Twenty Canadian space companies and organizations will show their technology to European buyers and partners at Space Tech Expo Europe in Bremen, Germany, Nov. 17-19.
A dozen Canadian companies went to the Expo last year on a trade mission organized by the Trade Commissioner Service at Global Affairs Canada. This year’s group has eight more with four returning: Galaxia, Orbital Research, Reaction Dynamics and Square Peg.
The Trade Commissioner Service’s office in Germany is hosting a Canada Seminar and networking event on Nov. 18 at Messe Bremen, with a pitch session where Canadian companies present to potential partners. An online directory of the delegation lists each company with its sector.
Where they come from
Ontario accounts for eight of the companies and organizations, British Columbia and Quebec four each, and Alberta and Nova Scotia two each. MDA Space, Kepler Communications and Calian Group are the best-known names, alongside spaceport and launch companies Maritime Launch Services and Reaction Dynamics.
Nano-Lit Technologies, of British Columbia, has built a circadian lighting system for crewed habitats that has not yet flown, and is looking for partners to qualify it for space. BioAro, an Alberta genomics and digital health company, is pitching health monitoring. RAPPEL Lab is a research group at the Royal Military College of Canada developing satellite propulsion.
Bremen hosts its last show and Canada draws closer to Germany and Norway
Bremen has hosted the show for 11 years, and this edition is its last there before it moves to Frankfurt in 2027. Its organizer, Smarter Shows, bills it as Europe’s largest business-to-business space event. Organizers expected more than 10,000 participants and over 950 exhibitors at last year’s show.
Canada’s ties to Germany have been growing in defence and space. Prime Minister Mark Carney picked Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) in July as the preferred builder of up to 12 submarines for the Royal Canadian Navy, the same Type 212CD design Germany and Norway are buying, and contract talks are still under way. TKMS had brought Munich launch company Isar Aerospace into its bid in May. A day after Carney’s announcement, Isar signed a 10-year, $155-million ($US 112.5 million) deal to have its own launch pad at Spaceport Nova Scotia.
Carney and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the same week that they want a broader partnership agreement by the end of this year, with space among the areas it would cover, The Logic reported. Canada and Norway’s space agencies finalized a cooperation agreement in September, and Norway’s Kongsberg signed agreements with MDA Space and Telesat during the same visit.
The Canadian companies and organizations in Bremen
- ALUULA Composites (B.C.) – high-strength composite textiles
- Aurora Fluid Systems (Alta.) – valves and actuators for propulsion and spacecraft fluid systems
- BioAro (Alta.) – genomics, digital health and AI for health monitoring
- Calian Group (Ont.) – satellite ground systems, mission operations and engineering services
- Candor Industries (Ont.) – electronics manufacturing for aerospace and defence
- Emtar Technologies (B.C.) – chips that steer satellite antenna beams
- FuseRing (Ont.) – metal joining and precision welding
- Galaxia (N.S.) – mission design, systems engineering and payload integration
- Kepler Communications (Ont.) – satellite network relaying data between spacecraft and to the ground
- Maritime Launch Services (N.S.) – developer of Spaceport Nova Scotia
- MDA Space (Ont.) – communications and Earth observation satellites, space robotics
- MPB Communications (Que.) – lasers, fibre optics and photonics
- Nano-Lit Technologies (B.C.) – circadian lighting for crewed habitats
- Orbital Research (B.C.) – radio-frequency and microwave parts for satellite communications
- Perceptive Space (Ont.) – AI forecasts of space weather’s effects on satellites and other systems
- RAPPEL Lab, Royal Military College of Canada (Ont.) – satellite propulsion research
- Reaction Dynamics (Que.) – hybrid rocket engines for small-satellite launch
- Square Peg Technologies (Ont.) – mission software, simulation and AI
- Xiphos Systems (Que.) – space-qualified onboard computers
- Xona Space Systems (Que.) – Pulsar satellite navigation constellation, an alternative to GPS