NewSpace, Software Incubator Culture and the Investor Landscape

          by Brian Orlotti

On February 7th, Canada’s Space Policy Framework was released to the public. One of its stated “key principles” is “positioning the private sector at the forefront of space activities.” So its a good thing that Canada is well-equipped to implement this principle by leveraging the strength of its growing tech start-up/incubator culture.

Over the past five years, changes in Canada’s business landscape and regulatory environment have given rise to a new era of innovation, nurturing promising software start-ups into established enterprises. As outlined in the February 2nd, 2014 Venture Beat post, "Why Canada is where smart VC money is going in 2014," several factors have helped sparked this new era. These have included:

• The fall of Canadian tech titans like Nortel and Blackberry, which released a large pool of experienced executives and engineering talent into the market.

• The removal of section 116 from the Federal tax code in 2009. As outlined in April 10th, 2010 Securities Law post "Section 116 relief for non-resident investors," this change made start-up investment much less complex and costly for US investors and encouraged foreign investment money to begin flowing into Canada.

• The creation, in 2013, of the Federal government Start-up Visa Program, a campaign aimed at attracting foreign entrepreneurs to Canada by allowing them first to immigrate and then to assist with the building their start-up idea in Canada. The campaign has featured billboards in Silicon Valley enticing tech workers to “Pivot to Canada.”

• The opening of branch offices of large US technology firms like Facebook, Amazon, Google, Twitter, and Square in cities such as Vancouver, Toronto, Waterloo and Montreal to take advantage of Canada’s abundant engineering talent and lower operating costs. Their presence has helped inject additional energy and expertise into the Canadian start-up sector.

Spurred by these conditions, a large amount of foreign, mostly US, technology venture capital is now flowing into Canada. According to the C100, a non-profit organization founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to promote Canadian technology entrepreneurship and investment, over $700Mln USD of venture capital has been invested in Canadian companies over the past two years.

Canada’s incubator culture has seen many start-up successes like Vidyard (video hosting), FreshBooks (cloud-based accounting software), Kobo (an eBook reader recently acquired by Rakuten for $315Mln CDN) and Beyond the Rack (online fashion sales). Other examples include Desire2Learn (post-secondary web-portals) and Shopify (eCommerce platform for creating online stores). Software-enabled hardware startups like Bionym and Thalmic Labs are leveraging the talents of former Nortel and Blackberry employees to create innovative devices. Bionym has created a wristband that can read a person’s heartbeat and use it as a biometric signature, while Thalmic Labs markets an armband that lets you control devices via arm gestures.

But adapting the software-focused incubator culture to the needs of NewSpace, will require modifications to account for the differences between software and space-related hardware. These changes, as outlined in the December 13th, 2013 Space Business Blog article "14 Ideas to Make Newspace Accelerators Better," will likely include at least some of the following:

• Makerspaces, composed of free tools, supplies, and office spaces, run by the incubator/ accelerator to bring start-ups to speed on current hardware and fabrication options. Chris Anderson, in his book, Makers: The New Industrial Revolution, illustrated how accessible and useful some of these new manufacturing technologies are to the average person and start-up. Makerspaces would also serve to "pool" office supplies and other administrative requirements.

• The creation of mature mentor teams. Unlike software start-ups where a coder could be one of the world’s best before age 25, it takes time to develop as an aerospace engineer. Accelerators/ incubators could offer access to a team of semi-retired “greybeards” or engineers with expertise developed over decades at places like the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), NASA or elsewhere who could review/critique plans, serve on a firm’s advisory board or even maintain a more active role in especially interesting start-ups. 

• Free ITAR lawyer services. Unlike most software start-ups, NewSpace need to be aware of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and develop strategies to not run afoul of either the US regulations or the Canadian Controlled Goods Program, which governs Canada's Implementation of the ITAR dual national rule. Accelerators and incubators can certainly help facilitate access to lawyers with expertise in this area. Lawyers would benefit by developing contracts with start-ups offering the potential for fast growth and lots of billable hours related to deal structuring and patent protection.

• Partnerships with industry specific market analysis and business model development support organizations like Newspace Analytics and Newspace Global to help young start-ups develop a business model with profit potential. Software companies mentor software start-ups and NewSpace companies could certainly do the same to help grow their industry segment. Even more traditional firms like MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA), Telesat and COM DEV International could do the same in much the same way that Rogers Communications supports Canadian start-ups in the telecom and software application sectors. 

• Partnerships with other industries which have faced similar challenges in the past. For example, NewSpace shares many of the same challenges as the Clean Tech industry and could learn much from accomplished C-Suite executives in this area and from successful second-time entrepreneurs in general. Convincing one of them to join a NewSpace start-up board of directors, could also help with the next round of funding.

• Partnerships with local universities to provide a low cost graduate work force and start-up owners. This certainly isn't rocket science and is mostly the practice in Canada among hi-technology firms now. NewSpace start-ups should leverage these "best practices" where applicable.

• A focus on small products and services, even in space. Small normally means less to develop which normally means reduced capital requirements, which brings products to market faster and normally also leads to a faster investor exit and more investor profit.

• Longer "incubation" times for initial product development. Both California based digital focused YCombinator and Kentucky based Space Tango (which bills itself as "the nation’s first business accelerator specifically for space enterprises and entrepreneurs") offer an intense period of entrepreneur preparation before a new start-up is let out on the open market. But while YCombinator normally offers a three month preparatory period, Space Tango requires a six month cycle simply because hardware takes longer to create than software code. The six month batch also gives extra time to schedule external testing with zero-g and suborbital flights, or through local universities, large aerospace firms and government facilities like the the David Florida Laboratory. Of course, the requirement for hardware and longer lead times also implies a need for larger funding, which re-enforces the need to focus on small products and services as a cost reduction measure. 

Of course, there will certainly be areas where NewSpace incubators/ accelerators will outperform their software counterparts and one of these areas might be the traditional "end of batch" demo day, where a series of start-ups finishing up their incubation period are required to present developed products and ideas publicly to investors.

Brian Orlotti.

This may be one area where NewSpace actually has an advantage over Silicon Valley.

Watching a start-up team operate an welder, or a 3-D printer manufacturing parts or viewing real hardware being tested on a suborbital rocket flight is much more photogenic and satisfying than overseeing a twenty year-old writing code in his apartment while eating Raman noodles and drinking Red Bull.

Sounds like a great pitch for the next television reality show...
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Brian Orlotti is a Toronto-based IT professional and the treasurer of the Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA).

Conservatives Form Committees; NDP Says "Incompetence Crippling Space Sector!"

          by Chuck Black

There was once a time when the Industry Minister didn't need to be in the room when his department announced the formation of two new committees to supervise ongoing activities.

But times change and the Friday announcement from Industry Minister James Moore of the formation of two committees, one chaired by Canadian Space Agency (CSA) president Walt Natynczyk and tasked with the job of "representing the full range of stakeholders in the public and private space domain," along with a second committee, chaired by a deputy minister to review CSA "objectives and expenditures," does seem to have set off a firestorm of interest.

The committees were announced as part of the release of what the government called "Canada's Space Policy Framework," on January 7th, 2014 during a press conference at the Canadian Aviation & Space Museum. The new policy was promoted by Minister Moore as the logical follow-on to the David Emerson led Aerospace Review, the November 2012 arm's length review of the aerospace "and space" industry which was highly critical of CSA activities.

As part of the presentation, Moore also announced that Canada will invest a further $17Mln CDN into Canadian firms subcontracting work as part of the US based James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). As per the February 5th, 2014 Space.com article "NASA Chief Treads Carefully on James Webb Space Telescope Budget," the JWST has a history of massive cost over-runs and looks set for another round, so the additional Canadian money will certainly be appreciated.

Minister Moore on Friday. Photo c/o Xinhua.

In an unusual step, the opposition Federal New Democratic Party (NDP) almost immediately responded to the release of the new space policy by posting a press release on the NDP website under the title "Conservative incompetence crippling space sector." The party is expected to follow-up next week with questions in Parliament on the new policy.

The last time the NDP questioned the ruling Conservative government policies in this area was in 2008, when NDP member of parliament Peggy Nash questioned the value of allowing the proposed $1.3Bln CDN sale of BC based Macdonald Dettwiler (MDA) to US based Alliant Techsystems (ATK). That sale was eventually blocked by the Federal government over concerns relating to national sovereignty, ongoing access to sensitive RADARSAT1 and RADARSAT2 data plus issues relating to the viability of the follow-on RADARSAT Constellation mission (RCM). 

But the NDP wasn't the only group with concerns. As outlined in the February 7th, 2014 Canadian Press article, "Canada Launches New Space Policy," Liberal MP Marc Garneau also has questions and said the real test is in the execution. Garneau also said he would wait and see whether “the grand words ... are actually going to turn into something positive for Canada’s space program.”

Others came out with more favorable comments. As outlined in the February 7th, 2014 Aerospace Industry Association of Canada (AIAC) press release "Aerospace industry applauds release of new Space Policy Framework,"the AIAC took the position that "the Space Policy Framework builds on both recent and historic Canadian achievements in space, particularly the recent mission led by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who became the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2013."

But of course, the real Chris Hadfield was unavailable for comment and that might just be for the best given that the actual issues here might be more related to staffing, instead of space exploration.

How did Chris Hadfield get dragged into this discussion? The author and ex-astronaut promoting his world tour. Photo c/o Speakers Spotlight. 

The externalization of outreach functions (under a committee chaired by Natynczyk), fiscal oversight and even policy making (under a second committee chaired by a deputy minister) would normally clear the way for re-assignment and lay-offs of CSA employees whose roles have been, essentially "outsourced." 

Supervising those lay-offs was widely expected to be a part of Natynczyk's role when he was initially hired but the original plan seems to have been replaced with a more "incremental approach" to what is perceived to be a series of "interdepartmental staffing issues" brought to the fore as the CSA was stripped of its original role and mandate and new roles needed to be found for CSA employees.

This might end up being the real reason behind Friday's announcement and the real reason for the NDP taking what is for them a very rare public stance in this area.

Canadian Government Funds Proposed Lunar Drill

          by Brian Orlotti

The Artemus Jr. lunar rover. Photo c/o CSA.

Deltion Innovations Ltd. of Sudbury, Ontario has been awarded a contract from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to develop a drill for a proposed US moon mission that could kickstart an off-world mining industry.

Of course, there are many, mostly political, issues still to be overcome before the mission will move forward. The February 4th, 2014 Examiner.com article "Is NASA really returning to the Moon?" mentioned two, when it stated that the proposed US mission is "currently unfunded" and would require a "landing vehicle," which the US would first need to design, fund and then construct. 

But despite all that, as outlined in the February 1st, 2014 Canadian Press article "Drill developed by Canadian firm for moon would kick-start space mining industry," NASA has invited Canada to provide a lunar drill and rover for its upcoming Resource Prospector Mission (RPM) and the CSA has offered up an undisclosed amount for design and testing.

Currently proposed for a 2018 launch, the $280 million USD RPM will be NASA’s first attempt to prove the feasibility of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) beyond Earth. RPM will deploy a drill-equipped rover to the Moon’s polar regions to seek out areas with large amounts of subsurface hydrogen (a telltale sign of water’s presence) and extract samples for analysis. The ideal find would be actual water, but the mission will also have the equipment to combine oxygen from the lunar soil with hydrogen to make water on-site. 

The discovery (or manufacture) of water would be a major milestone in the economic development of the Moon. Lunar water could provide oxygen (for breathing and for rocket fuel), methane, and liquid hydrogen. The discovery of water would enable fuel depots to be built which would enable spacecraft heading to and from the Moon (as well as the rest of the solar system) to carry less fuel and more cargo. Lunar water could form the foundation of a lunar economy.

The vanguard of lunar development could take the form of the Artemis Jr. lunar rover, built by a group of Canadian firms including Ontario Drive & Gear of New Hamburg, Ont. (chassis & drivetrain), Neptec Design Group Ltd of Ottawa, Ont. (LIDAR and other sensors), and Provectus Robotics Solutions Inc. of Ottawa, Ont. (control and operator interface software).

Born of the Harper’s Government’s 2009 Economic Action Plan, Artemis Jr was one of several rovers developed by Canadian companies via a $57Mln CDN CSA grant program. In May 2010, then-CSA President Steve McLean proposed increasing the CSA’s budget by $2 billion and in July 2011, ex-CSA President Marc Garneau called for an all-Canadian robotic mission to Mars and a doubling of the CSA’s $425-million annual budget over the next decade. 

But both men’s sentiments rang hollow with the Harper Government and, as outlined in the December 5th, 2011 Commercial Space blog post "Canadian Space Rovers on the Chopping Block," funding for the Canadian rovers ran out on March 31st, 2012. At the time, the program’s end left the Canadian space sector in the unenviable state of a surplus of rovers with no buyers. The NASA Resource Prospector mission, however, offers the hope of better times ahead.

Artemis Jr. measures 1.5 m long by 1.6 m wide and weighs about 270 kg, with a payload capacity of up to 125 kg. Capable of remote-controlled or autonomous operation and equipped with onboard cameras and LIDAR, the Artemis Jr was field tested in Hawaii in July 2012 as part of NASA’s Regolith and Environment Science & Oxygen and Lunar Volatiles Extraction (RESOLVE) project (since renamed to Resource Prospector Mission).

The tip of the lunar vanguard’s spear could be the ‘DESTIN’ drill, built by Deltion. Originally a part of the Sudbury, Ont-based Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT), Deltion drew on its extensive mining expertise to design a drill that could stand up to the harsh and unforgiving conditions of the Moon. Mounted on the Artemis Jr. rover, the DESTIN drill will be tested in late summer or early fall of this year at NASA Glen Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Brian Orlotti.

The NASA Resource Prospector mission represents a key opportunity for the Canadian space sector. The successful discovery (or manufacture) of water on the Moon will give further credibility to the idea of lunar resource extraction. Such credibility will give investors (be they governments or private capital) the confidence to increase the flow of funds into lunar development. Canadians have a second chance to blaze a trail to the Moon.
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Brian Orlotti is a Toronto-based IT professional and the treasurer of the Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA).

Will Canada Support the Growth of Small "NewSpace" Companies?

          by Chuck Black

David Emerson. Still batting 2 for 3? Photo c/o APFC.

As outlined in the January 31st, 2014 Canadian Press article, "Ottawa to announce new Canadian space policy Feb. 7," Industry Minister James Moore is expected to announce a new Federal space policy on Friday. This policy is intended to define and guide the future actions of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), although its direct impact on Canadian businesses remains less clear.

The core of this new policy is expected to be derived from the David Emerson led Aerospace Review, the November 2012 arm's length review of the aerospace "and space" industry which has had much success in getting its first volume of recommendations relating to "Canada's Interests and Future in Aerospace" adopted as Federal government policy.

Of course, what you see ain't always going to be what you get.

As described in the March 24, 2013 blog post "Emerson's Space Plan Versus the Canadian Budget," the big Emerson successes so far have been the $1Bln CDN commitment to five years' funding for the Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative (SADI) and the smaller, $110Mln commitment to fund the new Aerospace Technology Demonstration Program (ATDP). Both these programs, while useful to the Canadian aviation industry (especially larger, established aerospace firms like Bombardier), are of little use to the small firms which typically comprise the Canadian space industry.

James Moore now at bat. Photo c/o Postmedia.

But it appears likely that the second volume, relating to "Canada's Interests and Future in Space," is not going to be adopted by the ruling Federal Conservative party in its entirety, especially the recommendations relating to supporting small aerospace businesses and start-ups with innovative ideas and a commitment to keeping jobs in Canada.

This is odd, given that this is the sort of policy tailor made for promoting the Conservative agenda.

Of course, Minister Moore appears already to have tipped his hand. The December 2nd, 2013 post "Industry Minister Responds to Emerson "Space" Recommendations," noted numerous differences between the original second volume of the Emerson review and the policy changes the Industry Minister was recommending.

Most important of these were:

• The perception that the crop of current Canadian commercial space players has grown up "in an atmosphere of limited competition and in some cases, excessive reliance on government spending," with an acknowledgement that this needs to change (Page 26 of the second volume of the aerospace review). This type of comment, quite noticeable in the original Emerson review, is no where to be seen in recent government pronouncements, which tend to favor the current crop of commercial space players which Emerson disparaged 

Is CSA president Walt Natynczyk "encouraging?" Photo c/o CSA.

• A recommendation for "encouragement" of commercial space activity. According to the report "some of these ideas may prove fanciful, but others may be visionary and produce tremendous profits for their proponents and the companies in which those proponents operate. The R&D support recommended previously (the CSA technology development program and others listed on page 41 of the second volume of the aerospace review) will help stimulate development of the most promising proposals, but its impossible to know with certainty whether a notion which appears unrealistic today might lead to tomorrows breakthroughs. Without endorsing specific speculative projects, public policies and programs can create the conditions for entrepreneurs and researchers to test and pursue creative approaches and, in so doing, jump start Canada's private space activity at a time when the global commercial space business is gaining momentum." (Page 43 of the second volume of the aerospace review). Again, this type of comment, quite noticeable in the original Emerson review, is no where to be seen in recent government pronouncements, which tend to favor the current crop of commercial space players.

• A commitment to double the current support for the Space Technologies Development Program (STDP) a CSA program to provide initial funds for breakthrough technologies "to reach $20 million annually by 2015–16." This amount is substantially less than requested by the Emerson review, which recommended an additional $10Mln per year over each of three consecutive years, for a total of $30Mln in new funding, in addition to the existing $5Mln annual budget (as per page 41 of volume two of the aerospace review). The Conservative government attitude toward STDP is also out of step with the far larger funding recommendations related to SADI and ATDP in volume one, which were adapted as government policy almost without question.

To download the Aerospace Review, please click on the graphic above.

And Emerson wasn't the only person to notice the importance of small business in building innovative Canadian companies.

The Conservative government's lack of support for small aerospace businesses goes back half a decade and was first publicly noticed by investment bank Near Earth LLC in its 2009 white paper on Small Aerospace Companies: Space Activities in North America and Europe.

As outlined in the July 19th, 2009 post "Canadian Space Agency Provides "No Dedicated Programs" to Support Small Aerospace Firms," the Near Earth report stated that, "when compared to organizations like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and others, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has "no dedicated programs for small business.""

Of course, these small business and "NewSpace" companies being ignored by the Canadian government are also the international firms essentially responsible for the current growth of the international space industry, a boom which is bypassing the shrinking Canadian space industry, and was described in the January 24th, 2014 post "Canadian Space Industry Shrinks While International Markets Grow!"

Will the Federal government figure this out in time for Friday's announcement or will the Canadian space industry continue to slowly contract in the face of expansive international opportunities?

Stay tuned...

Space Adventures During the Super Bowl

          by Sarah Ansari-Manea

Tim Tebow "In Spaaace!" Photo c/o T-Mobile.

According to the February 6th, 2012 Forbes article "The power of Super Bowl advertising," marketing data shows that "Super Bowl commercials are worth the money" and the only real question is “why don’t consumers watch commercials throughout the rest of the year?” 

The answer to that question is probably because viewers don’t believe other programs are as worthy of their time. They understand that Superbowl air time is “special.”

So what do space and football have in common? Usually nothing, but this year’s Super Bowl advertisements featured themes not common to the football industry.

Take for example, T-Mobile and GoPro, two companies using the growing cachet of space to sell their products through expensive Super Bowl ads.

T-Mobile used this “special” airtime to run a clip of American quarterback and current free agent, Tim Tebow doing a series of extreme acts to illustrate how "contracts are limiting." In these 30 seconds, he does everything from delivering a baby to finding Bigfoot and putting on a rock show. But the most spectacular feat, and the climax of the commercial, was Tebow throwing a football on the moon.

It’s understandable why T-Mobile would want to incorporate space, the final frontier, into an ad full of exciting situations not common to the average person. It shows a sense of desire and open-mindedness, allowing people to live out all their seemingly unattainable dreams through the ad.

GoPro has a similar approach, where they give off a “dream-big” vibe in their advertisement. They feature Felix Baumgartner’s epic space jump, from an altitude of 128,100 feet.2 Not only was this a spectacular stunt, but the imagery of the ad, showing the curvature of the earth, as well as the blackness of space against the atmosphere is enough to get anyone inspired. With so many extreme stunts to pick from, GoPro went with the space jump, knowing that it will get the most viewers, when they needed it to be something spectacular.

As outlined in the February 1st, 2014 Space.com article "Super Bowl XLVIII In Space: Who Are NASA Astronauts Rick Mastracchio And Mike Hopkins Rooting For," even the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) played a part in Super Bowl activities by cheering on their favorite teams, doing interviews, and discussing what it’s like to not be on the planet during the game.

Sarah Ansari-Manea.

Super Bowl advertisements are incredibly pricey and important to companies looking to get a 30 second spotlight, and it’s great to see that two well-known companies have been using the beautiful and inspiring aspects of space to get attention and sell their products.
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Sarah Ansari-Manea is an aspiring astrophysicist, currently completing a specialist in physics and astronomy at the University of Toronto.

Two Weekend Examples of the Growing Public Interest in Space

          by Sarah Ansari-Manea

Interest in space is on the rise in Toronto, and this weekend provided two great examples of this interest expanding out into the hearts of the general public, thanks to the University of Toronto Astronomy and Space Exploration Society (ASX), and the Toronto chapter of the Planetary Society.

Part of the audience at the 11th Annual ASX Symposium on January 24th, 2014. Photo c/o ASX.

Friday marked the 11th Annual ASX Symposium. Focused around the topic "into the cosmos," the complex and beautiful topic of cosmology was explored from the birth of our universe to all of its possible endings.

Three talented and knowledgeable physicists: Dr. Anthony Aguirre, the associate professor of physics at the University of California in Santa Cruz; Dr. Matt Dobbs, an associate professor in the Department of Physics at McGill University; and Dr. Rafael Lopez-Mobilia, a senior lecturer & associate chair in the department of physics at the University of Texas at San Antonio were brought together for the sole purpose of spreading interest in astronomy.

ASX organizers and speakers on stage at the 11th Annual ASX Symposium on January 24th, 2014. Author Sarah Ansarii-Manea is on the left. Photo c/o ASX.

The audience was showered with information, and some even walked away with prizes. These included great books by Carl Sagan and Michio Kaku, plus a brand new telescope which was contributed by the Khan Scope Centre. The turnout was more than 200 people, with many old and new faces coming together to learn about all about what lies beyond our planet.

As outlined on the ASX website, the intent of the event was to:

... educate the public on some aspects of cosmology, and encourage students and the public to get informed and involved in the exciting projects and discoveries in cosmology. In the past, the symposium has featured famous astronauts, numerous top researchers, and leaders in the space industry.

Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye, "the science guy" connects via skype with the "Opportunity Rover Ten Year Not Dead Yet Bash" in Toronto on January 25th, 2014. On the right is Kate Howells from the Canadian chapter of the Planetary Society.

The following night had a more festive and celebratory vibe as Toronto came together to celebrate the NASA Opportunity Rovers tenth year of activity on Mars at the the Opportunity Rover Ten Year Not Dead Yet Bash.

Contest winner "Bill Bot." Photo c/o author.

As an engineering accomplishment originally meant to last only 90 days, Opportunity was certainly worth a party. Guests listened to great music mixed by a live DJ, drank “ Mars cocktails,” a fiery drink that sparked a lot of interest and even learned a little bit about "How the hell Opportunity has lasted 40x longer than its 90-day warranty."

After mingling and dancing, there was even a competition to build the best cardboard and duct-taped robotic rovers. Participants, perhaps used to thinking outside the "cardboard box," ended up building rovers for both drilling and partying.

The highlight of the night, was the judging for the best cardboard creations, which was performed remotely by none other than Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye. The winning group walked away with another telescope plus personal recognition from Nye, and it proved to be a great space party.

It certainly wasn't an easy task to try and find the source of this sudden surge in space knowledge and interest, but by asking around, the culprit seems to be the sudden popularization of the crowd funded Mars One initiative.

This campaign hopes to have permanent human establishments on Mars by 2024, and has already had thousands of applicants willing to take the one-way trip to Mars. It may be that the sense of curiosity and exploration has come to a level the general public can relate to, rather than staying within the field and known only by the professionals working in it.

Partying at the "Opportunity Rover Not Quite Dead Yet Bash" on January 25th. At right are Sarah Ansari-Manea and Leeav Julius Lipton. Photo c/o author. 

It may also be due to the more frequent news regarding commercial space flight and the growing perception that space travel is no longer only for highly trained astronaut and pilots.

Sarah Ansari-Manea.

Whatever the reason, Toronto is becoming more and more excited about space and the vast unknown, which will bring new social and intellectual gatherings to look forward to.
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Sarah Ansari-Manea is an aspiring astrophysicist, currently completing a specialist in physics and astronomy at the University of Toronto.

UrtheCast Cameras Reinstalled on ISS

          by Brian Orlotti

Cosmonauts Kotov & Ryazanksy. Photo c/o NASA.

According to the January 27th, 2014 Canadian Press article "Cosmonauts install Canadian company's cameras on space station," two high definition cameras built by Vancouver-based UrtheCast Corp to transmit Earth images from the International Space Station (ISS) are now online after a Jan 27th spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts.

But there might still be hurdles for the plucky BC start-up to overcome. According to the January 27th, 2014 CBS News article, "Camera problem persists after spacewalk setup,"  a "problem of some sort" is still preventing images from a second, lower-resolution camera from sending telemetry to the ground. 

The company is expected to make an official announcement later today.

UrtheCast developed the two cameras to provide high resolution still images as well as the world's first ultra HD (aka ‘4K’) video feed of Earth. The images and video will be made available to the public via Urthecast’s web portal as a mixture of free and paid content. The ultra HD video and still imagery of Earth expected to be captured by UrtheCast's cameras will enable a variety of applications such as environmental monitoring, humanitarian relief coordination, organizing social events, land usage analysis and many others. The company will also provide developers with an open source application programming interface (API) so they can develop apps and games that utilize the cameras’ data.

UrtheCast is one of several firms currently looking to provide real-time, "better than Google Earth imagery" according to the January 7th, 2014 Atlantic article "Silicon Valley's New Spy Satellites," which singled out Urthecast, Planet Labs, and Skybox as the start-ups most likely to build a revenue generating business.

“Space is not space between the earth and the sun to one who looks down from the windows of the Milky Way,” according to author Khalil Gibran, in his poem "Sand and Foam."

UrtheCast began in 2010 with five employees, growing to 65 in both Canada and the US. After an initial investment of $500,000 CDN, the company went on to raise over $77 million in funding after going public via a reverse takeover of publicly-traded Longford Energy Inc.

As development of the cameras progressed, Urthecast approached the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and pitched the idea of mounting the cameras to the Russian portion of the ISS. Roscosmos embraced the idea and lent its full support. In a deal struck between Urthecast and Roscosmos, Roscosmos will hold the rights to Urthecast data in Russia, while Urthecast holding rights for all other nations.

The success of today’s spacewalk is no doubt welcome news after an attempted installation in December met with setbacks. As outlined in the January 27th, 2014 Associated Press article, "Russian cosmonauts undertake spacewalk to hookup Canadian-made camera," cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy had connected the cameras to the ISS during a post-Christmas spacewalk. But Urthecast ground stations received no data from the cameras, forcing the cosmonauts to bring them back inside. The issue was eventually traced to indoor ISS data cabling and resolved, paving the way for today’s successful install.

Brian Orlotti.

UrtheCast will spend the next month calibrating and testing the two cameras. Urthecast CEO Wade Larson said he expects to release the first picture in five weeks, with full video streaming beginning in mid-summer. Soon, a crystal-clear view of the Earth from above can be had by anyone with a simple click of a mouse.
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Brian Orlotti is a Toronto-based IT professional and the treasurer of the Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA).

Canadian Space Industry Shrinks While International Markets Grow!

          by Chuck Black

A report released Tuesday through the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), strongly suggests that Canada can no longer "punch above its weight" in the fast growing, international commercial space marketplace.

According to the 2012 State of the Canadian Space Sector Report, the 140 companies and organizations listed in the Canadian Space Directory generated $3.327Bln CDN in revenue in 2012, down from $3.483Bln in 2011.

Overall, Canadian domestic revenues decreased by 4.1% and Canadian space industry exports decreased by 4.9% during the period covered by the report.

But another report, released eight months earlier by a US based advocacy group called the Space Foundation, concluded that there was an overall 6.5% increase in international space focused products and services revenue for 2012, and a larger 11% increase in revenues generated from commercial infrastructure and support industries during the same period.

In essence, while the overall international markets for space focused products were growing in 2012, the Canadian share of those revenues was shrinking, both as a percentage of the overall market and in absolute terms.

As outlined in the April 9th, 2013 post "Global Space Economy Now $304B Annually: 2013 Space Report," the 2013 Space Report, an annual publication from the Space Foundation, a US based advocacy and research group, reported that, "the global space economy grew to $304.31 billion in commercial revenue and government budgets in 2012, reflecting growth of 6.7 percent from the 2011 total of $285.33 billion. Commercial activity, space products and services and commercial infrastructure, drove much of this increase."

It's well known that Canadian companies, focused on robotics, imaging, science experiments and telecommunications technologies, typically possess no spaceports or "commercial" infrastructure of their own. Perhaps that could account for the differences between the domestic Canadian market in 2012 and the demonstrated international opportunities. Maybe we're just poorly positioned to take advantage of these new areas of growth.

Or maybe not. After all, this isn't the first time that Canadian capabilities in this area have been questioned.

As outlined in the September 11th, 2011 post "Canadian Space Competitiveness Falls Behind India Reports International Study," the 2011 Futron Space Competitiveness Index, a yearly ranking of the underlying government, human capital and industry drivers of aerospace competitiveness, dropped its estimate of Canadian competitiveness from sixth to seventh behind India. The index cited government delays with the development of policy related to what was then called a "long-term space plan" (it's now called a "10 year plan," but still hasn't been released), plus an erosion of Canadian robotics expertise as the drivers for its decision. 

The index further stated that Canada was also losing ground to other big space and aerospace players and was being challenged hard by Brazil, China, Israel, Japan and South Korea.

But on the upside, the new CSA report did include a forward from CSA president Walt Natynczyk and at least one positive component. The space industry has recovered almost 500 full time jobs since 2011, for a total of 7993, after losing 792 positions in the 2010 report.

What would Chris Hadfield say about that!

The Next Sixteen Months in Space for Canada

          by Chuck Black

Bob McDonald.

According to the January 3rd, 2014 CBC news post by Quirks and Quarks host Bob McDonald titled "Space will be a hive of activity in 2014," the next year will see many advances as "new robots reach Mars, another robot touches a comet, a new capsule to transport humans makes its first flight and private enterprise continues to lead the way in leaving the planet."

Walt Natynczyk.

Of course, most government activity will remain Earthbound as Federal politicians dither interminably over policy, funding and goals (such as outlined in the January 13th, 2014 blog post "Just Announced: Yet Another Science and Technology Policy Review!") and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) president Walter Natynczyk (perhaps the most publicly shy CSA president ever) continues to carry on towards the release (maybe) of the "10-year plan" described in the November 14th, 2013 Canadian Press article "Canadian Space Agency chief points to 10-year plan."

Even the annual State of the Canadian Space Sector report, an economic analysis outlining Canadian space industry activity normally released during the November/ December period has not yet surfaced. The last report, covering 2011, was released on December 3rd, 2012 with a forward from then CSA president Steve MacLean, and much has happened since (Note: The 2012 State of the Canadian Space Sector report, with a new introduction by the current CSA president was finally posted on the CSA website on January 21st, 2014. The new report, indicated that overall space sector revenues decreased nearly 4.5% between 2011 and 2012 although the total number of sector jobs increased).

So its fortunate that Canada's real space future is going to be discussed and assessed in both the quiet backrooms and on the raucous public stages of a series of well attended international events and national conferences over the next sixteen months.

Here's a partial list of a few of the more notable events in order of occurrence:

• First up is the 2014 National Conference of the Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA), focused on the business, political and funding issues surrounding “New Manufacturing for NewSpace,” which will be held in Toronto, Ontario on March 13th. The conference will focus on new manufacturing techniques developed using computer-aided design methodologies, solid free form fabrication (including 3D printing), selective laser sintering and other fast developing technologies which promise not just to revolutionize Earth based manufacturing, but space exploration as well. The conference hopes to ask the highly commercial question, "what can space companies learn from domestic manufacturers today?" In the interests of disclosure, its also worth noting that the author of this article is also helping to organize the CSCA conference. 

• Second up is the 2014 Summer Space Studies Program (SSP) of the International Space University (ISU), which will be held in Montreal, PQ from June 9th - August 8th. This not-for-profit interdisciplinary university was founded in 1987 by Peter Diamandis, Todd Hawley and Robert D. Richards to provide graduate-level training to the future leaders of the emerging global space community from its central campus in Strasbourg, France and at various summer locations throughout the world. ISU has graduated more than 3700 students from over 100 countries and built them into the nearest thing to a "space mafia," a network of professionals and leaders which facilitate both individual careers and "international space cooperation." However, although the CSA is currently listed as one of three Canadian sponsors for the 2014 summer session (along with HEC Montréal and École de Technologie Supérieure) the June 18th, 2012 blog post "Canadian Space Agency "Pulling Financial Support" for International Space University," reported that CSA future funding would be curtailed and CSA representatives could no longer participate on the ISU Board of Directors because of Federal budget cutbacks. Given that, it will certainly be interesting to see what the Summer 2014 organizers, professors and students leave behind in the minds of their Canadian counterparts after classes finish up.

• With industry focused on business and academics focused on space studies, the international legal community will be queuing up for the 2nd Manfred Lachs International Conference on Global Space Governance, which will be held in Montreal, PQ from May 29th - 31st. The conference, organized by the world renown McGill University Centre for Research in Air and Space Law, will focus on issues not formally addressed since the 3rd United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III) and related to the further development of a legal infrastructure governing space activities. These include security and space issues, the role of the private sector in global space governance, telecommunications issues (such as the equitable sharing of radio frequencies and orbital positions), human space flight, aerospace transportation issues, space based natural resources, and space-based solar power. Say what you want about lawyers, but the development of a consistent and practical infrastructure governing interactions is the key to both the development of commercial opportunities and the continued exploration of the high frontier. 

• Fall space activities are normally dominated by the annual International Astronautical Congress. The 65th International Astronautical Congress (IAC2014) will be held in Toronto, Ontario from September 29th - October 3rd. This years event, organized by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and hosted by the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI) is focused around the theme of how "the world needs space." IAC2014 will likely overwhelm other Canadian space and science focused events during that period, if only because the event includes a scheduled meeting between the heads of the major government space agencies. The 65th IAC was previously discussed in the November 10th, 2013 blog post on "The 65th International Astronautical Congress: September 29th - October 3rd, 2014 in Toronto."

• And finally, the 2015 International Space Development Conference (ISDC2015), the annual conference of the US based National Space Society (NSS), will be held in Toronto, Ontario from May 20th - 25th, 2015. Locally organized by the same CSCA which is also organizing the "New Manufacturing for NewSpace Conference" in March 2014, this later event is expected to focus on commercial activities and tie together lessons learned from the earlier events. Its also the first time the NSS has held an ISDC outside of the continental US since 1994.

All things considered, it sounds like the Canadian space industry should stand by for adventure. Let's hope that the Harper government can keep up with the legal sector, the academic sector and the private sector as our next great space age continues to unfold. 

Sierra Nevada and Reaction Engines Diversify

          by Brian Orlotti

As the NewSpace industry matures, so do the opportunities for greater diversification and stability, as events in the past few weeks have shown.

On January 8th,  Louisville, Kentucky based Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announced a new partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to support development of the company’s Dream Chaser spaceplane.

SNC is developing the Dream Chaser to ferry cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS) as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program. Though SNC is still competing for the final CCDev contract, Wednesday's announcement sends a clear message that the company is diversifying its customer base and so will be less reliant on US government funding. This diversity will become increasingly important in the face of the US budget battles likely to come.

The January 9th, 2014 Denver Post article "Dream Chaser program partners with European space agencies" quoted Mark Sirangelo, the corporate vice president of SNC as stating that, "there is a basket of significant technologies" that the ESA and the DLR can offer to the Dream Chaser program. For example, The ESA offers expertise in re-entry systems, while the DLR offers lightweight materials that can be used on the Dream Chaser. In addition, the DLR has conducted air-traffic-control research for integrating spaceplanes into commercial airspace.

In essence, the Europeans also gain access to a new suborbital spacecraft considerably less expensive than traditional launch vehicles while SNC expects to obtain access to an untapped market as well as valuable technology and research. Of course, deals of this type can also travel in the opposite direction.

On January 13th, UK-based Reaction Engines Ltd. announced that it had signed an agreement with the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to cooperate on development of the company’s Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE). The US government will gain access to the revolutionary SABRE engine for use in hypersonic vehicles, while Reaction Engines gains access to US research facilities and funding. The company’s increased resources will allow it to push forward with development of its Skylon orbital spaceplane, which will be powered by the SABRE engine. Like SNC, Reaction Engines has diversified into a new market, but also into a new market segment (the Military).

Brian Orlotti.

The recent SNC and Reaction Engines deals mark a significant milestone in the growth of the Newspace industry. By acquiring new partners, diversifying resources and entering new markets, these firms have attained a greater stability.

It is this stability that will both spur growth and help to weather misfortune.
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Brian Orlotti is a Toronto-based IT professional and the treasurer of the Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA).

Space Tethers as an Orbital Debris Removal Technique

          by Sarah Ansari-Manea

Space tether. Graphic c/o Wikipedia.

Japan has begun trials utilizing a new method of space cleanup to begin to deal with the large amounts of space debris accumulated around the planet since the start of the space race.

As outlined in the January 15th, 2014 Yahoo News article "Japan scientists test tether to clear up space junk," the new technique will utilize an electrodynamic space tether made from thin wires of stainless steel and aluminium, which will attract dead satellites and other debris magnetically. The electricity generated by the tether as it swings through the Earth's magnetic field will also have a slowing effect on the space junk, which will cause the orbit to decay and the space junk to eventually burn up in the Earths atmosphere.

The tether, designed and built by a team of researchers at Kagawa University for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) using techniques derived from Japanese fishing equipment manufacturing firm Nitto Seimo, is expected to be launched into orbit aboard a Japanese rocket in February 2014.

"The experiment is specifically designed to contribute to developing a space debris cleaning method," according to Masahiro Nohmi, an associate professor at Kagawa University.

Of course, Japan isn't the only country aware of both the dangers of orbital debris and the potential of tethers. As outlined in the January 16th, 2014 Bloomberg article "Cleaning up the Final Frontier," at least one other commercial NewSpace company, Tethers Unlimited, has come to much the same conclusion. Others have also looked into the problem, as outlined in the October 3rd, 2013 Popular Science article "5 High-Tech Space-Junk Solutions."

But the current interest isn't just academic. It's driven by an exponential increase in the number of unnecessary artificial objects soaring around since the dawn of the space age. In 2009 NASA estimated that there were approximately 19,000 pieces of non-functioning, man-made and track-able pieces of  “junk” currently in orbit and many more smaller objects with the potential to damage or destroy, according to the April 2009 NASA media briefing on "The Threat of Orbital Debris and Protecting NASA Space Assets from Satellite Collisions." 

The report also indicated that potential collision warnings between space debris, operational and inactive satellites, manned spacecraft and even the International Space Station (ISS) are issued regularly, particularly in low Earth orbit and at the poles where orbits are more likely to overlap.

Even so, there have been at least four major collisions in the last few years according to the April 27th, 2013 EarthSky article "Space junk headed for a cascade of collisions." NASA and other international space organizations have developed a specific set of guidelines to determine whether maneuvering is necessary to avoid collisions, and have agreed to follow UN guidelines in a preventative attempt to minimize space clutter.

But even with the collisions and frequent scares, engineers and scientists are slow to react to the orbital junk issue, and those leading the charge have little support. It is proving to be hard to justify the billions of dollars that would be expended on a cleanup project of this magnitude.

“The really hard part is trying to convince other countries that your garbage truck in space will be used for the peaceful purposes stated—and not to mess with other people’s satellites,” says Dave Baiocchi, an engineering professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School.

Sarah Ansari-Manea.

If space travel and exploration is to continue, cleanup, or at least a stricter international set of guidelines in space waste management, must be considered. At the current rate of orbital debris accumulation, space travel will be incredibly difficult and dangerous in the future.
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Sarah Ansari-Manea is an aspiring astrophysicist, currently completing a specialist in physics and astronomy at the University of Toronto.

Just Announced: Yet Another Science and Technology Policy Review!

Greg Rickford. Photo c/o FedNor.

          by Chuck Black

Greg Rickford, the Minister of State for Science and Technology (S&T), has announced the launch of yet another Federal government consultation to "seek input from Canadians on a new federal Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy."

But this new report, which comes on the heels of the Federal Review of Aerospace and Space Programs and Policies (or "Emerson Report," which was presented to the then Industry Minister Christian Paradis in November 2012) and the Review of Federal Support to Research and Development (or "Jenkins Panel," which was presented to then Minister of State Gary Goodyear in October 2011), is unlikely to recommend anything substantially different from its predecessors.

As outlined in the January 8th, 2014 Industry Canada (IC) press release "Government Seeks the Public's Input on Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy Renewal," this latest consultation will seek to update the 2007 Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada’s Advantage report which defines the functions and responsibilities of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the National Research Council (NRC) and various other government departments focused on science and administered through IC. The 2007 document advocated focusing government R&D activities around the commercialization of technologies, rather than basic research.

Even better, as outlined in the May 22nd, 2010 blog post "The "Three Kings" of Canadian Commercial Space," the current policy is simply the latest iteration of a longstanding and widely supported policy to encourage research commercialization as the cornerstone of the Canadian science and technology strategy. It's also worth noting that both the Emerson report and the Jenkins panel were essentially in congruence with the existing policy.

Even so, Rickford has come under much recent criticism regarding it. 

For example, as outlined in the January 13th, 2014 News1130 post, "Ottawa’s Minister of State for Science downplays criticism," the Minister has publicly rejected the findings of a survey conducted by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, which found that "34 per cent of over 4000 federal scientists asked feel they’re being prevented from talking to media or the public about their work. (As well,)  24 per cent said (that they) have been asked by the government to alter their findings for non-scientific reasons."

According to Rickford, Canada's strength is in basic research, which he considers as "the important work our scientists do, who include government science, is intended to be fully integrated, contribute to our economy and increase the quality of life for Canadians.”

According to the press release, interested parties will have until February 7th, 2014 to submit a written report. 

Just don't expect any major policy changes to come from this initiative. 

Remote Medicine Comes Down to Earth

          by Sarah Ansari-Manea

Ultrasound exam on ISS. Photo c/o Mediphan.

Ottawa based Mediphan, known for making remote medicine possible aboard the International Space Station (ISS), has been developing and perfecting their technologies.

Remote-access medicine, also known as telemedicine, is a growing field whereby patient information is transferred through a series of standard networks, allowing for a doctor to remotely diagnose, and occasionally conduct procedures.

The technology has immediate applications during long duration space missions, such as potential travel to mars and beyond, as well as use here on Earth in areas that require remote medical access. But as outlined in the April 13th, 2013 blog post "Canadian based Mediphan Inducted into Space Technology Hall of Fame," the company is essentially unrecognized at home, although it is recognized internationally.

As outlined on the Space Foundation website, “Mediphan technologies enable the cost-effective application of telemedicine solutions, created by Dr. Dulchavsky’s team and NASA for spaceflight, to better life on Earth, especially in developing countries around the world.” In April 2013, the Space Foundation inducted Mediphan and the NASA Johnson Space Center, along with Dr. Scott A. Dulchavsky, Mediphan CEO Mike Sandler and NASA astronaut Dr. Leroy Chiao for their role in developing and commercializing the Mediphan technology.

Interestingly enough, Mediphan CEO Sandler is also the founder and CEO of Epiphan Systems. The company, (which owns Mediphan) made its name providing remote business collaboration solutions using a product line of frame grabbers, recorders and broadcasting devices enable personnel located in various locations to interface in real-time, collaborating and exchanging ideas via voice, video and data.

As outlined in the May 21st, 2013 press release, "Epiphan to demonstrate the latest AV Capture, Streaming, and Recording Appliances at Infocomm 2013 on June 12-14 in Orlando, Florida" and the July 4th, 2013 press release, "New firmware adds Set-Top Box and Smart TV functionality to VGADVI Broadcaster, Lecture Recorder x2, VGADVI Recorder," Epiphan recently announced additional capabilities for its product lines to allow it to add direct consumers to its solutions, by incorporating set top boxes and smart TV capabilities.
These additional capabilities mean that Epiphan/ Mediphan can add revenue from companies looking at expanding their environmentally friendly telecommuting environment or other organizations.

Workers at home or any Internet connected location, can be communicating in real time with coworkers or other personnel, without the need for specialized equipment.  Students can receive course content delivery in real-time from a live class taking place thousands of kilometers away, just by having access to an Internet connected TV.

Sarah Ansari-Manea.

While Epiphan focuses on delivering collaborative solutions for use here on earth, Mediphan enables collaborative solutions for space travel beyond Earth’s safe environment.
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Sarah Ansari-Manea is an aspiring astrophysicist, currently completing a specialist in physics and astronomy at the University of Toronto.