Space Industry," which is available on his Science and Futurism You Tube Channel.

The video is focused around robust and profitable industries which would require access to space in order to maximize profits.

It's an interesting and reasonably comprehensive inventory of the concerns, constraints and opportunities surrounding the economic exploitation of the high frontier. It notes that humanity already has substantial industries (such as telecommunications, military activities and space science) which require access to space and suggests that there will soon be many more.

The sections on solar powered orbiting satellites, space mining, industrial manufacturing, novelty marketing, "space" advertising and pharmaceutical development in the microgravity environments are of particular interest to the entrepreneur.

Check it out.

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

Space Mining and Innovation Should Be Encouraged Through the Tax Code, According to NRCan and CATA Alliance

          By Chuck Black

Two new initiatives, the first generated through Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), the Federal government ministry responsible for natural resources, remote sensing and regulations under which Inuvik based satellite ground stations operate (but that's a different story), along with a second initiative originating from the Ottawa ON based Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA Alliance), are both advocating changes to the Federal tax code which (they feel) will encourage independent and innovative private sector activities to grow the Canadian space sector.

These new initiative fly in the face of traditional space advocates such as the #DontLetGoCanada coalition, which argue that large lump sums of Federal funds must be distributed to specific contractors, such as Westminster CO based Maxar Technologies (a US based company), in order to build specific projects, such as a "3rd generation Canadarm" for the proposed NASA Deep Space Gateway, in order to encourage innovation and speed the development of Canadian space activities.

Here's what we know about those new initiatives.

As outlined in the June 8th, 2018 post, "NRCan Explores Space Mining," the initial incentive for NRCan to move into this area was as part of the consultative process to generate and develop the upcoming Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan (CMMP). As outlined in the earlier post: 

NRCAN and other officials were cautious about entering into public discussion on the forum, possibly over fear of a backlash from other government departments such as the National Research Council (NRC) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), who have traditionally taken the lead in this area and are known to jealously guard their turf in interdepartmental meetings.

But the initiative moved forward and led to a series of public presentations at the 2018 Canadian Space Summit, which was held in Ottawa ON from November 27th - 29th. The track included presentations from:

• Photinie Koutsavlis, the director general of policy and economics in the lands and minerals sector of NRCan, who spoke on the topic of "Canada's New Frontier."

• Eva Jane Lark, a long time advocate of using mining industry tax credits to grow the space industry, who spoke on the topic of "Mining in Space: Based on Mining in Canada."

• Jeff Plate, the vice-president of marketing and business development at Toronto ON based mining consultancy firm Watts, Griffis & McOuat, who spoke on the topic of "Enabling Capital Markets to Invest in Space Mining and Exploration." 

Most of the conversations which took place during the event paralleled to a surprising degree items previously outlined in the November 1st, 2018 post, "The REAL Path Towards Revitalizing the Canadian Space Industry."

That post noted the similarities between the mining and space industries and suggested that the current worldwide explosion of private sector space accomplishments has nothing whatsoever to do with simply shoveling new government money into traditionally structured programs and everything to do with creating the correct tax incentives needed to support the growth of a new industry.

The next step in the NRCan plan is another meeting to generate consensus. It's expected to take place in March 2019 in Toronto ON at the annual 2019 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention, which will be held in Toronto ON from March 3rd - 6th, 2019.

As outlined in the December 3rd, 2018 CATA Alliance press release, "YES Canada to Adopting 5 All Party Election Platform Recommendations, Sign & Share the CATA E-Petition," another organization is attempting to move down a different path toward innovation, although the expected end result is also wrapped around tax reform.

According to the press release, CATA Alliance is "advancing important tax, finance and innovation advocacy and we need your help in amplifying key recommendations to decision makers."

To that end, the organization is asking members to sign an online petition committing the leaders of "the five Federal political parties" to embrace five key policy recommendations. Those recommendations include:

• Recognizing that "while Canada remains strong in terms of the quality and impact of its scientific output, it is lagging further and further behind in its ability to commercialize that output and generate wealth." 

• The creation of "a 21st century tax commission" focused on "improving the nation’s support for innovation through fiscal measures." The petition suggests that all tax measures should be tested "through robust public consultations," and incorporated into a "final report" which would be delivered within the next "twelve months." 

• The completion of a scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) tax credit review to assess proposed improvements and then test them through "robust public consultations." SH&ED credits are one of the primary Federal tax programs encouraging private sector innovation, although there are certainly questions as to the efficiency of the program. 

• Supporting the development of "a modern IP system with appropriate fiscal measures for IP (intellectual property) exploitation in Canada" and to provide "assistance to cover some of the costs of the patent process." IP issues are a common concern in the space industry and were most recently discussed in the March 16th, 2018 post, "Looks Like Intellectual Property Issues Were Addressed in the 2018 Federal Budget." In essence, IP issues are well worth looking into.

• Publish benchmarking metrics comparing Canada to other leading countries building innovative capacity. Of course, some of those surveys, such as the one discussed in the August 17th, 2016 Global News post, "Canada ranks 15th on Global Innovation Index: Here’s where we fall behind," have already been published and its unclear whether or not a new survey would provide any information not already publicly available. 

Taken together, these points are useful measures designed to encourage political parties to discuss and improve their innovation policies and tax regimes. It's a welcome addition to the public discourse in this area and absolutely of assistance to the Canadian space industry.

On the other hand, there is also precious little difference between encouraging innovation by holding more meetings (the path chosen by NRCan) and encouraging innovation by signing a petition (the path chosen by CATA).

Neither approach seems likely to bear fruit before the upcoming Federal election, which is expected to occur on or before October 21st, 2019. The approaching deadline kinda suggests that time is running out to achieve real political change in the near future.

So while it's good that we're finally creating a consensus that the tax system might hold the secret to encouraging innovation and building robust Canadian industries, we now need to come up with a plan able to engage both the electorate and the political mandarins before the next election.

We've got less than a year. 

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.

Canadians in Space, Exploring the Asteroids and Launching Small-Sats on a Reusable Falcon 9

          By Chuck Black

Photo c/o Toronto Star.

We live in a twilight period between a post cold-war space race dominated by government space agencies, expensive science projects and covert military considerations and the beginning of what could just possibly be a new, lower cost "commercial" space age.

As always, Canada is busy performing its designated "utility player" role.

Today's contributions included:

• Providing an astronaut for the next crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS). 

• Contributing scientific experiments to the NASA Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission, currently in the midst of rendezvousing with asteroid Bennu.

• Supplying two small satellites, from Cambridge ON based exactEarth and Vancouver BC based Helios Wire, for the NASA Small-Sat Express mission.

All three missions either successfully launched from Earth or achieved major milestones today. Here's what we know so far.

Inside the John H. Chapman Space Centre in Longueuil PQ, retired astronaut Robert Thirsk spent the morning providing a running commentary on the launch of Expedition 58/59, which included NASA astronaut Anne C. McClain, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut David Saint-Jacques, to a crowd of nervous CSA staff and guests.

According to the December 3rd,  2018 National Post article, "Anxious crowd watches on at Canadian Space Agency as David Saint-Jacques successfully blasts into space," it was only:

...after the spacecraft safely entered orbit about nine minutes later, drawing the first applause from an audience watching a live NASA feed, that Thirsk admitted to some pre-launch jitters about the Canadian astronaut’s mission. 

It was the first manned launch since a rocket failure  forced a Soyuz capsule carrying two astronauts to abort and make an emergency landing in October. Russia briefly suspended launches to investigate before giving the mission the all-clear Nov. 1st.

As outlined in the article, today's mission was watched across Canada at multiple public locations by both the worried and the curious.

The concern wasn't restricted to Canada. As outlined in the December 3rd, 2018 Space.com post, "Liftoff! Russia Launches 1st Crewed Soyuz Rocket to Space Station Since Dramatic Abort," its been a challenging few months for the ISS:

After a perfect launch on June 6th, a tiny air leak on their Soyuz spacecraft was discovered in late August. 

Although it never posed a threat to the astronauts on board and was quickly plugged, the implications for astronaut safety were troubling, and an investigation was launched. (The leak is in a part of the Soyuz module that does not survive re-entry and it will not interfere with the crew's journey home.)

The Expedition 58/59 crew docked with the ISS after a six hour transit and are expected to remain on-board the station for the next six and a half months. The single use Soyuz rockets used to launch manned ISS missions have been in use since 1966 and are the most frequently used launch vehicle in the world.

But while the US currently uses the Soyuz to access the ISS and has done so since 2011 (when the US space shuttle program wound down), it is expected that newer, lower cost US spacecraft developed through the NASA Commercial Crew Development (CCD) program will soon allow access to space from US soil.

The era of the Russian Soyuz will soon end.

The NASA OSIRIS-REx mission has finally arrived at its destination and will soon begin a series of experiments designed to seek clues to the early solar system.

As outlined in the December 3rd, 2018 New York Times post, "NASA’s Osiris-Rex Arrives at Asteroid Bennu After a Two-Year Journey," the spacecraft pulled alongside the asteroid Bennu on Monday.

Bennu, also known as 101955 Bennu is a "carbonaceous asteroid in the Apollo group" discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project in 1999, according to Wikipedia.

It's theorized that the carbonaceous material originally came from dying stars such as red giants and supernovae, which combined to become Bennu approximately 4.5 billion years ago during the early formation of the Solar System. Study of the materials collected by the mission will provide clues to the early composition of the solar system.

As outlined on the CSA webpage focused on the OSIRIS-REx mission, a Canadian-made instrument called the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) will map the asteroid so that scientists can pick a spot where a probe will take the samples to return to Earth.

The OLA was built by the Planetary Exploration Instrumentation Laboratory at York University. Dr. Michael Daly is the OLA instrument scientist for the mission.

The OSIRIS-REx was launched by a single-use Atlas V rocket on September 8th, 2016 from the Cape Canaveral Launch complex in Cape Canaveral FL. The mission is expected to conclude in September, 2023 with the planned landing in Utah of the collected asteroid samples.

A human-rated version of the Atlas V was selected by NASA in late 2014 to launch the first Boeing CST-100 space capsule to the ISS sometime next year.

A Falcon 9 rocket built by Hawthorne CA based SpaceX and exclusively dedicated to small satellites, has successfully lifted off from Vandenburg Air Force Base into low Earth orbit with its payload of 64 small-sats.

As outlined in the December 3rd, 2018 Space News post, "SpaceX launches all-smallsat Falcon 9 mission," the Space Flight SSO-A Smallsat Express Mission launch was:

...procured by smallsat (Seattle WA based) rideshare company Spaceflight Industries, (and) was the first time SpaceX reused the same first-stage booster for three missions. 

The rocket booster previously launched Bangladesh’s Bangabandhu-1 satellite in May and the Merah Putih (formerly Telkom-4) satellite in August for Telkom Indonesia.

Eight minutes after the successful launch, SpaceX landed the 1st stage booster on the drone ship "Just Read the Instructions" in the Pacific Ocean. The rocket is expected to be reused again at some future date.

The launch is the largest single rideshare mission from a US based launch vehicle — carrying spacecraft for 34 organizations from 17 countries —  but is not the first, nor the largest launch of smallsats on a single mission. 

In February 2017 India’s space agency ISRO launched 104 satellites on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle — 88 of them for U.S. company Planet. Six months later a Russian Soyuz rocket launched 73 satellites, though a few of them were unresponsive after launch.

Although SpaceX didn't release the full launch manifest for the mission and didn't webcast the deployment of the satellites after its second stage reached orbit (citing an absence of ground stations in view from the rocket to beam down video), small satellites from Vancouver BC based Helios Wire and Cambridge ON based exactEarth LLP were included with the mission.

The expectation is that several military small-sat were also included on the manifest, which accounts for the lack of confirmation and suggests that military secrecy is one of those things that never change in space, or elsewhere.

A human-rated version of the reusable Falcon 9, using a SpaceX Dragon capsule, will begin launching astronauts to the ISS sometime next year.

As for the Canadian satellites included with the mission, according to the November 16th, 2018 Helios Wire press release, "Helios Wire Satellite Scheduled to Launch on Spaceflight's SSO-A Smallsat Express Mission," the Helios Wire Pathfinder II satellite "is the first satellite in a constellation of up to 28 smallsats that will provide global IoT coverage."

The exactEarth Vesta satellite is a 3U (4kg) technology demonstration satellite that will test a “new two-way VHF data exchange system (VDES) payload for the exactEarth advanced maritime satellite constellation” according to its Guildford UK based builder Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL), a subsidiary of Ottobrunn, Germany based Airbus Defence and Space.

As outlined in the December 3rd, 2018 Space Daily post, "KazSTSat and VESTA due to lift-off on Spaceflight's SSO-A SmallSat Express Mission," SSTL also built KazSTSat "a small Earth observation satellite jointly developed by SSTL and JV Ghalam LLP, a joint venture between JSC "National Company Kazakhstan Garysh Sapary" (KGS) and Airbus," which launched on the same mission as VESTA and Pathfinder II.

Welcome to the future.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.

The New Amazon Web Services Ground Station (AWSGS) Will Disrupt Existing Ground Stations

          By Brian Orlotti

The recently announced Amazon Web Services Ground Station (AWSGS), a cloud-based product offering scalable computing power for satellite ground stations and data processing, stands poised to disrupt the current satellite industry and serves as a precursor to the ramp up of space activity in the coming decades.

As outlined in the November 28th, 2018 Next Big Future post, "Amazon is Bringing Cloud Computing Economics and Convenience to Space Data Operations," Amazon unveiled the new systems at its annual AWS Re:Invent Conference, which was held from November 25th - 28th in Las Vegas NV.

Amazon is targeting AWSGS at smaller commercial satellite operators and research groups; organizations now embracing micro/pico/nano satellites.

Traditional large satellite fleet operators typically build large multi-million-dollar ground stations (including big antenna farms and multiple buildings) to monitor and process data from their fleets. These large fleet operators also lease these facilities out to other groups at high prices. AWSGS will allow offer small satellite operators a lower cost, scalable alternative.

AWGS ground stations will essentially be an extension of Amazon’s current AWS cloud computing infrastructure. Each Amazon ground station (antennas included) is associated with a specific AWS data centre (or "region," in Amazon parlance).

After account setup, which involves providing Amazon with your satellite’s NORAD ID, FCC licence ID and AWS account number, customers can access their ground stations to capture, process and distribute their data on an as-needed, pay-as-you-go basis.

Raw analog data from a satellite is converted into digital data and then routed to an AWS instance (virtual server) that performs signal processing to turn it into a byte stream. From this point, customers can make use of existing AWS data storage, processing, analytics and streaming services.

Amazon currently has two ground stations active and plans to have twelve online by mid-2019.

As fast as new technologies open up opportunities to utilize the "high frontier," politicians and bureaucrats rear their ugly head. For example and as outlined in the June 21st, 2018 post, "The Special Senate Committee on the Arctic Holds a Hearing on Northern Infrastructure & That "Unlicensed" Inuvik Groundstation," even the intervention of the Canadian Senate was unable to facilitate the federal licenses needed for an international consortium of Canadian, US and Norwegian based businesses to open a ground based receiving station in Inuvik. The consortium was in direct competition with the Federal government owned and operated Inuvik Satellite Station Facility and so, it didn't move forward but maybe the new Amazon service will finally inject some much needed competition into the marketplace. Graphic c/o Commercial Space blog.

In embracing this new option, however, small satellite operators would do well to avoid the various pitfalls of cloud computing encountered by other organizations, such as:

• Vendor lock-in: AWS services typically require the use of proprietary APIs that can severely limit the portability of your data
• Security: Incorrectly configured AWS instances can leave data wide open to theft and tampering
• Diminishing returns: Past certain bandwidth and data storage thresholds, cloud computing can be more expensive than building in-house infrastructure. In addition, some organizations have used cloud computing simply as a pretext to eliminate staff, depriving themselves of valuable in-house technical talent

Small satellite operators should weigh the pros and cons of cloud computing and plan accordingly.

AWGS’ fusion of satellite operations and cloud computing marks another step in the evolution of the commercial space sector. AWS turned computing power into a scalable commodity; it now offers to do the same for space operations.

AWGS, when combined with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ other space venture, Blue Origin, could be the pieces that unlock the puzzle of an off-world economy.

Brian Orlotti.

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

Procurement Contracts, Not Science or Engineering, Will Define the Next Generation of Robotics and Planetary Rovers

          By Henry Stewart

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has announced that nine US based companies are now eligible to bid on NASA delivery services to the lunar surface through a new Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, a series of fixed price procurement contracts NASA will begin issuing in 2019 which are intended to facilitate the planned US return to the Moon.

The new contracts will have more than a passing resemblance to the very successful Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) fixed priced contracts, which came out of a NASA program to coordinate the delivery of crew and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) by private companies.

Hawthorne CA based SpaceX used COTS and its follow-on programs to grow into the low-cost rocket launching powerhouse it is today.

As outlined in the November 29th, 2018 NASA press release, "NASA Announces New Partnerships for Commercial Lunar Payload Delivery Services," the nine companies selected for the program include:

• Pittsburgh PA based Astrobotic Technology, a privately held firm founded in 2008 by Carnegie Mellon professor Red Whittaker and his associates, with the goal of winning the Google Lunar X Prize.

• Littleton CO based Deep Space Systems.

• Cambridge MA based Draper.

• Cedar Park TX based Firefly Aerospace, a privately held firm that is also developing small and medium-sized launch vehicles for commercial launches to orbit.

• Houston TX based Intuitive Machines, a privately held firm a company focused around building  autonomous system solutions for Earth and space.

• Littleton CO based Lockheed Martin Space, the large, legacy player on this list.

• Mojave CA Masten Space Systems.

• Cape Canaveral FL based Moon Express, a privately held US firm founded by Canadian ex-pat Bob Richards which has been much profiled in this blog and elsewhere. As outlined in the October 16th, 2018 Moon Express press release, "Moon Express Expands into Canada with the Establishment of Moon Express Canada and New Partnerships," the company maintains strong Canadian connections.

• NJ based Orbit Beyond, a mostly unknown US based company reportedly building spacecraft to send to the moon by 2020.

The move is part of US President Donald Trump’s Space Policy Directive, which calls for revisiting Moon exploration.

For Canada, the new procurement program is probably not a good thing. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA), using far more traditional procurement methodologies, has for years attempted to develop expertise in this area to sell on the international markets, but mostly failed.

And while some of the Canadian expertise developed will likely end up creating component parts for Moon Express (and maybe others), most won't.

The next generation of rovers and lander will end up being defined by their procurement contracts and commercial markets, not by their science and engineering expertise.

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

Can the New, Online Media Compete with a Struggling, but Now Subsidized Legacy Print Industry

          By Al Calder

Last week's announcement that the Canadian government planned to spend a larger lump sum of Federal funding to prop up traditional Canadian media outlets than it annually gives to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), seems more than a little disconcerting.

Perhaps the Justin Trudeau Liberals simply believe that it is more important who you hear the news from than it is to get the story right, create new jobs in media and aerospace, or even "go boldly where no one has gone before!" 

Perhaps those other concerns are just different line items in the next Federal budget. Or maybe not.

Graphic c/o AZ Quotes.

Anyway, and as outlined in the November 21st, 2018 National Post article, "$600M in federal funding for media 'a turning point in the plight of newspapers in Canada," the largest recipients of government funding under the new program will be the struggling, legacy print media industry.

The article quoted Paul Godfrey, the CEO of Toronto ON based Postmedia Network (which publishes the National Post and daily broadsheets in many of Canada’s largest cities) as saying that the tax credit:

... could be looked upon as a turning point in the plight of newspapers in Canada…I tip my hat to the prime minister and the finance minister. They deserve a lot of credit. 

Everyone in journalism should be doing a victory lap around their building right now.

John Hinds, the CEO of Toronto ON based News Media Canada, a trade association representing over 830 Canadian daily, weekly and community newspapers, is also quoted in the article:

We’ve been asking for help and they listened to us. I think they delivered. It’s a substantive investment.

While its expected that smaller media outlets (including this blog, which has applied for and received Federal funding in the past) will also be eligible under the new program, it's likely that the larger players will receive the lion's share of any new funding.

The new program will offer the money to organizations that are "arms-length and independent of the Government. To this end, an independent panel of journalists will be established to define and promote core journalism standards, define professional journalism, and determine eligibility."

Graphic c/o AZ Quotes.

And this is where the new proposal becomes more than a little problematic. professional media is defined, at least by the online Oxford Dictionary, as "engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation rather than as an amateur" such as being "a professional boxer."

Which kinda makes it sound like all you really need to be a professional, is to be paid for doing it.

Getting to the issue a little deeper, it's also worth noting that the online Oxford Dictionary defines journalism as "the activity or profession of writing for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or preparing news to be broadcast."

Which kinda makes it sound like you don't even need to be paid to be a journalist, although if you're intending to be a "professional" then you need to be paid by someone.

And the government has offered to step in to help create the next generation of professional journalists by paying them under the newly announced program.

These professional journalists (or "presstitutes," as some might call them) will receive the opportunity to join the "panel of journalists" who will help to "define and promote core journalism standards, define professional journalism, and determine eligibility."

Just so long as they don't take too much money from the government and are able to retain their "independence."

Chris Hadfield is a popular icon and regularly addresses space issues within Canada  as outlined most recently in the November 18th, 2018 CTV News post, "Astronaut Chris Hadfield calls on feds to fund Canadian space program." It’s also no surprise that media companies are excited about the hundreds of millions of dollars they can now put to good use. They must have offered something to the government’s vision of Canada that Hatfields message about funding the space industry didn’t fit into. Photo c/o CTV News.

What could possibly go wrong. Surely the plan won't prop up the legacy print media and make it more difficult for new media models to grow and become profitable.

Say it isn't so, Mr. Prime Minister!!!

Of course, it's not all bad. As outlined in the November 25th, 2018 The Conversation post, "Funding journalism means defining who’s a journalist – not a bad thing," the new program "will incentivize consumers to sign up for digital news subscriptions and subsidize publishers through a tax credit on salaries paid to journalists."

To do this, the program does need to develop standards to figure out who will receive the new funding. That seems reasonable.

On the other hand and at the time of writing neither myself nor this publication have seen any of this money (although sometimes, some of us do get paid through other sources). But I do sometimes cover meetings and events as a journalist. Usually the food is fairly good, especially at political events. We usually also get the best spots to stand to see what's going on.

The perks don't sway my personal coverage of the event.

If however, they had been handing out hundreds of million dollars I just might be inclined to speak highly of them. Since that didn't happen I will have no choice but to stick to the truth.

Graphic c/o SelfArcheology.com.

Here's the truth.

If you are interested in supporting real independent journalism please support the Commercial Space blog on Patreon. If you'd like to make a lump sum, one time payment please contact my editor, Chuck Black at chuck.black@commercialspacemedia.com.

If you don't like this blog, then give the funding to someone else who is actually doing journalism.

Just don't expect the government to solve the problem for you. They already have too much on their plate and normally take a large percentage off the top of any contribution, in order to cover their expenses.

But if you believe in the corporate media in Canada and think that even the CBC qualifies as “independent media,” that should be supported through the funding largesse of the Federal government, then you may as well rely on a Bombardier press release to find out the truth about Montreal PQ based Bombardier Aerospace.

It won't give you any real answers or information, but I bet it has nice graphics.

Al Calder.

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Al Calder is VP of special projects for the Commercial Space Blog, where he creates events focused on space industry needs.

Mars InSight Lander Touches Down on the Red Planet

          By Brian Orlotti

NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft has landed on Mars after a six-month, 482 million-kilometre journey. The mission includes a small Canadian component.

InSight is a two-year mission managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) whose goal is to study the interior of Mars.

As outlined in the November 26th, 2018 CTV News post "Mars touchdown: NASA spacecraft survives supersonic plunge," the spacecraft spent six minutes descending through the Martian atmosphere, using its parachute and engines to slow down before landing. A pair of cubesats trailing InSight since their May liftoff provided near real-time updates of the spacecraft's descent. One satellite also sent back a quick photo from Mars's surface. InSight touched down in Elysium Planitia, a plain hear the Martian equator chosen for its flatness and minimal landing risk.

The mission consists of a 360-kilogram lander (built by Lockheed Martin), which will use its 1.8-metre robotic arm to place a mechanical mole and seismometer on the ground. The self-hammering mole will then burrow five metres down to measure the planet's internal heat, while the seismometer listens for quakes.

InSight is the first mission to attempt these tasks as no previous Mars lander has dug deeper than a few inches and no previous seismometers have functioned.

By examining Mars’ interior, scientists seek to understand how our solar system's rocky planets formed 4.5 billion years ago and why they turned out so different.

InSight features contributions from the French space agency CNES (seismometer) and Germany’s  space agency DLR (the mechanical mole and heat probe). CNES and DLR’s contributions total around $180Mln US ($239Mln CDN).

NASA’s total cost for InSight comes to $813Mln US (just over $1Bln CDN).

A Canadian connection to InSight exists in the form of Catherine Johnson, a planetary scientist at the  University of British Columbia and the only Canadian involved in the mission.

As outlined in the November 21st, 2018 Globe and Mail post, "NASA’s InSight probe aims at a deeper understanding of Mars," Johnson's team will study marsquakes as well as examine the water content of rocks to shed light on the history of water on Mars.

Editors Note: As outlined in the November 29th, 2018 CBC News post, "Mars lander features chain mail skirt with Saskatoon connection," there is at least one more Canadian connection to this mission. 

The post cited entrepreneur and mechanical engineer Bernice Daniels, the co-founder of a Saskatoon SK based jewelry company called The Ring Lord, which built a "chain mail" covering to protect sensitive instruments on the InSight Lander.

According to the post, " NASA is not The Ring Lords first high-profile customer. The company has also worked with Boeing and SpaceX."

Brian Orlotti.

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

#DontLetGoCanada Coalition Brings UNIFOR, CATA Alliance and Engineers Canada into its Campaign

          By Chuck Black

The #DontLetGoCanada coalition, smarting over the recent failure of NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine to publicly convince Federal Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains to announce either funding or support for the "3rd generation Canadarm," has brought several new domestic partners to the forefront of its campaign while moving perhaps its largest (and most divisive) corporate supporter into the background.

Two full page ads, the first from "MDA, A Maxar Company" and the second from the #DontLetGoCanada coalition, which were included in the November 26th, 2018 Hill Times. Both mention the need for a "fully funded space strategy." It's difficult to discuss the #DontLetGo Coalition without at least noting Westminster, CO based Maxar Technologies, which expects its Brampton ON based MDA Space Missions subsidiary to receive the lion's share of any new government funding allocated in this area. As outlined in the September 13th, 2018 post, "Dead Cat Bounce! New Canadian Space "Coalition" Wants Much the Same as Last Time, But With Money" Maxar/MDA is behind most of the funding and strategy formulation the coalition depends upon to get its word out. To be fair to Maxar/MDA, it seems to be currently taking a lower profile in the campaign. Images c/o Hill Times.

The third page of the November 26th, 2018 Hill Times, a twice-weekly newspaper covering Parliament, the government and Canadian politics, contains a full page "open letter" from the #DontLetDoCanada coalition addressed to the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Bains.

Jim Quick. Photo c/o @JQuickAIAC.

As a one pager, it's mostly an overview of points previously noted, although it does indicate that other nations are supporting the NASA Lunar Gateway, which is where the requested "3rd generation" Canadarm is expected to end-up.

It also calls out the Canadian government to develop a "long-term, fully funded and balanced space strategy," which would include support for the Lunar Gateway, with funding included as part of the upcoming Budget 2019.

The complete document is available online here and it's noteworthy that the open letter was signed by variety of interesting people. They included:

• Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) President and CEO Jim Quick.

• Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA Alliance) President and CEO John Reid.

• Engineers Canada President Annette Bergeron.

• Western University President Amit Chakma.

• Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS Canada) President Roxy Fournier.

• Unifor National President Jerry Dias.

Of course, Jim Quick is considered to be one of the "usual suspects" in this campaign. As outlined in the October 22nd, 2018 post, "The Difference Between Maxar/ MDA, AIAC and Almost Everyone Else in the #DontLetGoCanada Campaign," Quick and Brampton ON based MDA Group President Mike Greenley co-signed the August 2018 e-mail sent out to executives at 60+ aerospace companies which led to the creation of the #DontLetGoCanada coalition in October 2018.

CATA Alliance CEO Reid. Photo c/o LinkedIn.

But CATA Alliance CEO Reid is a late, but rather interesting addition to the mix. As outlined on the CATA Alliance website:

The Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATAAlliance), Canada’s One Voice for Innovation Advocacy Group, crowdsources ideas and guidance from thousands of opt in members in moderated social networks in Canada and key global markets. 

Supported by evidence-based research, CATAAlliance then mobilizes the community behind public policy recommendations designed to boost Canada’s innovation and competitiveness success.

Examples of past CATA Alliance positions would include:

• The June 15th, 2018 post, "Using a Revised 21st Century Tax Code to Drive Research and Development," which reported on a "call to action" for CATA members to send CATA a "supportive quote" on the steps needed to make the tax system "fairer, simpler and more competitive."

• The September 8th, 2017 post, "CATA Rage, Liberal Strategy, Space Advisory Board Tactics & Yuzhnoye Can't Manufacture Some Cyclone 4M Parts," which reported on the changes to the Federal tax code and how those changes would affect private sector innovation.

• The March 27th, 2017 post, "Canada's Latest Space Budget; $81Mln for "New Projects" over Five Years Including a Contribution to NASA's Mars Orbiter," which noted CATA's reaction to the 2017 Federal Budget. 

CATA has often developed business focused policies that this blog has found reason to favor, mostly because the policies focus on simplifying the tax code to unleash innovation in the private sector instead of providing lump sum payments to contractors to build fancy, but mostly non-commercial things that the government seems to think it needs.

However, the current CATA Alliance official position on a long-term space plan seems to flat out support large disbursements for a "3rd generation" Canadarm.

That specific position is unusual for CATA. The November 17th, 2018 CATA Alliance press release, "Canada’s future in space is in jeopardy, as country slips to an 18th ranking in space investment," quoted CEO Reid as stating only that:

MDA CEO Greenley. Photo c/o @MGreenley.

Canada has moved from an 8th place ranking in Space spending in 1992 (as a share of GDP) to an 18th place ranking today, thus we are losing out on the development and sale of space technologies, or missing out on one of the cores to Canada’s future innovation eco-system and competitiveness.  

That downward spiral will accelerate unless we take strong actions to reverse the trend, by developing a long-term, fully-funded space strategy for Canada.  

Also at risk is the potential role that Canada could play in the upcoming flagship Lunar Gateway.

To be fair, the CATA press release also explicitly referenced Brampton ON based MDA Space Missions Group President Mike Greenley, who has gone on record as stating that any Canadian government space plan should reasonably include a $1 - 2Bln CDN Federal contribution to the development of a new Canadarm for the US Lunar Gateway.

As noted previously, Greenley expects most of the funding for any new Canadarm to pour directly into MDA's expansive coffers.

Not that there is anything wrong with that. Private sector space companies should certainly be allowed to solicit new business, although it's interesting to note that Greenley is going out of his way to position MDA as being not the only organization involved in the #DontLetGoCanada campaign. 

He wants to stay out of the limelight at this point, so as not to look too self serving.

Of the others who signed the open letter, Bergeron (from Engineers Canada), Chakma (from Western University) and Fournier (from SEDS Canada) could each be said to have reasonable reasons to jump on the Lunar Gateway bandwagon. They are the usual suspects in this list of Canadian space  industry supporters.

Only Unifor National President Jerry Dias seems, at first glance at least, a little out of place.

But, as outlined in the November 23rd, 2018 Unifor press release "Unifor joins Don’t Let Go Canada coalition in support of long-term space sector strategy" the union, created from the 2013 merger of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) represents "forty companies,  associations, labour groups and academic organizations from the aerospace sector" including workers at Boeing Canada (Local 2169), Bombardier/ de Havilland(Local 112), Cascade Aerospace (Local 114), CMC Electronics, Magellan Aerospace (Local 3005) and Pratt and Whitney Canada (Local 510).

The Unifor president also represents autoworkers at the Oshawa ON General Motors plant which, as outlined in the November 26th, 2018 CTV News post, "GM 'betraying' Canada by closing Oshawa plant: Unifor president," will likely take up much of his time over the next little while, so it's unknown how much he can contribute to the campaign.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.

The Future of Canada's Space Industry is All About Treating Space Like an Industry

          By Chuck Black

Anyone who wants to understand the future of Canada's space industry as it moves away from being a single issue, science focused monolith almost completely dependent on Canadian Space Agency (CSA) largesse ("Canadarm funding," anyone?) towards a more distributed business environment focused around multiple possible private and public sector customers and various commercial considerations, might want to take a look at the Federal Fall Economic Statement (FES) for 2018.

Finance Minister Morneau receives applause after delivering the fall economic update in the House of Commons, on Wednesday. Photo c/o Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press.

The annual Federal government FES, generally considered to be a mid-term progress report on the spring Federal budget, was released by Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau on November 22nd, 2018.

As outlined in the November 22nd, 2018 CBC News post, "The economy is running hot. So why is Morneau still stepping on the gas?," the major focus of the FES was a reaction to US President Donald Trump's corporate tax changes introduced last December, which dropped US rates from 35% to 21%, effectively eliminated Canada's corporate tax advantage.

Morneau didn't drop taxes, but he did announce that Canadian businesses will be able to deduct, immediately, the full cost of any investments in new equipment for manufacturing and clean technology.

Tweaking the tax code and dropping the tax rates is the traditional methodology used by governments to encourage innovation, growth and productivity.

It's a methodology suitable even for Canada's space industry, as outlined most recently in the November 1st, 2018 post, "The REAL Path Towards Revitalizing the Canadian Space Industry."

According to the November 21st, 2018 The Logic post, "Breaking down the federal Fall Economic Statement 2018," the key to funding innovative industries like Canada's space industry is the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF), the federal government’s "main piggy bank for supporting economically-important industries."

The SIF, originally a established in Budget 2017, was established by the Federal Justin Trudeau Liberal government as a $1.26Bln CDN fund that came mostly from combining existing auto and aerospace programs with $100Mln in new Federal funding. It was bolstered in Budget 2018 with an additional $800Mln CDN infusion.

According to The Logic, it's "the single biggest non-tax line item in the FES." It's also a far larger chunk of change than the CSA is able to disburse.

SIF funds have been used recently to invest in a number of space and innovation focused organizations which this blog tracks including:

• Montreal PQ based Northstar Earth & Space for the development of "a global environment information platform which will transform humanity's ability to manage our impact on Earth and its natural resources," as outlined in the November 16th, 2018 post "A $52Mln CDN Financing Deal for Northstar Earth and Space Inc.".

• Burnaby BC based General Fusion, in order to hire 400 new staff, expand its collaboration with various post-secondary institutions and support development of a 70% scale prototype power plant, as outlined in the October 30th, 2018 post, "Canadian Fusion Power Funded by the Federal Government."

• Toronto ON based Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) in order to create and maintain 125 jobs, attract more investments in Canadian businesses, and see more intellectual property developed and retained in Canada as outlined in the October 9th, 2018 post, "Creative Destruction Lab Receives $25Mln CDN from Federal Government for AI, Start-up Infrastructure and Jobs."

In essence, Federal funding for space focused and innovative projects no longer needs to be routed through the CSA, the National Research Council (NRC) or other academically focused, traditional funding mechanisms.

New funding is instead being pushed through Federal mechanisms like the SIF and other programs being tracked in the Federal Budget.

These new programs are forcing the space industry to act less like a traditional government subcontractor responding to a request for proposal (RFP) from a single entity and more like an independent business moving forward with a unique plan with the government as a single stakeholder in a much larger consortium.

With so many partners to please, the Federal focus may may even have changed from fulfilling a centralized long term plan of action towards supporting a series of individual plans which may help the country in the aggregate, but which are difficult to quantify as part of a single plan.

Whether or not this is a good thing, will likely be the subject of a future post.

Chuck Black.

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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.

What Was Once the Canadian Air and Space Museum is Now the Canadian Air and Space Conservancy

          By Henry Stewart

Short weeks after being called out publicly in this blog regarding the failure to find itself a permanent home after a seven year search, the charity once known as the Canadian Air and Space Museum (CASM) has relocated to the Stayner, ON based Edenvale Aerodrome Airport, some 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

Try to ignore the typo above and on the website. According to the Edenvale Aerodrome Airport website, it's "set amongst the scenic landscape of Clearview Township, nestled between the picturesque hills of The Blue Mountains and the pristine shores of Wasaga Beach, Edenvale Aerodrome is a convenient 90 min drive from the GTA." The airport has three runways and is currently the home of the Edenvale Classic Aircraft Foundation, which has organized the annual "Gathering (not "Ghatering") of the Classics" auto and air show for over 25 years. Image c/o Edenvale Aerodrone.

It's also changed its name (again), modified its mandate to reflect a new focus on conserving the museum artifacts (instead of displaying them to the public) and accepted the fact that its not likely going back to being a functioning museum any time soon.

As outlined in the November 14th, 2018 Skies post, "Former Toronto Aerospace Museum secures new airport home," the "first truckloads of aircraft and artifacts started to arrive at Edenvale in early November and the museum’s full-scale Avro Arrow replica will move from Toronto Pearson International Airport to Edenvale at a later date."

Museum artifacts have been stored in twenty-one rented trailers at the Toronto ON based Pearson International Airport and at several other locations around the city since 2013, when CASM was finally evicted from its original facility in Downsview ON.

The original notice of eviction was received in September 2011.

Since then, the museum has been unable to secure a new home at a major airport in a large urban area, in order to support the traffic required to continue to operate as a museum.

According to the post.

"Many politicians and community leaders in Ottawa and the Toronto area offered to help the museum find a new home, but big metropolitan cities have hundreds of worthwhile projects competing for limited government funds," observed Ian McDougall, the chairman of the museum. 

“The circumstances demanded that we focused on asset conservancy as the core mission of the museum, knowing the unlikelihood of securing viable and stable display space in the short term,” said McDougall.

There was initially some hope among CASM members that the organization could one day morph into the North American equivalent of the Hong Hong International Airport Aviation Discovery Centre. The Centre includes over twenty interactive exhibits and graphics plus a flight simulator, where you can experience plane takeoffs and landings from the pilot’s seat and is a well known tourist spot. Photo c/o Trip Advisor. 

CASM, which several years ago changed its name to the Toronto Aerospace Museum because of a spat it got into with the Ottawa ON based Canadian Aviation and Space Museum (CASM), will now again change its name and become the Canadian Air and Space Conservancy (CASM) in order to more appropriately reflect its new role.

The museum recognizes that its future success will depend on partnering with similar community and national organizations such as museums in Ottawa and Trenton. 

In future, it will make artefacts from the collection available to other like-minded organizations and other venues on a loan or exchange basis, expand its aircraft, artefact and archive collection, and resume aircraft restoration activities once facilities become available.

According to a November 11th, 2018 update to the CASM website:

A Volunteer Association is also being re-established and invitations to apply will be circulated in the months ahead.

As noted in the October 29th, 2018 post, "The Former CDN Air and Space Museum Avro Arrow Replica is Still Sitting in a Parking Lot at Pearson Airport," the situation reached a crisis point last month with some CASM members feeling that the museum needed to be dissolved so that the board could donate the deteriorating museum artifacts to other not-for-profit organizations or museums, where they could be restored and protected.

In the earlier article, CASM curator Brian Keaveney insisted that the museum wasn't defunct and that a new partner "should" be coming aboard soon to help cover costs and assist with the opening of either a new facility or new facilities, where artifacts could again be displayed.

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

Space is For Cookie. That's Good Enough for Me!

          By Brian Orlotti

New York NY based Zero G Kitchen LLC (ZGK) has unveiled its design for a space oven. The oven is designed to freshly prepare small basic foods such as rolls, cookies, patties and pockets for long duration space travel.

The appliance is the first of a planned ‘Kitchen in Space,’ an open platform for food development in space and zero-gravity environments.

As outlined in the November 15th, 2018 ZGK press release, "Zero G Kitchen Prepares to Launch its First Appliance to Space," the space oven will be built in partnership with Houston TX based NanoRacks, a private firm which manages payloads and safety processes for the International Space Station (ISS).

The ‘Kitchen in Space’ ecosystem will also see space-adapted versions of other household appliances, including a refrigerator, a blender, a slow cooker and more. ZGK will work with food companies, educators, researchers, appliance engineers and aerospace organizations, to optimize its designs.

ZGK expects to complete building and testing its space oven before year’s end, with delivery to the ISS in early 2019. ZGK has already signed up its first client, and an announcement is expected in early 2019.

Cooking or baking of fresh food in space would offer numerous benefits and opportunities.

Astronauts, currently limited to pre-packaged, microwaveable tv-dinner type meals, would see psychological benefits from the sights and smells of fresh cooking. The human sense of smell’s effect on mood and memory is scientifically documented. Pleasing, positive smells, such as baking cookies or burning wood can trigger a sense of security, cooperation and calm.

Smell has also been linked to memory, with certain smells evoking earlier life experiences stored in the brain. These effects could prove a potent antidote to the stress, boredom and isolation astronauts encounter during space missions.

In addition, operating cooking appliances in space environments would provide an opportunity for research into the differences between zero-gravity and terrestrial cooking, enabling further refinement of the preparation of space-served meals.

A comparable analogy on Earth would be the difference between combustion engines operating at sea level or at high altitudes. At higher altitudes, lower oxygen levels and atmospheric pressure cause combustion engines to be less powerful and efficient, which in turn has driven the development of alternate designs that overcome these issues.

Over the coming decades, the greater tempo and scope of space activity will see more humans in space than ever. The soothing effects of freshly-cooked space meals could not only aid the success of space travel, but also shape the solar system spanning civilization to come.

To paraphrase the great gourmand Cookie Monster, space is for cookie, that’s good enough for me!

Brian Orlotti.

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