The Canadian Space Agency is allocating $15 million towards a new announcement of opportunity (AO) from the Space Technology Development Program (STDP).
The new AO for space technology development is in the form of industrial capability-building contribution segmented into three areas. The AO follows the same format as other recent STDP AO’s.
The registration deadline for all three AO’s is February 5, 2025 with an application deadline of March 14, 2025. The estimated projects start date is July 1, 2025 and the timeframe of the project is 24 to 36 months.
AO 9.1 Space R&D – Advanced technologies
The first segment is AO 9.1 Space R&D – Advanced technologies with $10 million in available funding and up to $1 million per project.
This AO is geared towards “space technology project(s) that expect commercial potential in the short to medium term (i.e., two to five years).”
The CSA states that these activities are not eligible for this AO and “as they are or will be supported through other funding opportunities”:
- Applications related to developing earth observation data processing solutions, eligible through CSA’s smartEarth initiative.
- Development of space-related medical technologies.
- Development of prospecting and In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) related technologies.
“To be eligible, projects should strive to achieve technology readiness level (TRL) of 5 or 6 at the end of the project and to generate economic benefits in the short to medium term, within two to five years following project completion.”
“Projects aiming at TRLs higher than TRL-6 are not eligible. Initial TRL for eligible projects should typically be between TRL-4 and TRL-5.”
AO 9.2 Space R&D – Small Businesses
The first segment is AO 9.2 Space R&D – Small Businesses with $3 million in available funding and up to $350,000 per project.
This AO is geared towards “space technology project(s) and limited to small companies (up to a maximum or 50 employees).”
The CSA states that these activities are not eligible for this AO and “as they are or will be supported through other funding opportunities”:
- Applications related to developing earth observation data processing solutions, eligible through CSA’s smartEarth initiative.
- Development of space-related medical technologies.
- Development of prospecting and In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) related technologies.
“Projects aiming at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) higher than TRL-6 are not eligible. There is no restriction on starting TRL.”
AO 9.3 Space R&D – Next wave of technologies
The first segment is AO 9.3 Space R&D – Next wave of technologies with $2 million in available funding and up to $500,000 per project.
This AO is geared towards “next wave space technology project(s) that expect commercial potential in the medium to long term (i.e., five to ten years).”
The CSA states that these activities are not eligible for this AO and “as they are or will be supported through other funding opportunities”:
- Applications related to developing earth observation data processing solutions, eligible through CSA’s smartEarth initiative.
- Development of space-related medical technologies.
- Development of prospecting and In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) related technologies.
“To be eligible, projects should strive to achieve technology readiness level (TRL) of 3 or 4 at the end of the project and to generate economic benefits in the medium to long term, within five to ten years following project completion.”
“Projects aiming at TRLs higher than TRL-6 are not eligible. There is no restriction on starting TRL.”
Editor’s note: We’ve corrected the story to update the activities that are not eligible by segment. We had inadvertently published these activities as eligible.