Tag Archives: This Week in Space for Canada

This Week in Space for Canada

Mississauga-based Microsat Systems Canada (MSCI) announces it’s building a massive (perhaps too good to be true) constellation of 78 small, relatively low-flying satellites designed to relieve network smart phone congestion. Macdonald Dettwiler (MDA) will be “exercising an option” for additional work on the Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital) developed Cygnus cargo spacecraft and even ComDev International gets a new military contract from the US government. All …

Read More »

This Week in Space for Canada

NASA “sole sources” a $31.2 million contract to a US firm to “execute demonstrations” on the Canadian built Dextre robot as the James Webb Space Telescope goes so far over budget as to endanger other NASA programs. This seems only to encourage the beleaguered US space agency to obsess painfully about whether it should be listening to “Homer Simpson” or “Elon Musk.” All that and …

Read More »

This Week in Space for Canada

The Canadian Press quotes Canadian Space Agency (CSA) president Steve MacLean as stating that Canadian astronauts could end up riding to the International Space Station (ISS) on board commercial vehicles but forgets to ask why or how. Former Optech International Director and current Google Lunar X-Prize competitor Robert Richards dodges the fictional Kobayashi Maru test of character by moving to the US, plus potential Telesat …

Read More »

This Week in Space for Canada

NASA follows ESA to put out a call for “commercial suborbital flight services” for microgravity testing, Macdonald Dettwiler (MDA) continues its exceptional run of good luck with government contracts relating to space and military surveillance technologies up 71% from fiscal year 2009 and DEXTRE finally rolls out for duty on board the ISS. All that and my personal best wishes to everyone during the holiday …

Read More »

This Week in Space for Canada

Rocketplane Global‘s CEO George French recalls his failed attempt to build a Space-X competitor with funds from “a Canadian teachers’ pension fund” and academics at the University of Lethbridge attempt a “reawakening of aerospace research in Canada.” Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports a “long awaited revival of nuclear civilian ships” which bodes well for advanced space propulsion technologies. All that and more, this week in …

Read More »

This Week in Space for Canada

Mutually assured exclusion (MAE) certainly seems less crazy than mutually assured destruction (MAD) as a space war doctrine, but both could end up poking eyes out and four papers (three space focused) are retracted amid charges of “self-plagiarism” and “bogus authorship” at Queens University plus launch companies beg NASA to “save the space planes.” All that and more, this week in space for Canada.

Read More »

This Week in Space for Canada

US based Bigelow Aerospace comes to Ottawa to remind our astronauts that they have an alternative ride to orbit and a new place to visit after the shuttle retires. Meanwhile, back in the bureaucracy, our proud Canadian military waits patiently for a new, but not terribly different, space defence policy update and in Saint-Hubert, others prefer to ignore astronauts and businesses to instead focus on …

Read More »

This Week in Space for Canada

While Com Dev International slowly builds its government satellite business, the James Webb Space Telescope gains the reputation of being a “a giant money sponge.” Meanwhile, our own CBC Mother Corp prefers to ignore real space in favour of suborbital stories from long dormant “coulda been” contenders. Brother can you spare a dime to grow my ratings, this week in space for Canada.

Read More »

This Week in Space for Canada

Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement wishes RADARSAT 1 a happy 15th birthday while opposition MP’s start thinking that it might be time to reassess Canadian space policy and Macdonald Dettwiler (MDA) shows the way forward by meeting current RADARSAT milestones and selling off their entire property data unit (even though they sorta said they kinda wouldn’t). All that and more, this week in space for …

Read More »

This Week in Space for Canada

The Hill Times talks about adjusting to space policy changes in the US after Canadian space stimulus money runs out and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) allows Toronto based Engineering Services Inc. (ESI) to keep the intellectual property developed from CSA contracts but the Vancouver based Mohammad Institute for Space Science out does everyone by announcing a Moon based laboratory scheduled for deployment by 2015. …

Read More »