Industry Minister Moore Announces Space Advisory Board Members

          by Chuck Black

Minister Moore at the Aerospace Summit. Photo c/o author.

Industry Minister James Moore has announced the membership of the long awaited Canadian Space Advisory Board, composed of industry leaders with a mandate to report on the direction of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Moore made the announcement during the second day of the Canadian Aerospace Summit, an event organized by the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC), which was held in Ottawa on November 18th - 19th.

As outlined in the November 19th, 2014 Industry Canada press release "Supporting Canadian Aerospace Excellence," the members of the advisory board will include:

• Fred George, the president and CEO of JLK Global Fund International and an honorary captain to the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN).

• Colonel Chris Hadfield, the retired Canadian astronaut and former commander of the International Space Station (ISS).

• John Keating, a current director at Sandvine Incorporated but perhaps best known as the former CEO of space powerhouse COM DEV International.

• Terry Malley, the president and CEO of Malley Industries.

• Retired general and former CSA president Walt Natynczyk, who is currently the deputy minister of veterans affairs, in the Stephen Harper government. 

• Dr. Arlene Ponting, the president emerita of MindFuel (formerly Science Alberta) a not-for-profit organization dedicated to inspiring young people's involvement in science through education.

• Dr. Mamdouh Shoukri. the president and vice-chancellor of York University.

• Lorne Trottier, the co-founder of Matrox Electronic Systems and the Trottier Family Foundation.

Moore said he expects the advisory board to have real influence over the future direction of Canadian space activities. "I'm not going to ask them (the advisory board members) to waste their time," he said during his presentation on Wednesday.

The creation of a space advisory board was one of the recommendations of the November 2012 Federal Review of Aerospace and Space Programs and Policies (or "Emerson Report") which was presented to then Industry Minister Christian Paradis in November 2012.

There was no word on when the new board will begin deliberations.

Google Takes Control of Hangar One

          by Brian Orlotti

Planetary Ventures LLC (a subsidiary of Google) has announced that it will lease a historic facility at NASA Ames Research Centre near Mountain View, California for $1.16Bln USD ($1.31Bln CDN) over the next 60 years.

Moffat Field Hangar One. As outlined in the June 19th, 2010 NASA update on "The Latest News on Hangar One," the facility "is a recognizable landmark in the San Francisco Bay area and a part of its early aviation history. The Navy built Hangar One at Moffett Field in 1932 for the USS Macon and to serve as the West Coast base for the U.S. lighter-than-air aviation program. The Navy transferred the hangar to NASA in 1994 after Moffett Field was decommissioned." The facility is currently closed to the public because of the high levels of PCBs present in the Hangar One building components, Photo c/o NASA.

As outlined in the November 10th, 2014 press release,"NASA Signs Lease with Planetary Ventures LLC for Use of Moffett Airfield and Restoration of Hangar One," the firm will lease Moffett Federal Airfield (MFA), currently managed by NASA Ames, and restore the facility's historic Hangar One, a large building originally built in the 1930's for US Navy airships that has become a Silicon Valley landmark.

Planetary Ventures plans to invest over $200Mln USD ($225.4Mln CDN) in the 1,000-acre (405 hectares) property, which also includes Hangar Two and Hangar Three, two runways, a flight operations building, and a private golf course. The deal is expected to save NASA $6.3 million USD per year in operations costs in addition to the income from the lease.

Planetary Ventures development plans include refurbishing all three hangars and re-purposing them as research facilities to develop new technologies in space exploration, aviation, robotics and other emerging fields. Planetary Ventures will also build a public outreach facility to educate visitors on the site's historical significance.

Moffett Federal Field in Sunnyvale, California with Hangar One on the left and Hangars Two and Three on the right. Photo c/o Wikipedia.

According to the February 10th, 2014 Silicon Valley Business Journal article, "Google's Moffett Field plans include robots, space tech, aviation," Google’s choice of Moffett Federal Airfield makes great sense from a strategic perspective. To the west of MFA is Mountain View, California's North Bayshore area, home to many Google buildings comprising millions of square feet. To the east is Sunnyvale, California's Moffett Park office sub-market, an office campus where Google has been growing rapidly. Google already leases a 42-acre site at the north end of NASA Ames Research Centre where it is building an ultra-green office campus.

With significant Google presence already in the area (with Google facilities, in effect, encircling NASA Ames), the acquisition of MFA will allow the company to consolidate its control over the region.

Brian Orlotti.

Google's cutting-edge research into cargo delivery drones, internet-via-drone and internet-via-balloon will take the company skyward into the future. The Moffett Federal Airfield will be that future's literal launch point.

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Brian Orlotti is a Toronto-based IT professional and a regular contributor to the Commercial Space blog.

ESA's Perspective on Rosetta + Canada's Contributions & Bruce Willis

          by Chuck Black

With all the various media reports trumpeting the recent successes of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta robotic space probe, which landed on and performed a detailed study of comet67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P) last week, it's interesting to note that the most accurate assessment of the mission's significance so far has come through a collaboration between the ESA and video production facility Platige Image, on a short fictional film.

As outlined in the October 25th, 2014 Nerdist post, "Short Film Ambition Has Aiden Gillen as a World Creating Magician," the short, titled appropriately enough "Ambition," first debuted on October 24th at the British Film Institute’s Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder festival in London.

Directed by Tomek Bagiński, shot on location in Iceland and starring Aiden Gillen as a master magician and Aisling Franciosi as an apprentice attempting to transform dry wasteland into heavenly bodies, the short explicitly referenced Rosetta and provided an inspired, motivational, but perfectly rational reason why the mission could certainly be the start of something big.

November 12th, 2014 graphic showing the Rosetta spacecraft, the Philae lander and a timeline for the mission. Graphic c/o Graphic News/ ESA.

Of course a variety of Canadian organizations and individuals also contributed to the Rosetta mission over the last decade and a half of planning and travel time. They included:

• Jakub Urbanek, who has been with the Rosetta flight control team for the last two years and Jane Hurley, a member of the science team. As outlined in the November 12th, 2014 CBC News article, "Historic Philae comet landing has Canadian connection," Urbanek grew up in Windsor, Ontario and completed an undergraduate degree in space engineering at York University while Hurley graduated from Memorial University in St. Johns, Newfoundland with a degree in physics and mathematics before attending Oxford University.

• ADGA Group (Canada), through its Canadian-owned affiliate RHEA (Europe), which provided software to support the mission. As outlined in the November 13th, 2014 press ADGA release "Rosetta "The Comet Chaser" - The Canadian Connection," the firms provided an "indispensable engineering capability (which) supported the design, development, testing and operations of the Rosetta spacecraft."

• Saskatoon, Saskatchewan based SED Systems, which built the three ground stations used to communicate with the spacecraft. As outlined in the November 10th, 2014 Canadian Press article, "Canadian firm has role in historic comet Rosetta mission," the firm has had a history of building ground stations for the telecommunications sector.

But while there were many Canadian and other contributors assisting with the success of the mission, the main credit must certainly be placed at the feet of its originators in the ESA, especially given that a similar and complementary US mission, the Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) mission, was eventually cancelled, after going over budget. 

Given that, its likely more than fair that the Europeans are allowed to define the success of the mission by making the first movie that references it. 

Take that, Bruce Willis, Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay!

The 2014 Canadian Aerospace Summit: November 18th - 19th in Ottawa, Ontario

          by Chuck Black

The 2014 Canadian Aerospace Summit, focused around the topic of "One World; Delivering Results in a World Market" and organized by the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC), will be held at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ottawa, Ontario from November 18th - 19th.

From a space focused perspective,  the important event is a panel discussion on the utilization and exploration of space moderated by Iain Christie, the executive vice president of AIAC, but also including William Gerstenmaier, the  associate administrator for human exploration and operations for NASA and Gilles Leclerc, the director general of space exploration for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

But from a business perspective, there is also a variety of fascinating speakers such as Aviation Week editor in chief Joe Anselmo moderating a panel on the topic of "Industry Trends: Where are We Headed," with Kevin Michaels,  the global managing editor of aviation consulting and services at ICF International and Ronald Epstein, the managing director of aerospace and defence for Bank of America, Merrill Lynch Global Research.

Also presenting will be the honorable Diane Finley, the Federal minister of public works and government services, Dennis Foubert, the president and CEO of the Consortium of Aerospace Research and Innovation in Canada (CARIC), plus quite a number of others.

It's certainly a useful event and well worth attending. To learn more check out the Canadian Aerospace Summit website at http://www.aerospacesummit.ca/en/.

Ontario Firm Building Rocket Engines for Space Port America

          by Brian Orlotti

It's not well known outside rocket science circles, but recent launches from Spaceport America in New Mexico used suborbital sounding rockets built by Colorado based UP Aerospace which included rocket engines designed and built by Gormley, Ontario based Cesaroni Technology.

As outlined in the October 23rd, 2014 Las Cruses Bulletin article "UP Aerospace launches again from spaceport," the most recent flight of the UP Aerospace SpaceLoft SL-9 rocket reached an estimated 407,862 feet, or about 77 miles above the Earth’s surface on October 22nd.

According to Jeroen Louwers of Cesaroni Technology, the firm doesn't only build rockets. It also manufactures a variety of other products for the the aerospace, defence, and automotive industries.

But of course, Louwers is himself a rocket scientist who originally came from the Netherlands, where he earned his PhD in propellant chemistry. Prior to his employment with Cesaroni, Louwers worked at a Dutch company that sold electronics (such as altimeters and accelerometers) to model rocket makers.

Spaceloft SL-9 trajectory. Graphic c/o UP Aerospace.

During his tenure at Cesaroni, Louwers has been involved in the building of ablative insulators. Ablative insulators are used in the interiors of solid rocket motors to prevent damage from the intense heat of a rocket's thrust.

Other projects at Cesaroni include a design study on behalf of the Department of National Defence (DND) for a Canadian launch vehicle and a design study for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for an indigenous launch vehicle utilizing a thrust vectored hybrid rocket motor.

As outlined in the November 7th, 2006 Cesaroni press release "Inaugural space flight uses Cesaroni Technology propulsion system," the inaugural flight of the Spaceloft XL rocket using Cesaroni technology took place on September 25th, 2006.

According to the press release, while "the rocket did not reach its expected altitude of 110 km because of an airframe instability, the flight was a successful demonstration of the rocket motor developed and built by Cesaroni Technology, Inc."

According to Louwers, most of the Spaceloft XL engine's parts are designed and built in-house at Cesaroni. UP Aerospace launches the Spaceloft XL rockets from its facility at Spaceport America.

Louwers also mentioned that, in addition to its commercial endeavours, Cesaroni supports the Canada-Norway Student Sounding Rocket exchange program (CaNoRock), by supplying the motors used in the program through a European distributor.

CaNoRock is a partnership among the Universities of Alberta, Calgary and Saskatchewan, the University of Oslo, University of Tromsø, the Andøya Space Centre and the Norwegian Center for Space Related Education (NAROM) which provides undergraduate university students a week at Andøya in order to gain hands-on experience in sounding rocket and payload instrument design.

Participants earn course credit for completing the program, which is funded through the CSA and the University of Alberta Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund. CaNoRock is intended to motivate undergraduate students to specialize in space-focused technologies.

Brian Orlotti.

The program also provides background information and practical experience with other platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, aka drones) and long duration balloon missions.

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Brian Orlotti is a Toronto-based IT professional and a regular contributor to the Commercial Space blog.

PM Signs Agreement with China a Month After Rejecting Chinese Delegation Attending IAC2014

          by Chuck Black

For those of us who don't believe that space exploration has a political component, it's worth noting that, only a month after Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government denied entry to key members of the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) so that they were unable to attend the 65th International Astronautical Congress, held in Toronto from September 29th - October 3rd, the Federal government has announced that Canada will open new trade offices in the Chinese cities of Hangzhou, Xi’an, Xiamen and Tianjin.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper lauded Canada’s low corporate tax rate and debt levels during a question-and-answer session with Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba CEO Jack Ma and mentioned that Canada has an exceedingly attractive place to do business for Chinese investors, at least according to the November 7th, 2014 Postmedia News article "Stephen Harper courts Alibaba’s Jack Ma, opens 4 trades office in visit to China that so far is all business." Photo c/o Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld. 

The Canadian PM made the announcement during his latest trip to China from November 5th - 10th.

As outlined in the November 7th, 2014 press release on the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper's website under the title "PM announces expansion of trade network in China," the new offices will "will help Canadian businesses flourish in some of the fastest growing regions of China with a view to generating jobs and economic growth back home."

According to the press release, China is already Canada’s second-largest trading partner and is indirectly responsible for half a million Canadian jobs.

Of course, trade, technology and innovation weren't the only a topics up for debate during the Canadian PM's latest trip to China, his third since becoming Prime Minister in 2006. As outlined in the November 9th, 2014 CBC News article, "Stephen Harper raises human rights concerns with Chinese President Xi Jinping," the PM also claimed to have "raised a full range of concerns with the Chinese in his meetings with the country's leadership over the past few days,"

According to the article, the concerns were raised in "closed-door talks follow[ing] signing of business deals worth up to $2.5Bln CDN."

Kevin and Julia Dawn Garratt, shown here flanked by their son Peter and daughter Hannah, are being investigated by Chinese authorities for allegedly stealing state secrets. The Canadian couple own a coffee shop in Dandong, a Chinese city near the North Korean border. Photo c/o Simeon Garratt.

As well, a more recent irritant involved the case of Kevin and Julia Dawn Garratt, a Canadian couple accused of espionage by the Chinese government after living in China for 30 years, who have been held without charges since August, 2014. According to the article:

Their detainment came just days after Canada accused the Chinese of spying on federal government agencies. 

Their son, Simeon, said Sunday that he had feared the Canadian government wasn't putting enough pressure on the Chinese to release his parents. But later in the day, Simeon Garratt said those concerns had been assuaged after hearing from embassy officials. 

"I am really glad with ... the leadership role that Harper and I think the rest of the government has taken on my parents' case," he said in Beijing, where he travelled last week, timing his visit to Harper's.

Best of all, "a hotly anticipated reciprocal currency deal between Canada and China was also inked. The agreement will foster far easier trade between the Canadian dollar and the Chinese currency, and makes Canada the first country in the Americas to have a deal to trade in the yuan, also known as the renminbi."

Stand by for adventure...

Orbital Sciences and Virgin Galactic Sift Through Their Wreckage

          by Brian Orlotti

Antares rocket. Graphic c/o OSC.

The NewSpace industry was dealt two hard blows this past week with two accidents (one of them deadly), which have triggered criticism from some media outlets on the merits of commercial space travel.

Here's what we know.

On Oct 28th, an Antares rocket built by Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) exploded about 15 seconds after liftoff from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. The Antares vehicle was carrying a Cygnus automated cargo spacecraft (also built by OSC) on what would have been Orb-3, the third of eight resupply flights to the International Space Station (ISS) under OSC's Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.

Initial flight data analysis by OSC indicated that all systems functioned normally until about 15 seconds after launch, when a failure occurred in the rocket's first stage after which it lost propulsion and fell back to the ground near the launchpad.

Before hitting the ground, the rocket's self-destruct system was triggered by the Wallops Range Control Centre to minimize the spread of hazardous debris as well as to reduce damage to the launch site.

The Antares' first stage is powered by two Soviet-era NK-33 engines designed in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the Kuznetsov Design Bureau and intended for the ill-fated Soviet N-1 moon rocket, a program which ended in failure. The unused engines were eventually purchased from Russia, re-branded and refurbished as the AJ-26 by Aerojet Rocketdyne and had powered four previous successful Antares flights.

However, as outlined in the June 9th, 2014 SpaceRef.com article, "Caution Prevails - Orbital Antares Launch to the ISS Postponed," earlier in the year an AJ-26 engine scheduled for a 2015 mission failed a hot-fire test. Both AJ-26 engines on the Orb-3 flight had passed their hot-fire tests.

OSC competitors have also commented on OSC's choice of 1960's era engines to power their rockets. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX has been the most vocal critic, saying in the October 12th, 2012 Wired Magazine article, "Elon Musk’s Mission to Mars," that:

Elon Musk. Photo c/o Art Streiber.

One of our competitors, Orbital Sciences, has a contract to resupply the International Space Station, and their rocket honestly sounds like the punch line to a joke. 

It uses Russian rocket engines that were made in the ’60s.

I don’t mean their design is from the ’60s—I mean they start with engines that were literally made in the ’60s and, like, packed away in Siberia somewhere...

The OSC crash investigation continues.

The second accident occurred on Oct 31st, when Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane was torn to pieces and crashed, after detaching from the underside of its mothership WhiteKnight Two, while on a test flight over the Mojave desert.

SpaceshipTwo was being flown by two test pilots, Peter Siebold, the director of flight operations at Scaled Composites (the builders of SpaceShipTwo) and co-pilot Michael Alsbury.  Although Alsbury was killed in the crash, Siebold survived and is currently recovering in hospital.

Designed to carry passengers on suborbital flights, SpaceShipTwo is carried to its launch altitude by a carrier aircraft, White Knight Two, where it is released to fly into the upper atmosphere by igniting its rocket engine. On its return, SpaceShipTwo glides back to Earth and performs a conventional runway landing.

SpaceShipTwo. Graphic c/o thinklikeascientist.com.

Initially, suspicions focused on SpaceShipTwo's innovative new hybrid engine, which uses powdered plastic as fuel and nitrous oxide as an oxidizer, as a cause of the crash.

However, prior to May of this year, SpaceshipTwo had a different engine which used powdered rubber as a fuel. The powdered rubber/nitrous mixture garnered years of controversy after a 2007 accident in which two Scaled Composites employees were killed during an oxidizer flow test at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

The test entailed filling an oxidizer tank with 4,500 kilograms of nitrous oxide, followed by a 15-second cold-flow injector test. During the test, an explosion occurred, killing three employees and injuring three others.

Despite subsequent investigations, no definitive cause for the explosion was ever found.

On Nov 2nd, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held a press conference and tweeted the findings of its investigation thus far. Significantly, a review of the cockpit's forward-looking camera shows that the feather (the mechanism around SpaceShipTwo's wings and rear tail assembly that can be raised vertically to act as an air brake) had been unlocked by the copilot just before the craft hit Mach 1.

Normal procedure is to unlock the feather after reaching Mach 1.4 to prevent aerodynamic forces from extending it prematurely. The NTSB investigation is likely to continue on for some time.

Media reaction to the two accidents has ranged from the thoughtful and pragmatic, such as the November 1st, 2014 CNN article, "Deadly day for space tourism -- but future 'rests' on such days, official says," to the ignorant and short-sighted, as epitomized in the October 31st, 2014 Wired article, "Space Tourism Isn't Worth Dying For."

The common thread in the criticism of commercial spaceflight is the supposed pointless waste of lives for the sake of a pastime for the wealthy.

All new frontiers come with their own set of perils, and space is no exception. Commercial spaceflight seeks to overcome those perils, taking the first steps toward humans living and working in space. The global aviation industry we rely on today was built on the risks taken and lessons learned from the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Howard Hughes and countless test pilots.

NewSpace also owes much to the sacrifices of astronauts in the Apollo program and the crews of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. Risk and sacrifice are what open new frontiers and move societies forward.

Brian Orlotti.

Certainly its important to pause for a moment and figure out what happened last week with the Antares rocket and SpaceShipTwo.

But when we've figured it out, lets get back out there and resume our boldly going. 

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Brian Orlotti is a Toronto-based IT professional and a regular contributor to the Commercial Space blog.

Hello, I Must Be Going: CSA President Natynczyk Transferred to Veterans Affairs

          by Chuck Black

Canadian Space Agency (CSA) president Walter Natynczyk, has left the the CSA after barely more than a year on the job. As outlined in the October 29th, 2014 CBC News article, "Walt Natynczyk, head of the Canadian Space Agency, moves to veterans affairs," Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced last Wednesday that Natynczyk will become deputy minister (DM) for veterans affairs, effective as of Monday, November 3rd.

General Walt Natynczyk in March 2013, after CSA president Steve MacLean's resignation on February 1st, 2013 but before Natynczyk took over from acting CSA president Gilles Leclerc in August 2013. As outlined in the March 2013 Lavin blog post "Good Leadership Is All About Trust: Gen. Walter Natynczyk," the former chief of defence staff said "it's important to give your team the skills and tools they need to succeed in their present roles—but it's equally as important to prepare them for a time when you are no longer in charge." Photo c/o Lavin.

Of course, that doesn't mean that anything substantial in the CSA is going to change over the next little while. For the last five years the CSA has been effectively run by the Industry Minister, who remains the honorable James Moore, and that rudder will remain fixed for the foreseeable future no matter who the next CSA president might happen to be.

And the reason for this should be obvious to even the most casual observer. 

As outlined originally in the December 5th, 2012 post "What the Space Volume of the Aerospace Review Actually Says," the intent of the Federal government, in implementing the 2012 David Emerson led Aerospace Review was always to establish another level of government, a "Space Program Advisory Council" reporting to the Industry Minister and tasked with CSA oversight, plus narrow the CSA mandate to the point where it would no longer be a "policy-making body" or "directly involved in designing and manufacturing space assets purchased by the government." 

And they've been quite successful at this point, managing to curtail the relative autonomy the CSA enjoyed under early presidents like Larkin Kerwin, William MacDonald (Mac) Evans and Marc Garneau with a far more structured environment where important announcements are almost always made by the Industry Minister and not the head of the CSA. 

At this point, it's likely that "the General," as he was known within the CSA, was always expected to be transferred to the Department of Veterans Affairs at some point as part of the lead up to the anticipated fall election, currently scheduled for October 2015.

The only real question was when the transfer would become official. 

It's also possible that the shooting in Ottawa last week, as outlined in articles like the November 2nd, 2014 CBC News article, "Ottawa shooting: Reconstructing the Centre Block shootout," served as an impetus to move the plan forward so that Natynczyk would be able to take a prominent role in the upcoming November 11th, 2014 Remembrance Day ceremonies.

Whatever the specifics, it's unlikely that any new CSA president will enjoy as high a profile as Natynczyk, who will almost immediately begin using that profile to assist with another, perhaps far more appropriate role, but one that has nothing to do with space. He will be replaced by Luc Brûlé, the agency's current vice-president, at least for the next little while.

Hello, he must be going. 

Free OECD Report on Space Economy Provides Guidance for Upcoming Paid CSA Report

          by Chuck Black

Anyone looking to learn the real state of national and international space activities and the economic benefits deriving from those activities might not want to wait for the anticipated January 2015 delivery date on the next quarter million dollar Canadian Space Agency (CSA) study on the topic and could instead check out the just released 2014 report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on "The Space Economy at a Glance."

The report is available at no charge on the OECD "Space Forum" website. As outlined on the website;

The OECD Space Forum aims to assist governments, space-related agencies and the private sector to better identify the statistical contours of the growing space sector worldwide, while investigating the space infrastructure’s economic significance and potential impacts for the larger economy. 

The Forum includes institutions from nine OECD member economies (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States), as well as the European Space Agency."

According to the report, "the space economy represented some USD 256.2 billion in revenues in 2013, divided between the space manufacturing supply chain (33%), satellite operators (8.4%) and consumer services (58%), including actors who rely on some satellites' capacity for part of their revenues, such as direct-to-home satellite television services providers."

But as outlined in the August 24th, 2014 post "Space Agency Seeks Insight into Space Industry," the CSA didn't just contribute data and background materials to the OECD. Over the summer, the CSA also solicited bids of up to $250,000 CDN, from "qualified suppliers" willing to undertake a "comprehensive socio-economic impact assessment" of the Canadian space sector.

The original bid, as referenced on the the Public Works and Government Services Canada BuyandSell.ca website under the title Comprehensive Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of the Canadian Space Sector (9F012-140360/A), even explicitly referenced OECD expertise in this area.

According to page 34 of the "Task and Solutions Professional Services (TSPS) Solutions Based Supply Arrangement (SA) Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Requirement of: Comprehensive Socio-Economic Assessment of the Canadian Space Sector for the Canadian Space Agency," the first task required as part of the project, was a "review of background documentation" and best practices such as those outlined in the OECD Handbook on Measuring the Space Economy.

The most recent version of this handbook, published in March 2012, provided a summary of the key methodological issues surrounding indicators and statistics on the space sector and the larger space economy and was meant to be complementary to another publication, the 2011 edition of the Space Economy at a Glance. Both publications, along with many others, are available as free downloads from the OECD website.

The final CSA contract, valued at $285,000 CDN according to the October 20th, 2014 post "Hill Times Promotes the 2014 Canadian Aerospace Summit," was won by the North American subsidiary of Paris, France based Euroconsult which is currently preparing the final report for presentation to CSA and other government officials, "by January 30th, 2015."

Here's hoping that the OECD left at least some of the juicy details related to measuring the economic benefits of space activities out of its free reports in order to provide value to the paid report which Euroconsult is preparing for the CSA. 

Otherwise, even they might be better served by reading the free report. 

MDA Promotes Recent Wins as Preliminary to Quarterly Conference Call

          by Brian Orlotti

Publicly traded companies have traditionally preceded their quarterly earnings calls with successive announcements of newly won contracts as a means of exciting investors. Richmond, BC-based satellite powerhouse MacDonald, Dettwiler (MDA) is no exception to this truism and has announced several new contract awards in the lead up to its third quarter earnings conference, which will take place on Thursday, October 30, 2014 at 2:30 pm PDT (5:30 pm EDT). These include:

• The October 21st, 2014 announcement that MDA had signed a $6.4Mln USD ($7.2Mln CDN) contract with the US Air Force (USAF) to further enhance the flight path safety system which aids the design of airport approach and departure flight paths. As outlined in the October 21st, 2014 Ottawa Citizen article, "MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates receives more work from U.S. Air Force," the original system was developed by MDA for the USAF and deployed worldwide in 2004. The new contract will enhance the current system's capabilities by fitting aircraft with satellite-based navigation equipment. The total value of contracts awarded to date by the US Air Force for flight path equipment is about $20.2Mln USD ($22.7Mln CDN).

• The October 22nd, 2014 announcement that MDA had been awarded multiple contracts with "undisclosed customers in the oil and gas, and mining sectors" to deliver RADARSAT-2 surface movement monitoring products and services that "accurately detect and report the extent of surface movement in localized areas." Although not explicitly stated in the October 22nd, 2014 CNW press release, "MDA provides surface movement monitoring solution to key industries," these customers would likely be firms similar to the Vancouver based Tech Resources, which promotes a range of "diversified" resource management capabilities as part of its sales pitch. Oddly enough, while focused on mining and resource management, Tech is also one of the Canadian firms listed on the NewSpace Global list of actively traded public companies which make use of space derived technologies, primarily because of its use of Earth imaging tools to track minerals and other resources.

• The October 23rd, 2014 announcement that MDA had signed two contracts worth approximately $10Mln CDN with Beijing-based EarthSTAR Inc, a subsidiary of EarthView Image Inc, a Chinese geographic information systems (GIS) developer. As outlined in the October 23rd, 2014 CNW press release "MDA expands RADARSAT business in China," the first contract will extend an existing 2012 non-exclusive agreement for the distribution of RADARSAT-2 imagery data by Chinese government and industry customers, and grant EarthSTAR exclusive distribution rights to RADARSAT-2 data in China beginning November 11th, 2014. The second contract will have MDA construct a ground station in China to receive and process data from the RADARSAT-2 satellite. This station is expected to come online in late 2015. Launched in 2007, the RADARSAT-2 satellite (built by MDA under contract from the Canadian Space Agency) utilizes synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to provide high-resolution imagery for marine surveillance, ice monitoring, disaster management, environmental monitoring, resource management and mapping. 

The call will follow the release of MDA's Q3 2014 financial results at 2 pm PDT.

Brian Orlotti.

MDA continues its strategy of aggressively pursuing contracts with both governments and commercial clients. With a string of successes this quarter (and likely more on the way), the company continues to ride high in the stratosphere of the space industry.

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Brian Orlotti is a Toronto-based IT professional and a regular contributor to the Commercial Space blog.

Hill Times Promotes the 2014 Canadian Aerospace Summit

          by Chuck Black

Graphic c/o Hill Times.

The 50 year old, largely unofficial Canadian partnerships which tied together government, business and academia to define and inform our Canadian aerospace and space activities are about to split apart just in time for the expected Federal election tentatively scheduled for October 19th, 2015. And, the best place to watch the explosion is the fast approaching Canadian Aerospace Summit, which will be held in Ottawa, Ontario from November 18th - 19th.

But while it's an unlikely scenario, that's the subtext of the October 13th, 2014 Hill Times Aerospace Policy briefing, which looked at recent military procurement failures, the new Defence Procurement Strategy, the Canadian Space Agency's (CSA) quest to make the economic case for continued CSA funding and the possibility that the Liberal party could go into the next election as a "renewed voice" for traditional space advocates, especially if they're academics.

The briefing, with several authors writing a variety of articles on topics relating to Canadian aerospace and space activities, contains comments from Green Party MP Bruce Hyer, Liberal MP Joyce Murray, NDP MP Peggy Nash, Conservative Public Works minister Diane Finley and a variety of others.

The key article in the briefing is titled, "Government stalling on purchasing anything under new Defence Procurement Strategy before next election, critics say," and focused on how no purchases have been announced under the new policy since it was implemented earlier this year. The article quoted NDP MP Jack Harris as calling the old system a "shambles" and stating that delays in the implementation of the new system make it difficult to understand what the new strategy means.

A sample offset agreement, with a supplier providing 300 tanks for $400 million dollars, plus a series of direct and indirect offsets. Canadian offset agreements were once calculated in terms of  industrial and regional benefits (IRB) but a recent change in Federal legislation has replaced these credits with industrial and technological benefits (ITB). Graphic c/o Wikipedia.

According to the article, a key component of this new strategy is the replacement of the existing industrial and regional benefit (IRB) credits currently used to insure that economic dollars are spent in Canada for Canadian government programs, with more robust industrial and technological benefits (ITB) credits.

As outlined in the Industry Canada backgrounder on the "Value Proposition and Industrial and Technological Benefits," ITB credits will be mandatory, unlike IRB credits for which no formal enforcement mechanisms exist, and weighted as part of the contract negotiation process. According to the website, "bidders will be motivated to put forward their best industrial plan for Canada, as these plans will be scored on the quality of their Value Propositions."

Jean Christophe Boucher. Photo c/o MacEwan University.

The article also quoted Jean Christophe Boucher, an associate professor of political science at MacEwan University in Edmonton, AB as stating that the new rules reflect a "lack of knowledge" on the part of the government on how to effectively manage large military procurement projects and are also weighted towards industry needs at the expense of academia.

According to Boucher, academics will not "settle on being research assistants for industry." This academic perspective is reflected in two other Hill Times articles focused directly on the CSA.

The article "Liberals look to be a renewed voice for space sector amid cutbacks," focused directly on Liberal party members with direct ties to the CSA, such as former CSA president and current liberal MP Marc Garneau and past CSA director of planetary exploration/ current Liberal candidate for the PQ riding of Dorval-Lachine-LaSalle Alain Berinstain along with Liberal MP and industry critic Judy Sgro, who've suggested, but not quite made explicit, a variety of vague ideas to bolster CSA funding and re-establish the government agency as the go-to hub for space science activities in Canada.

Marc Garneau. Photo c/o parl.ga.ca.

Left unsaid, of course, was any mention of the recent growth of private corporations or commercial space providers such  as SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA), COM DEV International, UrtheCast and others who seem to be driving the current space agenda in Canada, the US and elsewhere or any specifics of the proposed alternative approach.

The second article, "Canadian Space Agency study to make economic argument for space investment," focused on the recent $285,000 CDN CSA contract to Euroconsult North America, a Montreal based consulting firm tasked with developing an "economic argument" for investing in the sort of science experiments the CSA is known for favoring. As outlined in the August 25th, 2014 post "Space Agency Seeks Insight into Space Industry" the finished report is scheduled for presentation to CSA and other government officials, but will not necessarily be released to the public, "by January 30th, 2015."

Justin Trudeau. Photo c/o CBC.

Of course, as outlined in the December 22nd, 2010 post, "Canada's Military Space Policy: Part 2, The Changing Political Landscape," the real history of Canada's space activities goes back to at least the 1960's when successive Liberal governments under Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau (father of current liberal leader Justin Trudeau) withdrew financial support from defence related space projects to concentrate on the development of commercial activities, starting with the domestic satellite communications system through private firms like Telesat Canada.

This focus on commercialization has remained consistent over the following fifty years even through changes of government and isn't likely to change anytime soon, no matter how many ex-CSA employees have managed to develop second careers in the Liberal party. That's also why there are no concrete policy options being discussed; there are simply none being considered. Even the CSA study is still in process and won't be finished before January 2015.

But for those of us who still think there is going to be a fight, the main players will be congregating at the Canadian Aerospace Summit, which will be held in Ottawa, Ontario from November 18th - 19th.

And for those of us who can't wait until November, the Hill Times Aerospace Policy Briefing is available online on the Hill Times website.

Ain't politics grand!

Sierra Nevada "Lawyering Up" to Defend Dream Chaser Space Plane

          by Brian Orlotti

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), the builder of the Dream Chaser orbital space plane, has stepped up its legal fight against NASA in the wake of SNC's not being awarded part of the latest in a series of contracts to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) beginning in 2017.

On Sept 16th, NASA announced its selection of the Boeing Company and SpaceX to receive $6.8Bln USD ($7.6Bbln CDN) in Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts. Of the two, Boeing was contracted to receive the larger share of $4.2 Bln USD ($4.73Bln CDN) with SpaceX getting $2.6Bln USD ($2.93Bln CDN).

The decision has generated controversy since Boeing has received more funding than rival SpaceX for performing the same mission with comparable spacecraft (the Boeing's CST-100 versus the SpaceX Dragon V2) and also because SNC had been considered a favoured candidate.

All three companies had received funding in earlier rounds of commercial crew contracts, which were designed specifically to encourage multiple and redundant designs for less than the cost of traditional single sourced approaches such as the NASA Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). NASA was widely expected to drop at least one commercial crew candidate in the latest funding round.

But on Sept 26th, SNC filed a protest with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) regarding the CCtCap awards and NASA issued a stop-work order shortly thereafter. Then, on Oct. 9th, NASA lifted the order on the grounds that any delay in implementing the CctCap contracts would put the ISS and its crew "in jeopardy."

In response, SNC filed suit on October 15th in the US Court of Federal Claims in Washington, DC for both a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to reinstate the stop-work order. The Court of Federal Claims began hearings on October 17th and has until Jan. 5, 2015, to rule on the case.

At this point, someone decided that the best way to defend against a suit would be to begin leaking confidential documents.

According to both the October 16th, 2014 Innerspace post "Hold On A Minute! SNC Files New Motion for Dream Chaser," and the October 11th, 2014 Aviation Week article "Why NASA Rejected Sierra Nevada's Commercial Crew Vehicle," a leaked memo signed by NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations William H. Gerstenmaier stated that SNC's price advantage was offset by “the lowest level of maturity” of the Dream Chaser's design. The Dream Chaser, according to the memo, faced “significantly more technical work and critical design decisions” than its rivals, and also involved more schedule uncertainty.

The leaked documents also commented on why Boeing was being paid so much more money for doing pretty much the same amount of work as its two competitors.

"I consider Boeing’s superior proposal, with regard to both its technical and management approach and its past performance, to be worth the additional price in comparison to the SNC proposal,” stated Gerstenmaier, at least according to the leaked memo.

Of course, SNC isn't totally dependent on NASA funding to keep the doors open at the Dream Chaser facility.

In December 2013, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) announced a funded study, called the Dream Chaser for European Utilization (DC4EU) program, to investigate ways in which Europe might take advantage of the Dream Chaser crewed space plane technology. As outlined in the January 8th, 2014 SpaceFlight Now article, "Europe eyes cooperation on Dream Chaser space plane," the ESA will also partner with the DLR to study European launch options under the DC4EU program.

Best of all, as outlined in the January 14th, 2014 BBC News article, "Dream Chaser mini-shuttle given 2016 launch date," the Dream Chaser is currently self funded for at least one unmanned orbital test flight in November 2016, using an Atlas V rocket, from Kennedy Space Center.

As outlined in the October 15th, 2014 Space Daily article, "SNC contracted for U.S. military technology demonstrator satellite," the firm also has other product lines and is not likely to drop off the face of the Earth anytime soon.

But there is at least one parallel between SNC's response to the CctCap contract awards and last year's battle between SpaceX and the Jeff Bezos owned aerospace company Blue Origin, over the use of Launchpad 39 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In both cases, a company believing itself wronged through favoritism sought to delay its competitors through legal means, to the detriment of the industry as a whole. In the case of Blue Origin vs SpaceX, aggressor Blue Origin lost.

Brian Orlotti.

Will aggressor SNC succeed in this new dispute? By blocking the progress of SpaceX and Boeing, an SNC victory could hamper the growth of the NewSpace industry.

Only time will tell which path the industry chooses.

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Brian Orlotti is a Toronto-based IT professional and a regular contributor to the Commercial Space blog.

The Growing "New" Canadian Space Industry

          by Chuck Black

Another sign that the nascent Canadian NewSpace industry is coming along very nicely thank you was the announcement last week that Toronto, Ontario based SkyWatch, the April 2014 winner of the 2014 International Space Apps Challenge, had just been accepted into the fall Google for Entrepreneurs Tenancy Program in Waterloo, Ontario.

The SkyWatch application is "a visual representation of data collected from observatories around the world in near real time about reported celestial events in the cosmos," which integrates the data collected into Google Sky, according to Skywatch literature.

As outlined in the October 5th, 2014 Financial Post article, "Five Canadian startups turn to Google for their big push," the Google program is a six month residency and accelerator-style course that allows select start-ups to tap Google’s immense resources, from developers and engineers to big data analytics and marketing expertise, to commercialize and roll-out promising new technologies.

The article also quoted SkyWatch co-founder James Slifierz as stating that “We like to see ourselves as indexing space in the way that Google indexed the Internet. We want to leverage their knowledge about how to handle massive amounts of data.”

But while multiple variations of the Google for Entrepreneurs programs are offered in more than 100 countries, the only Canadian location currently offering the program is in Waterloo, a Google engineering base. 

This may be about to change. According to Steve Woods, the Waterloo based engineering director at Google, Canada, "we’re actively looking to expand Google for Entrepreneurs in Canada over the next year or two.”

In Waterloo, the Google for Entrepreneurs program is run in partnership with Communitech, a regional hub for the commercialization of innovative technologies, which has supported nearly 1,000 companies since its creation in 1997 and generated more than $30Bln CDN in revenue.

Expect more of this revenue to derive from NewSpace companies over the next few years. 

Canadian Entrepreneur Returning Rocketry to its Roots

          by Brian Orlotti

Building rockets is an activity that many in the public consider out of reach of individuals; the exclusive domain of governments and multi-billion dollar corporations, but a Toronto-based aerospace engineer is seeking to change that perception by taking rocketry back to its small-scale, craft-based roots.

Testing a small liquid fueled rocket at a Kitchener, Ontario test site. In the background on the left is a trailer containing the testing equipment and storage facilities for the fuel. Photo c/o Michael Viechweg.

Adam Trumpour obtained his undergraduate degree in Engineering Science at the University of Toronto and a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from Ryerson University. Prior to his formal rocketry education, he, like many others bitten by the space bug, built model rockets.

Dissatisfied with off-the-shelf model rocket parts, Trumpour moved into amateur rocketry, building his own test stand and small liquid-fueled rockets.

Trailer and test stand. Photo c/o A Trumpour.

During his undergrad years, Trumpour worked as a volunteer with the Da Vinci Project, a Toronto-based team working to build a balloon-launched suborbital passenger rocket (dubbed "Wild Fire") in a bid to win the Ansari X-Prize. During his time with the Da Vinci Project, Trumpour helped design and build a 1000-lb nitrous oxide-parrafin hybrid rocket engine demonstrator.

In the wake of The Da Vinci Project's 2004 X-Prize loss to Scaled Composites (its hardware having never flown), many of the teams' engineers chose to band together to form Continuum Aerospace, a space systems research and consulting firm. The Toronto-based Continuum Aerospace would continue development of the technology initially created for the Da Vinci Project. Adam Trumpour was one of its founders,

After completing his Master's degree, Trumpour obtained a position as a Concept Designer at Pratt & Whitney Canada, where he works today. Trumpour is also a consultant to Open Space Orbital (OSO), a group of entrepeneurs working to build an indigenous orbital launch vehicle for Canada and even authored a submission to the 2012 Federal Review of Aerospace and Space Programs and Policies (or "Emerson Report") under the title "Fostering Innovation, Creating New Markets: Novel Approaches to Space Policy and Programs," which discussed government procurement methodologies used in the space industry.

While working for a large aerospace firm by day, Trumpour has found a way to pursue his passion during off-hours, as well. In his garage, Trumpour has built his own machine shop/rocket lab, where he designs and builds liquid and hybrid rocket engines.

This home lab, financed out of his own pocket (and to which the author was kindly given an invitation to see), includes machine tools purchased second-hand or surplus from eBay and various other sources, including a massive 1980's vintage Bridgeport milling machine, a metalworking lathe, and a custom-designed cleanroom-type glovebox for cleaning rocket engine parts.

Most impressive of all is a trailer that Trumpour has customized to act a a mobile fuel depot/service hangar for his home-built liquid-fuelled rocket engine.

With his home-based machine shop, Trumpour seeks to drive home the point that the political, legal and financial constraints that hamper large space companies have left a considerable space open to the do-it-yourself crowd.

Brian Orlotti.

The field of rocketry was born in garage-based workshops, where brilliant tinkerers like Robert Goddard and Hermann Oberth, along with Canadians like Lawrence Manning and Kurt Stehling, laid the foundations of the space age. By reviving the craft aspect of rocketry, Trumpour seeks to revive its creativity as well.

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Brian Orlotti is a Toronto-based IT professional and a regular contributor to the Commercial Space blog.