Aerospace (and Space) Policy Review Head Announced

David Emerson.

It's finally underway.

The long-awaited review of the Canadian "aerospace and space" sectors now has an announced head and an official timeline. It is expected to be tabled with the Federal government before the end of the year, according to the February 27th, 2012 Montreal Gazette article "Aerospace Policy comes under review."

The review will be headed by David Lee Emerson, the once controversial former Federal MP for Vancouver/ Kingsway who was was first elected as a Liberal in 2004 and served in the Paul Martin government as the Minister of Industry, but who then "crossed the floor" in 2006 to become the new Minister of International Trade in the Conservative Stephen Harper government.

Tom Jenkins.

As discussed in my May 30th, 2011 post "Political "Reviews" Moving to the Forefront" the current review owes its genesis to a line item in the 2011 federal budget announcing a "review of aerospace policies and programs." A second review (the Jenkins panel, covered elsewhere in this blog and focused on the commercialization of Canadian research and development activities) was released in November 2011 to generally positive reviews.

A third review (a military review of the 2008 Canada First Defense Strategy) seems to be still ongoing, although items relating to the procurement of F-35's and other military hardware, plus potential economic growth, job creation and international market access expected to be derived from these upcoming military purchases, will likely be addressed as part of the aerospace review.

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

According to the February 27th, 2012 press release from the Industry Canada website titled "Harper Government Ensuring Canadian Aerospace Industry Soars" the review will:

... explore how government, industry and other key stakeholders can address the key issues facing the aerospace and space sectors, such as innovation, market access and development, skills development, procurement, and supplier development. The review is aligned with the government's plan to create jobs and promote economic growth across the country.

AIAC President Jim Quick.

According to the press release and accompanying documentation, the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) will play a "key role" in the review.

The February 27th, 2012 Spaceref.ca article "Space Sector Gains Visibility as the Government Releases Details of the Review of Aerospace and Space Programs and Policies" provides a useful overview of the composition of the panel which includes Sandra Pupatello, the director of business development and global markets for PricewaterhouseCoopers; Jim Quick the President and CEO of the AIAC and Jacques Roy, the Director of the Department of Logistics and Operations Management at HEC Montreal.

But the Spaceref article also implies that the panel mandate and even the revised panel name (it was initially an "aerospace" review but is now an "aerospace and space" review) suggests that the space sector could receive "increased visibility" and perhaps even special attention over the next few months.

This seems a little optimistic so far and only time will tell if it's is a fair assessment of the situation.

However, a promising sign is the Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA) 2012 National Conference on March 28th in Ottawa, Ontario where the AIAC (certainly a strong advocate of the review, as can be seen from their February 27th, 2012 press release "AIAC supports the nomination of David L. Emerson as head of the aerospace policies and programs review") has committed to sending a representative to provide and overview of the process and encourage Canadian space systems companies to contribute effectively to the review.

Stay tuned.

AIAC, CSA, IAF, CSF, CASI, CSS, Lawyers, Entrepreneurs and More at the 2012 CSCA Conference

The speaker line-up for the Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA) 2012 National Conference, scheduled for Wednesday March 28th at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, is slowly coming together.

Here's a list of the presently confirmed speakers, in the alphabetical order of the organizations they represent:

Jim Quick.

• Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) VP Maryse Harvey and/ or CEO Jim Quick will be speaking on the topic of the upcoming Canadian government aerospace review and how Canadian space systems companies can have their voices included within the final report, which is expected to be presented to the federal government over the next year. Given that the conference occurs right after the potentially harsh March federal budget (which is presently assumed to include deep funding cuts to most departments), there is certainly the need for the space systems industry to understand and appropriately contribute to these sorts of public discussions.

• From Arjae Spectral Enterprises, Dr. Arsen Hajian will present on the topic of "The Sensei Spectrometer: Total Throughput Spectroscopy." Dr. Hajain and his company are typical of the current crop of small and innovative Canadian firms revolutionizing their market space and creating Canadian jobs through the introduction of advanced technology.

Cliff Sosnow.

• Blakes Law Firm will be well represented by Cliff Sosnow, the chair of the International Trade and Investment Group who, along with associate David Peaker, will be presenting on the topic of "Canada's Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act: What Canadian space companies need to know when doing business in foreign markets."

• 2012 Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute President (and ComDev International VP of Government Relations) Ron Holdway will look back upon the government vision that first took Canada into space, explain the strategic role that space infrastructure plays in the delivery of public policy and review how space touches the daily lives of every Canadian. 

Robert Godwin.

• Canadian Air and Space Museum Director Robert Godwin (who also runs Apogee Books, the home of the History of Spaceflight Collection) will discuss how our critical Canadian space infrastructure also requires a knowledge of what has gone before, the appropriate background education and a sense of history.

• The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has kindly provided Joan Harvey, the head of research & analysis, policy and external relations, who will be speaking on "the Status of the Canadian Space Sector." This talk is based on the the annual CSA status report (available online here) and will draw comparisons to other countries plus ask several "provocative questions" about the measures that industry and government should be taking to help incubate and grow the Canadian space systems sector.

Kevin Shortt.

• Canadian Space Society President Kevin Shortt will be discussing job opportunities for space science and engineering graduates in the Canadian space systems industry. The current student perspective seems to be that graduates need to leave the country to get a job and a public review of the concerns in this area is long overdue.

• Commercial SpaceFlight Federation (CSF) Executive Director Alex Saltman will present on "newspace" and some of the things being done to encourage the growth of small space focused firms in the US. The current CSF membership includes MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA), Virgin Galactic, Bigelow Aerospace, Space Adventures, Scaled Composites and most of the other emerging icons of the growing commercial space industry, so this will be one presentation that's well worth attending.

Michael Woods

• Law firm Heenan Blaikie will be represented by well known lawyer Michael Woods, a member of the firms trade and competition group, who'll be speaking on the topic of "Export Compliance - Canadian Business in a Changing Landscape." The presentation will focus on recent changes in the Controlled Goods Program (CGP) intended to reconcile Canadian regulations with the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and how this reconciliation will effect international aerospace business transactions.

• International Astronautical Federation (IAF) Executive Director Dr. Christian Feichtinger will be talking on initiatives coming out of the European Space Agency (ESA) to build out aerospace infrastructure, develop original space focused entrepreneurs and how some of the lessons learned might be directly applicable for Canada. 

• University of Toronto Institute of Aerospace Studies Space Flight Laboratory (UTIAS SFL) Project Manager Grant Bonin will be discussing the “Micro-exploration: Accomplishing Space Exploration on a Canadian Budget.” The UTIAS SFL is an expert organization which has a history of launching satellites for a fraction of the cost of the typical government program.

Gordon Osinski.

• The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council/ MacDonald Dettwiler/ Canadian Space Agency Industrial Research Chair in Planetary Geology at the University of Western Ontario, Dr. Gordon Osinski will be giving a presentation on Canadian government scientific grants and some expected (and helpful) upcoming changes.

• UrtheCast President Scott Larson will be telling people about how his Canadian company is launching the world's first HD video platform of planet Earth via two cameras mounted to the International Space Station (ISS).

There will also be short presentations by various aerospace start-ups as part of the Start-Up Lift-Off segment, plus an end of day panel discussion on "our Critical Canadian Space Infrastructure" and several short, remote presentations on the Canadian Satellite Design Challenge and "Mining the Moon."

In the interests of full disclosure, it's worth noting that I'm treasurer of the CSCA and one of the organizers of the event. 

But that doesn't matter. Attend anyway.

For more information and to register, check out http://spacecommerce.ca/events/2012-csca-conference-and-agm.

Opportunities for Mining Operations on the Moon & Mars

John Chapman.

John Chapman is a busy, behind the scenes ex-mining executive and current advocate for Canadian space activities who I first profiled in the September 16th 2010 post "Canadian Companies Sponsor Satellite Designers."

He's also been a strong advocate of funding space focused organizations though an extension of the tax credits presently provided to the Canadian mining industry, as outlined in my June 20th, 2010 article "Mining as a Model for the Commercial Space Industry."

More recently, Chapman has been involved with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) San Fransisco chapter and presented at the February 8th, 2012 small payload tech talks on the topic of "Technology Opportunities Related to Mineral Exploration & Mine Operations on the Moon and Mars."

It's well worth checking out and a nice counterpoint to his earlier presentation on "Our Cosmic Journey: The Importance of Mineral Exploration, Discovery and Development" which was presented in October 2010 to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

But it's also worth noting that Chapman makes his presentation from the perspective of a "mechanic, welder and mining engineer" who, over a period of decades, also managed to turn himself into one of the largest mineral land owners in British Columbia.

This reminds me just a little bit of other "crazy people" like another John Chapman (who they named the Canadian Space Agency headquarters after), or Albert Fia (who designed the first Black Brant rocket for Bristol Aerospace) or John Carmack (who founded Armadillo Aerospace) or Richard Branson (who owns Virgin Galactic) or Elon Musk (who founded Space Exploration Technologies) or even Guy Laliberté (the entrepreneur, philanthropist, poker player, space tourist and current CEO of Cirque du Soleil) who each used their time and efforts to help promote or build space focused business ventures.

We should be encouraging these activities. For example, here's a recent Laurentian University presentation covering much the same topic.

Details of MDA On-Orbit Satellite Servicing Proposal

The Future In-Space Operations (FISO) website, which covers ideas for using National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) technology for follow-on programs has posted the February 13th, 2012 presentation on "Space Servicing: The Future is Now" by Dan King, the Director of Orbital Robotics for MD Robotics, a division of BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA).

MDA considers geosynchronous satellites to be the initial market.

The presentation (including PDF's of the power-points plus an audio recording) makes public several interesting business assumptions in the MDA on-orbit satellite servicing program:

• Owner operators of satellites in geosynchronous (GEO) orbit are considered to be the initial market for the product because "high value and high cost satellites are routinely de-commissioned when they run out of fuel or experience component failure" and "GEO operators regularly face significant capital replacement costs to maintain access to slots and grow revenues."

DEXTRE installing the Robotic Refueling Mission module on the
International Space Station (ISS) in September 2011.

• The MDA pricing model will enable satellite servicing in a cost effective and "insurable" manner, which would allow satellite operators to plan in advance for these expenses. Cost for refueling will be on a "per kg" basis and the system will work with a variety of satellite types and sizes using both mono-propellant and bi-propellant fuel.

• Refueling and servicing will be conducted quickly (within weeks) and with minimal impact to client satellite activities. Once completed, the refueled or repaired satellite could be operated independently from the on-orbit satellite servicer.

• Commercialization considerations for the program include the large up-front development costs, the customer  perspective (while the need for the service is demonstrated, the typical satellite company has no interest in funding development costs) and the ability of the US government to define, enable or even distort the market through US defense policy considerations. 

As outlined in my November 11th, 2011 post "Will US Allow Canada to Bid On-Orbit Satellite Servicing Contracts?" there is much concern over whether or not the Canadian firm will be allowed to bid successfully on US government agency contracts such as the upcoming DARPA Phoenix program. This presentation provides some useful context for those concerns.

CSA President, RIM Co-Founder and Others at AAAS Vancouver from February 16th - 20th

Mike Lazaridis.

According to the February 13th, 2012 press release on the University of British Columbia (UBC) website titled "More than 40 UBC researchers present leading Canadian research at global science conference" the UBC scientific community will be "out in full force" for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), for its upcoming 2012 National Conference, scheduled for Vancouver from February 16th-20th.

Steve MacLean.

Joining the UBC contingent will be thousands of other Canadian and international scientists, educators and their patrons from over fifty countries. These include Mike Lazaridis, the founder and former co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIM), Canadian Space Agency (CSA) President Steve MacLean, Canadian Senator and neuroscience researcher Lillian Dyck, the vice-chancellors from both UBC and Simon Fraser University plus the director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

The theme of the event, according to AAAS President Nina V. Fedoroff in her Presidents Invitation, is "intended to focus the program on the complex, interconnected challenges of the 21st century and on pathways to global solutions through international, multidisciplinary efforts," which sounds less like science and more like activism, but fits in well with an organization dedicated to the advancement (read "advocacy") of the scientific method in general rather than the peer review of specific scientific papers.



As part of that advocacy, the Canadian Science Writers Association (CSWA) is hosting its "Annual Party for Journalists Attending AAAS" on February 18th at the Canvas Lounge in Vancouver's historic Gastown district. The event is sponsored by Commuitech, a Waterloo, Ontario based tech incubator which acts as the implementation arm for various provincial and Federal commercialization and economic development programs.

The event is free to all AAAS participating journalists and communicators, which is something to take note of when reading the news reports likely to come out of the event over the next little while.

Cutting off its Nose to Spite the Face: Why ITAR is Bad for Business

The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), the United States government rules defining the export and import of defense-related articles (such as satellite technology) on the United States munitions list (USML), is the subject of two recent news stories with consequences for Canada.

  A chart showing the worldwide share of satellite exports among major nations in 1995 and 2005 from "Competing for Space: Satellite Export Policy and U.S. National Security."

The first, as outlined in the February 12th, 2012 Parabolic Arc article "AIA: Satellite Export Rules Have Cost $20.8 Billion, Quarter Million Jobs" is that these restrictive export laws "have devastated the US satellite manufacturing industry and led to a loss of $20.8 billion in revenues and nearly 28,000 jobs annually over a 10-year period." The conclusions are part of the January 2012 report from the Aerospace Industries Association titled "Competing for Space: Satellite Export Policy and US National Security" which has been making the rounds of space focused news services over the last few weeks.

Of course, the jobs lost and the revenue shortfalls were never the core of what these rules were intended to regulate.

For that, we need to look at the February 10th, 2012 Reuters article "Exclusive: U.S. squeezes French-led satellite maker over China" which reports that "the United States has threatened action that could disrupt a French-led satellite maker's supply chain, spurred by suspicion that it illegally used U.S. know-how or parts in spacecraft launched by Chinese rockets."

According to the Reuters article, the US threat is part of a "multi-year push for details on the design and components" of a telecommunications satellite that prime contractor Thales Alenia Space has labeled as free of US parts "and therefore exempt from U.S. export controls."

The Eutelsat W3C satellite, based  on the Thales Spacebus 4000 platform and launched aboard a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in October 2011.

Unfortunately for Thales, the US disagrees and considers the satellite under discussion (a Spacebus 4000C2) as being derived from earlier versions (the Spacebus 100 - 4000B models) built using US derived knowledge and/or parts, which therefore make the current versions subject to ITAR. The US is pushing for further details into the design and components used by Thales in order to confirm that ITAR regulations weren't breached.

Of course, its always difficult to prove that something "didn't" happen and that's why this issue is likely going to drag on for quite some time.

For Canadians, the ITAR regulations are initially not that onerous when selling into the US, although it is an added level of expense and could be perceived (as outlined in my November 28th, 2011 article "Is The Space Industry Really 'Uniting in Criticism over ITAR?'") as being a barrier to trade, especially for smaller companies.

The problem for Canada occurs when a Canadian company decides it needs to find a US parts supplier.

That seems to require a never-ending string of ITAR paperwork for each and every US supplier & partner. The paperwork normally delays programs because US companies simply can't exchange useful information with Canadian space systems companies until a US State Department export agreement is in place, which is a process that can take several months.

Which is why Canadian aerospace and satellite companies don't generally source parts from the US.

But its far worse for the Americans. Many small US companies simply will not deal with Canadians (for foreigners in general) because they are too small to have any ITAR trained people on staff and too well aware of the near limitless penalties ITAR can impose on every individual who may have contravened the exceptionally vague wording of the ITAR regulations.

While Thales can afford these delays (and is often supported by the French government), smaller firms without the support of national governments (and this includes any US firm presently selling into the Thales supply chain) are likely not able to take the chance.

So the small US companies don't sell products on the international market and generally stay small.

This simple fact goes a long way towards explaining why certain categories of US job losses are caused by ITAR regulations and how the current problems between Thales and the US government inhibit small firms from exporting their satellite products or selling to anyone who isn't American.

Perhaps the upcoming and expected reconciliation between ITAR and the Canadian Controlled Goods Program (CGP) will address these issues, at least for Canada, or perhaps not. The problem seems not to matter to Canadian business since we can always go elsewhere for our subcontractors.

After all, its the US that's cutting off its nose to spite the face.

Our Next Industrial Revolution Could be Off-World

According to Wikipedia, 3D printing is:

...a phrase used to describe the process of creating three dimensional objects from digital file using a materials printer, in a manner similar to printing images on paper. The term is most closely associated with additive manufacturing technology, where an object is created by laying down successive layers of material.

The technology originated in the rapid prototyping of custom components where speed and convenience were valued over the high manufacturing costs. However, those costs have dropped dramatically over the last decade and this has led to the growing use of 3D printers in production manufacturing. Here's a recent CTV News story, focused on a Canadian example.


Virtually any raw materials can be used to manufacture components from 3D printers. For example, the February 7th, 2012 Sydney Morning Herald article "3D printing: saviour or piracy tool" discusses EOS Germany, which builds 3D printers "able to create metal objects as robust as cast parts, and often as strong as forged parts" which, at the very least, suggests new business models for the auto parts industry. The article also mentions transplanting a jaw bone produced by a 3D printer and how custom items could be printed from precious metals and other materials for a fraction of the typical cost.

In essence, virtually anything physical could be copied for use in much the same way as audio, video or other information is currently duplicated. The January 24th, 2012 ZDNet Australia article "Pirate Bay to allow real-object downloads" reports on those concerns among copyright experts and on the recent decision by the notorious file sharing website to host a public repository for the mock-up files and designs which 3D printers use as templates in order to create physical objects.


This incredible and ongoing drop in price and complexity is especially suitable for frontier environments like space which possess few existing manufacturing facilities and tend to worry less about copyright infringement. Here are a couple of quick examples:

• The February 3rd, 2012 FastCo Design article "No Joke: These Guys Created A Machine For Printing Houses On The Moon" discusses the use of a technique called "contour crafting" which is essentially a variation of the 3D printing technology, to build structures for humans on the Moon. According to the article, Moon rock  is surprisingly similar to concrete and would make a suitable material for buildings. 

• 3D printers are not only useful for construction projects on planetary surfaces. Made in Space, a small manufacturing start-up has even tested 3D printers in "partial" zero gravity according to this July 28th, 2011 post on the company website. The company has been profiled in a variety of media outlets including Popular Mechanics (the December 11th, 2010 article "Orbiting 3D Printers Could Print out New Space Stations") and MSNBC (the December 11th, 2010 article "Print your own space station in orbit").

• According to the January 23rd, 2012 Hosted Payloads article "DARPA Eyes Hosted Payloads to Re-Use In-Orbit Antennas," the US Department of Defense (DOD) is "seeking assistance from the space industry to address a host of technical challenges that must be overcome to salvage antennas and other components on board defunct satellites." While some of  these technologies would be salvaged for direct re-use and this would be the prime driving component of this initiative, other components could certainly be collected and used as raw material for 3D printers making new components.

Canadian organizations with some expertise in 3D printing include Toronto based HackLab TO, the Kitchener based Kwartzlab Makerspace, the Vaughn based Proto3000 (which provides services to industry) and the Nova Scotia Community College Waterfront Campus. There is also a design team in Winnipeg building a "two-passenger hybrid car designed to be incredibly fuel efficient, easy to repair, safe to drive, and inexpensive to own" using parts constructed in a 3D printer, according to their website at Urbee: A Natural Way to Drive.

Expect more of these small little firms and collectives to spring up over the next little while. Among other things, they are part of our upcoming next industrial revolution.

AIAC Looking for a VP of Policy and Competitiveness

The January 27th, 2012 post on the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) website titled "AIAC seeking VP Policy and Competitiveness" makes it clear that the AIAC is "seeking a high-energy professional and motivated team player to act as Vice President of Policy and Competitiveness."

This would seem to be a setback for the expected review of Canadian aerospace policies as outlined in the November 3rd, 2011 Canadian Press article "Feds say review of Canada's aerospace policies will start, finish in 2012," which quoted then AIAC vice-chairman (now chairman) David Schellenberg as stating that he "expects to know the identity of the project leader within weeks" and Federal Industry Minister Christian Paradis as stating the review is expected to be completed "by the end of the year."

But according to AIAC VP of public affairs Maryse Harvey, the current gap in manpower will not prevent AIAC from moving forward with the review.

In a phone conversation last Thursday, Harvey committed to having an AIAC representative give a presentation on the terms and conditions of the review at the upcoming Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA) 2012 National Conference, being held in Ottawa on March 28th.

According to Harvey, the organization is looking for participation from all areas of both the "aero" and the "space" community and is looking for forums to help get their message out.

As outlined in my March 28th, 2011 post "The Difference Between 'Aviation' and 'Space.'" the two industries are often subject to different influences with our domestic aviation industry essentially defined and driven by access to international markets and the number of domestic jobs created while the much smaller Canadian space systems sector is more or less perceived of as being  "governed" by Industry Canada pronouncements on science & technology.

So it will be interesting to see how AIAC goes about reconciling those different influences and contradictory perceptions over the next year.

As for hiring someone as VP of policy and competitiveness, Harvey says that the AIAC is looking for a generalist who is "intellectually curious and with a policy kind of mindset" who can translate complex government policy pronouncements into "something our members and other stakeholders can easily understand."

Interested parties should consider applying on the AIAC website.

Innovation and the Power of Place

Kevin Stolarick.

According to Kevin Stolarick, the next great innovations coming out of our space sector are not going to come from traditional science and engineering communities like Huntsville (the home of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center), or the Florida Space Coast or even the St. Hubert region surrounding Canadian Space Agency (CSA) headquarters.

Real innovation will instead require large, diversified cities with many highly educated and creative human beings (or "knowledge workers") operating and socializing across multiple, distributed networks to bring new ideas, global context and unique perspectives to local communities traditionally trapped in rigid thought patterns.

This will be true, even for the space science and system engineering communities, which have contributed so much to our early space activities.

Huntsville, Alabama

Stolarick, a professor and the research director for the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, made the comments during his presentation at the January 2012 public meeting of the Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA) in downtown Toronto.

The presentation focused on "the role of sub-national factors such as location, place and city-regions in global economic prosperity and how these factors relate to the Canadian space systems industry." 

As an example of his thesis, Stolarick gives Huntsville, the fourth largest city in Alabama with around 400,000 people. Its a place where systems engineers working in the space industry have traditionally gravitated to because of the local suburban strip malls, golf courses and generally wide open spaces which are supposed to appeal to traditional middle class American values.

Birmingham, Alabama.

Contrast this with Birmingham, the largest city in Alabama and the core of the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area. With an estimated population of approximately one-quarter of Alabama's or 1.2 million people, the city has a built up core providing plenty of places for connections and a thriving, nontraditional multicultural and artistic community.

Birmingham is certainly not a suburb, although the population inside Birmingham's city limits has fallen over the past few decades, due in large part to "white flight" from the city proper to surrounding suburbs. Perhaps that's the reason why there is very little "cross pollination" or travel between Birmingham and predominantly white, middle class Huntsville, since the cities are less than two hours apart.

Stolarick thinks that cross pollination should be occurring because it would benefit both cities. He even provides a Canadian example of what could potentially happen if Huntsville systems engineers spent more time talking to artists and others in larger multicultural centers like Birmingham.

Montreal, PQ.

According to Stolarick, engineers working out of Bombardier Aerospace in Montreal experimented with a closed-cell foam formulation for use in aircraft until test results revealed the foam to be unsuitable for the intended application. So the engineers donated the foam to local artists to use in their art projects. For their part, the local Montreal artists promised to invite the Bombardier engineers to any show featuring the donated foam.

And here's where it gets interesting.

Essentially, the local artists ended up using the Bombardier foam in so many unique and innovative ways, that the Bombardier engineers were both amazed and suitably chastised. But as soon as they realized what was possible, they also started coming up with new ideas for products and processes. The foam, although originally considered useless, was soon integrated back into various Bombardier products as a result of the efforts, creativity and innovation of the Montreal artistic community and the follow-up visits by the Bombardier engineers.

According to Stolarick, larger cities are "more creative" than smaller cities because of the possibilities of developing new connections among people and groups with different ideas. If Montreal is better than Huntsville, then New York and Beijing should be even better. This isn't the first time that the link between creativity, cities and cross culture pollination has been noted (check out the video below on "Fashioning Apollo" for a second example) and it certainly isn't going to be the last.


Nicholas de Monchaux: Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo from Maker Faire on FORA.tv

Our politicians should take note and maybe even consider asking CSA office employees in the John H. Chapman Space Centre the number of times each month they're able to make the thirty minute drive into downtown Montreal.

The next CSCA meeting is Thursday, March 8th, 2012 at the downtown Toronto law offices of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.. Information on the upcoming March 28th, 2012 CSCA National Conference, focused on "our Critical Canadian Space Infrastructure" is now available online here.

Aggregation, Contextualization, Telsat, MDA, exactEarth and Stephen Harper

Regular readers will have no doubt noticed the recent addition of a ScoopIT aggregation feed (under the title "More Canadian Space News") to the top right column of this blog, just under the "Upcoming Events" link to our sister Space Conference News site. Hopefully these additional stories will help to convey the growing public interest in Canadian space activities.

Of course, some stories don't take well to aggregation (which is simply the collection of news from multiple sources into a single location for easy viewing). They instead require context and additional exposition to shake out some of the subtext and surrounding issues.

The Telstar 14R.

For those stories, here's a quick listing of items being tracked for context and additional exposition in future posts of the Commercial Space blog:

• According to the January 25th, 2012 Ottawa Citizen post on "Working Capital," Canadian satellite operator Telesat is set to receive a large $132.7-million insurance payment for the defective Telstar 14R satellite. The satellite failed to deploy properly after launch in May 2012 and is is currently only rated as being capable of transmitting "40 percent of its broadcast capability" with operational lifespan reduced to twelve years from the originally projected fifteen. The insurance payment is slightly more than half of the total $260-million coverage on the satellite. 

• However, other Canadian space systems businesses don't seem to be doing quite so well. For example, according to the January 26th, 2012 Montreal Gazette article "CCL Industries joins Gazette challenge picks," the portfolio manager for the Gazette's annual stock-picking challenge has decided to replace space systems icon MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) with CCL Industries, which supplies labels and specialty packaging for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and specialty food industries. According to the article, MDA shares have had no momentum since the company "announced plans last fall to buy back more than nine million of its shares." As outlined in the November 5th, 2010 Globe and Mail article "MDA sells real-estate arm once seen as key to growth" the company had initially intended to use the money made from the sale of its real estate division to fund the purchase of a US based space company in order to develop access to US markets. But with no suitable acquisition target available, the company eventually ended up returning half the money to investors, although the remainder is evidently available should a suitable target ever present itself.

• Satellite AIS provider and Com Dev International subsidiary exactEarth has announced the release of a two-year archive of global maritime vessel locations, according to the January 20th, 2012 Digital Ship article "Global AIS archive launched." According to the article, the information provided will be a "totally unique historical record of global shipping covering every part of the world’s oceans" going back to July 2010. According to exactEarth President Peter Mabson, the data is a "true testament to our long-standing, and world-leading, operational capability in the satellite-AIS area." The data can be accessed using a selection of search criteria, including date and time range, geographical area, AIS message type, ship type and country flag.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

• The Harper government is interested in the lack of Canadian science and technology innovation, according to the January 29th, 2012 Globe & Mail article "The innovation challenge – and the misallocation of capital," which quotes the Canadian PM as vowing to act “soon” on the recommendations of an October task force report chaired by Tom Jenkins, chairman of software maker Open Text Corp. For those interested in learning a little more about how this affects the Canadian space systems industry, the Jenkins Report was discussed in my October 17th, 2011 post "Federal R&D Recommendations Submitted" and the follow-on October 25th, 2011 post "Responding to the Jenkins Panel on R&D." Those interested in the the next step in this process are eagerly awaiting a report by federal Taxpayers’ Ombudsman Paul Dubé (to be released as early as this week) which is expected to expose a litany of complaints from users about how the Canada Revenue Agency administers existing innovation tax credit programs. 

The "ObamaMeter" and Presidential Space Policy Statements

Across the fast changing American political landscape, where presidential candidates now talk about space programs and activities as part of their standard policy pronouncements, its only natural for news outlets to track those campaign promises and follow-up on whether or not they have ever been fulfilled.

Politifact.com, a project operated by the Tampa Bay Times, which tracks political promises and eventual results, is currently the best of the lot in this area.

The Pulitzer Prize winning organization (it was awarded for fact-checking over 750 political statements made by candidates during the 2008 US presidential campaign) has strong readership in Florida and Texas (where much NASA work is performed) and has set aside a small section of its ongoing coverage to track the promises deferred, kept and broken by US president Barack Obama in his public statements regarding space policy.

As tracked under the title "Promises about Space on The Obameter," here's what Politifact thinks about the record of the current US President, along with a few personal comments:

• Promise: To seek a code of conduct for space-faring nations - Although the administration has made noises in this area, it has also rebuffed the recent European Union proposed code of conduct for space activities and Politifact lists this promise as a "compromise."

• Promise: To re-establish the National Aeronautics and Space Council - The idea to revive the National Aeronautics and Space Council appears dead and Politifact lists this as a "promise broken."

• Promise: To add another space shuttle flight before shuttle retirement - STS-135, the final shuttle flight, was an addition to the shuttle flight schedule. Politifact lists this as a "promise kept." 

• Promise: To speed up development of the next-generation space vehicle - Since no shuttle replacement has yet flown, Politifact lists this as a promise "in the works."

• Promise: To use the private sector to improve spaceflight capabilities - While there are certain newspace advocates who were quoted in the 2009 - 2010 period for this assessment who said positive things about the administrations encouragement of private sector initiatives, those sources are likely not feeling quite so positive about the current environment. Politifact still lists this as a "promise kept" although a slight variation of the theme (to increase commercialization benefits from space technology) is considered by Politifact to be a "promise in the works." The same is true of the business focused promise to revise regulations for the export of aerospace technology, which Politifact also considers to be a "promise in the works."

• Promise: To work with international allies on the International Space Station (ISS) - The Obama administration has extended the operational life of the ISS to at least 2020 (which was a common wish among ISS partners) and encouraged co-operation with international allies. Politifact lists this as a "promise kept." Variations of this theme are included with promises to partner to enhance the potential of the ISS, use the ISS for fundamental biological and physical research, support commercial access to space for use of the ISS and explore whether the ISS can operate after 2016. According to Politifact, each of these variations is a "promise kept."

• Promise: To support manned space missions to the moon by 2020 - This likely isn't going to happen under the current administration and Politifact lists this as a "promise broken." However, a variation on this promise (a promise to increase spending to prepare for longer space mission which plays on the idea of exploration but doesn't define any specific destinations to explore) is listed as being a "promise kept" by Politifact.

• Various other science and educational focused promises to conduct robust research and development on future space missions, work toward deploying a global climate change research and monitoring system, enhance Earth mapping and establish school programs to highlight space and science achievements are each listed by Politifact as being a "promise kept." However, the promise to improve climate change data records (which includes a promise not to use climate change data for political purposes) is listed only as being "in the works."

It will be interesting how the emerging Republican presidential candidates assess the record listed above and begin to integrate alternative policy decisions into their campaign.

NewSpace Investor Says Governments Running Out of Money

Tom Olson.

"Build it and they will come has never been a good business model," at least according to Thomas Andrew Olson, who spoke last week in Toronto at the Astronomy and Space Exploration Society 9th Annual Expanding Canada's Frontiers symposium.

Of course, Olson should know.

He is a founding partner of Exodus Consulting Group, which currently offers independent due diligence for tech sector venture capitalists but once played a key role in the success of early Space Investment Summits by helping to craft them into "frank" dialogues on investment opportunities surrounding newspace related ventures.

Today, Olson is a project manager for the NewSpace Business Plan Competition, a project of the Space Frontier Foundation. According to the July 14th, 2011 Space Frontier Press article "NewSpace Awards Gala Honors the Stars of Commercial Space," the purpose of the competition is to have space industry investors critique business plan submissions and "highlight the stars of commercial space."



According to Olson, what he does isn't "rocket science."

It's simply a question of finding the appropriate tools, some of which may be derived from the various worldwide space programs, to solve existing problems and help to develop the space infrastructure. He uses the analogy of the gold rush to make his point.

Most people generally don't make a lot of money during a gold rush.

The ones who do make the money are the people who sell the workers pickaxes, or food and provide them with the lodging and all the other sundry infrastructure items needed in order to allow the search for gold to continue.

This likely places Canada in a good position for the future, since our space projects have always focused on solving terrestrial problems (such as continental communication, which was addressed by the creation of Telesat Canada in 1969)  and building out infrastructure for other projects (like the International Space Station, which was built using the Canadian CanadArm).

However, one core component of Canadian space focused projects up until now has been the judicious use of Federal government funding and Olson doesn't think government support for space activities is going to continue.

"Governments are running out of money" he states and any cursory review of the recent media is likely to re-enforce this viewpoint.

Perhaps that's why we need to take people like Tom Olson a little more seriously.

Julie Payette's Perspectives from Space

Big Ideas, the TV Ontario showcase for "contemporary intellectual culture" wrapped around public presentations and lectures from well known public figures, has just posted a 58 minute talk on Canadian Space Agency Perspectives from Space: Research and Diplomacy featuring astronaut Julie Payette.



The presentation starts out as a travelogue with Payette providing photo's, videos and an overview of her trips to the International Space Station (ISS) during the May 1999 STS-96 and the July 2009 STS-127 space missions.

But the most interesting part of the presentation, come later when Payette talks about future missions (perhaps to Mars) provides some views of the Earth and talks about some of the things you can do with space technology to make terrestrial life better. 

Payette is an engineer and a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut who has completed two spaceflights and logged more than 25 days in space. The talk was part of a larger series of recent presentations from the Waterloo based Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Research.

MDA Satellite Servicing Agreement with Intelsat Expires

The winds have been whispering "off the record" for quite some time but last Wednesday, BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) finally confirmed the unofficial rumors. Under the headline "Space Infrastructure Servicing Update" the company announced that the "MDA/Intelsat Agreement announced March 15, 2011, has ceased to be in effect."



As explained in my March 15th, 2011 post "Macdonald Dettwiler gets "Anchor Customer" for Brampton Robotics Plant" the original agreement was for $280 million USD worth of services and satellite refueling to be offered to Intelsat General Corporation, a European based satellite services provider, in order to provide MDA with an "anchor customer" to move forward with its space infrastructure servicing (SIS) vehicle. The SIS was expected to "service commercial and government satellites in need of additional fuel, re-positioning or other maintenance."

According to the latest press release, MDA is "continuing to pursue opportunities in this area and is currently focused on bidding a space servicing Broad Agency Announcement from a U.S. Government agency, which is due in February."

But as outlined in my November 11th, 2011 post "Will US Allow Canada to Bid On-Orbit Satellite Servicing Contracts?" there is much concern over whether or not the Canadian firm will be allowed to bid successfully on US government agency contracts. While the original MDA/ Intelsat agreement agreement was for a substantial amount of money ($280 million USD) the total cost of development was always expected to be far higher and this shortfall needed to be covered with other contracts.



The US government was always the logical second market and MDA initially selected Intelsat as anchor tenant specifically to access it, according to the January 13th, 2012 Parabolic Arc post "MDA, Intelsat Terminate Satellite Servicing Agreement." But while the SIS system is generally considered to be the logical next step in the development of in-space orbital infrastructure (which includes satellite refueling), the US government seems intent on insuring that any government money used to develop infrastructure goes primarily to US based companies.

Other avenues for funding (such as the October 2011 Canadian Space Agency contract for $250,000 CDN to perform an "on-orbit, automated servicing experiment"), while appreciated, are generally not perceived of as being sufficient to support the total program. Possible competitors in on-orbit satellite services include the ViviSat Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) and the DARPA Phoenix program.

It is expected that, without an anchor customer to "leverage the existing skills" of the MDA Brampton Robotics division, the layoffs originally announced in my March 3rd, 2011 post "Downsizing Announced at MDA Robotics" and partially superseded by the original MDA/ Intelsat announcement will now go forward. The SIS system architecture was to have been based on work that MDA has previously performed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and other civilian and military agencies for the US space shuttle's Canadarm and the mobile servicing system for the International Space Station (ISS).

ASX 2012 Focused on "Space 2.0: What's Next?"

One of the highlights of our generally dark and gloomy Canadian January is the annual "Expanding Canada's Frontiers" symposium organized by the Astronomy & Space Exploration Society (ASX).

Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto.

This years symposium is scheduled for Friday, January 20th, 2012 from 7:00-10:00 PM at the University of Toronto Convocation Hall and the focus is on "Space 2.0: What's Next?" Doors open at 6pm and there is a reception at 10pm.

According to the press release promoting the event:

With the end of the space shuttle-era and the rise of numerous private companies and organizations in the space sector, space exploration is currently undergoing a major paradigm shift. The Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle being developed by NASA for manned deep space exploration, the rise of companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, and new scientific projects such as recent work on finding life on Mars being undertaken by the CSA and the NASA are just some of the exciting new things happening recently in humanity's relationship with space. Recognizing this, ASX is pleased to present a line-up of prominent speakers and relevant talk topics relating to "what's next" in space exploration.

Scheduled speakers for 2012 include:

• Dr. Marc Millis, the founder of the Tau Zero Foundation, the manager of the NASA funded Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project (BPP) and the author of the book, Frontiers of Propulsion Science, which was published in February 2009, by the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

• Dr. Nicole Buckley, who is the Chief Scientist for Life Sciences aboard the International Space Station (ISS) at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). In this role, she is responsible for allocating, developing and leading a robust Canadian life sciences program aboard the ISS.

• Mr. Thomas A. Olson, who is the CEO of The Colony Fund, a public venture capital fund focused on the space entrepreneurial sector. He is also a founding member of the Mars Society and was elected to the Board of the Space Frontier Foundation in 2008. He's a frequent speaker at national space advocacy conferences and focuses on the fiscal, regulatory and political challenges of private space commercialization, the public perceptions of space and humanity's future in the high frontier.

Since its start in 2003, the community managed ASX has grown into one of the largest space focused organizations in Canada. The annual ASX symposium is the largest single-day space related event in Canada, and in the past eight years has drawn a combined audience of about 6,500 people across North America.

The 2012 Expanding Canada's Frontiers Symposium is free for current students who have registered in advance (click here for student registration), $15 dollars CDN until January 10th, 2011 for those of us who are no longer in school (click here for non-student registration), $20 dollars CDN after January 10th for those of us who are simply a little slow to register and $25 dollars CDN at the door for the rest of us who don't register in advance.