For it’s fiscal year (FY) 2022-23, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) spent just over $498.2 million, it’s highest level ever, eclipsing its previous high of $409.1 million in FY 2011-12. And fiscal year 2023-24 planned spending of $537.4 million, should it hold up, would surpass the new high.
The data comes the recently released CSA 2022-23 Departmental Results Report.
FY 2022-23 was not only a high mark in spending for the CSA, it also surpassed its planned spending for the first time this century. Planned spending for the FY 2022-23 was set at $388.2 million. The last time the CSA spent more than it planned to was in FY 1999-2000.
Accounting for the additional spending, and not coming as a surprise, was the investment Canada is making in it lunar initiatives.
It should be noted that the CSA actually had $615,431,241 in “total authorities available for use” in FY 2022-23. The CSA stated that “the Agency lapsed $115.3 million in 2022–23 of which 96% ($111.2M) was mainly related to capital project funding envelopes (including the risk budget) that are rolled over year to year until the project is closed. This is an inherent part of projects within the Canadian Space Program and for 2022–23 99.55% of lapsed funds are reprofiled to future years.”
And while FY 2023-24 may provide another record spending amount, the following fiscal year, 2024-25, planned spending is set at $328.3 million.
Spending variances depend on the stage of CSA initiatives currently underway. The CSA puts its this way, “The planned spending variances in 2022-23 to 2024-25 are mainly attributable to investments in the Canada’s participation in the ISS until 2024, which includes MSR (Mars Sample Return), investments in LEAP, as well as the smart robotic system Canadarm3, which is the Canadian contribution to the NASA-led Lunar Gateway Program, announced in Budget 2019.”
Canada’s spending on its lunar initiatives in part depend on the status of programs in the U.S. that Canada is participating in. This includes the Artemis program which is facing continuing delays due in part to technology development and budgetary issues. As well, the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program is behind schedule with the first mission failing and the second set for launch NET February 14. Canada’s Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP) relies on programs like CLPS to get its payloads to surface of the Moon.
FY 2022-23 RESULTS
The report lists programmatic results in 3 areas:
Result 1: Canada remains a leading spacefaring nation
Result 2: Space information and technologies improve the lives of Canadians
Result 3: Canada’s investments in space benefit the Canadian economy
Note, the full scope of the results are too numerous to list in full here, however here a few items.
Result 1: Canada remains a leading spacefaring nation
- The year 2022–23 marked a definitive step towards establishing a permanent presence on the Moon. The Lunar Gateway, led by NASA, represents a crucial advancement in humanity’s quest to travel beyond the Moon and onwards to Mars. This space station in lunar orbit will be a rendezvous location for space exploration on the surface of the Moon. Canada’s contribution, Canadarm3, is essential to lunar missions: with its highly autonomous robotic system, it will use cutting-edge software to perform tasks around the Moon without human intervention. In 2022–23, Canada advanced the design Canadarm3 to ensure it meets the technical requirements for the Lunar Gateway station. Another benefit to participation in Gateway is access to deep-space science. In May 2022, the CSA also launched the Gateway Science and Technology Utilization initiative for the development of concept studies in preparation of the use of the Lunar Gateway Station. Proposals were evaluated and five concept studies contracts were issued in 2023–24.
- In the meantime, the robotic arm Canadarm2 and the versatile handy robot Dextre continued to operate on the ISS, for a combined total of approximately 1,210 active hours. Canadarm2 was used for inspection, capture and berthing of visiting vehicles, as well as for inspections and surveys on the ISS itself. Dextre played an integral role in station maintenance and scientific research. Finally, Canadarm2 was used to support a total of six spacewalks.
- As part of Canada’s participation in the Lunar Gateway, Canada secured an astronaut flight into deep space on the Artemis II mission, making Canada the first international partner to fly around the Moon, taking humans to their furthest distance yet from Earth. Inspiring Canadians and nourishing national pride, the Artemis II mission will be the culmination of decades-long international collaboration with NASA. Built on the success of the Artemis I flight test, this 10-day mission onboard the Orion spacecraft will further solidify Canada’s presence in space and its international position in the space domain. Since this is the first Artemis flight with a crew, the astronauts will play a critical part in validating the concept of operations for future Artemis missions, participating in some test and development activities as well as the formal standalone training and simulations with the flight control team. Canada, as a responsible space nation, is a signatory of the Artemis Accords—a political commitment to conduct deep space exploration safely, sustainably and with full transparency.
- Throughout 2022–23, the CSA continued activities with planetary exploration on Mars. The Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument has been operating successfully for the past 10 years on the NASA-led Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. The Curiosity rover, and more specifically the APXS, has been essential in investigating the past and present habitability at the Gale Crater landing site by analyzing samples of the Martian surface. Through the CSA’s continued support of APXS, in the last 355 Martian days (365 Earth days), it has investigated 146 scientific targets of interest and has been powered on for 13 days and 20 hours. NASA’s MSL mission was extended to March 2026 which resulted in the CSA also extending the contract for APXS science operations to cover MSL Extended Mission 4 and ensure the continuation of APXS’s excellent science.
- In 2022–23, the CSA incentivized the private sector to develop new products and services for commercial markets in space exploration through the Lunar Surface Exploration Initiative (LSEI). In May 2022, seven contracts for concept studies were awarded to Canadian companies targeting a wide variety of technical areas to determine a suite of potential Canadian contributions to human spaceflight and lunar surface exploration. LSEI’s activities ensure that Canada remains a leader in future space exploration ventures with an eye to harnessing space to solve problems on Earth through cross-sectoral collaborations.
- In support of Canada’s Strategy for Satellite Earth Observation (SEO), the CSA has further enhanced its collaboration and consultation with the national and international Earth observation community. Most notably, the CSA’s National Earth Observation (EO) Forum in 2022, with more than 200 participants, engaged wide range of stakeholders and identified three common themes deserving of increased support: fostering collaboration, retaining and developing talent, and improving data access. Forums like these are essential to the CSA’s ability to work with domestic and international partners.
- In autumn 2022, over 6,985 students across the country in grades 6–8 (aged 11–13) entered the Lunar Rover Research Challenge, a competition centred on planning a rover mission to seek ice deposits on a mock lunar landscape. The winners of the first edition of the Challenge earned the opportunity to command a rover prototype and execute their own mission in a simulated lunar environment. This project is a nod to the Canadian rover that will explore the lunar south pole by 2027 in search of water ice.
Result 2: Space information and technologies improve the lives of Canadians
- In October 2022, Canada announced that the CSA will take part in the Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) mission led by NASA. Canada’s contribution to the AOS is the High-altitude Aerosols, Water vapour and Clouds mission (HAWC), consisting of two Canadian instruments on a Canadian satellite and a third on a NASA satellite. These instruments will provide critical data to support extreme weather prediction, climate modelling, and monitoring of disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, wildfires and extreme precipitation. In 2022–23, Canada supported NASA’s successful AOS mission concept review. In collaboration with academia, the CSA continued building the framework for the HAWC mission science and application development, as well as the preparatory work with industry. The data produced by HAWC and AOS will be fully open and accessible to the general public.
- The Earth Observation Service Continuity (EOSC) initiative seeks to investigate and articulate cost-effective solutions ensuring synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery service continuity through a balanced portfolio of commercial data sourcing, international partnerships, and maximizing the use of free and open public domain imagery, as well as sovereign capabilities to address the ever-growing needs of Canadians. To support the investigation of solutions, the CSA, supported by key departments, has engaged industry through four concept studies, established the foundations for ongoing and future partnerships with international space agencies, and coordinated numerous comprehensive analyses, all of these activities aim to determine the best way to ensure SAR service continuity post-RCM. Additionally, more than 10 advanced research and development (R&D) projects totalling $10M were awarded to the Canadian space sector. These projects are aimed at enabling the strategic capabilities of the next generation of Canadian satellite.
- Health Beyond aims to collaboratively identify and develop innovative and sustainable medical solutions as part of evolving the healthcare delivery model currently used in low-Earth orbit for deep space. The flagship element of this initiative is the Connected Care Medical Module (C²M²), a modular integrated healthcare solution that can operate in both connected and remote environments. Following a competitive process, five Canadian companies were selected to build prototypes of the C²M². Each company will produce their own versions of a C²M². The CSA is also building relationships with healthcare authorities in Northern and remote communities to define the best approach for demonstrations of healthcare solutions in a remote environment. The unique, isolated, and extreme environment of space provides research opportunities to find innovative solutions to healthcare challenges shared by astronauts and people living in remote communities.
- In 2022–23, the CSA along with its partners, the Privy Council Office (PCO) and Impact Canada, continued running the Deep Space Healthcare Challenge. This challenge seeks to create new detection and diagnostic technologies that will help support front-line workers in remote communities in Canada and crews on deep-space missions. Given that remote communities and deep space astronauts face many of the same challenges when it comes to accessing healthcare, advisors from Indigenous Services Canada and the First Nation Health Authority have been involved in the challenge to help innovators understand the needs of Indigenous peoples in remote communities. In April 2023, five teams, including an Indigenous-led organization, were announced as finalists.
- The Deep Space Food Challenge seeks to develop food production technologies and systems that can tackle the challenge of food security in rural and harsh environments as well as in deep space. This challenge will build knowledge and create capacity for sustainable agriculture, which is aligned with SDG 2: support a healthier and more sustainable food system. Phase 2 of the challenge was completed in April 2023 and four finalists have advanced to Phase 3.
Result 3: Canada’s investments in space benefit the Canadian economy
- In 2022–23, the CSA launched another wave of investments through the STDP (Space Technology Development Program) funding initiative. These investments support the development of Canadian industrial capabilities in space technologies to expand the commercial potential of Canadian space companies and reduce technological unknowns. In 2022–23, 29 Canadian companies received funding for 30 R&D projects and three technology demonstrations in space projects for a total investment of $23M. Furthermore, 34 projects funded in previous years were completed in 2022–23 which enabled Canadian space companies to increase their readiness level and commercial potential.
- The LEAP aims to provide opportunities for Canadian scientists and to foster innovative ideas in the lunar context. The scientific and technological advancements stemming from LEAP are expected to generate tangible benefits for the Canadian economy. In November 2022, a Canadian company was selected to build the Canadian lunar rover and develop the Canadian payloads. The lunar rover will be designed to survive the lunar night and to gather scientific data. This data will then be used to help find water ice, a key component needed for the future of human space exploration. It will also allow scientists to better understand the lunar geology and environment.
- In 2022–23, the CSA launched three other ISC challenges focused on technologies related to space robotics. The first two, Proximity Sensor System for Space Robotics and Visual AI for Space Robotics Obstacle Detection, were launched in August 2022. The third challenge, AI for Space Robotics Auto-Diagnostics and Early Failure Prediction, was opened in September 2022. The technology advancements produced by these challenges will improve the autonomy of future space robotic systems and could also be applied to other Canadian industries, such as underground mining.
- The CSA, through the smartEarth funding activity, has supported the downstream space sector so that it can build its expertise to take advantage of all the opportunities offered through space. The improved accessibility and availability of space data combined with advances in analysis technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and high-performance computing, creates more opportunities for the development of cutting-edge solutions to address current and future challenges on Earth. The smartWhales initiative is one example. Led by the CSA in collaboration with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Transport Canada, it is a space-based solution to detect and monitor the presence of North Atlantic right whales and predict the movement in Canadian waters.
Read below or download the CSA’s 2022-23 Departmental Results Report.
Editor’s note: We corrected the first paragraph to include the correct fiscal year for the planned spending of $537.4 million.