Kepler Communications announced this week that they had partnered with the UK’s Satellite Applications Catapult on developing a third demonstration satellite and expanding their operations into the UK.

There have been several attempts in the past to start a commercial spaceport from scratch in Canada, but none have reached the milestone of completing and submitting an environmental assessment for review by the jurisdiction in which they want to launch. And while Maritime Launch Services has reached this milestone, there’s still the hurdle of funding to surmount.

Canada has a vibrant astronomy community involved in ground-based and space-based astronomy programs and missions. According to my guest, Rob Thacker, we’re doing ok with ground-based astronomy programs but are failing when it comes to space-based astronomy missions.

Just before the Canada Day long weekend, Governor General Julie Payette announced 105 new appointments to the Order of Canada including three people from the space community; Astronaut Roberta Bondar, cosmologist Neil Turok and former Canadian Space Agency President (acting) Virendra K. Jha.

A Latching End Effector (LEE) ground spare, or as it’s sometimes referred to, the “robotic hand”, and which sits at each end of the Canadarm2, is being launched to the International Space Station (ISS) tomorrow onboard a SpaceX cargo resupply mission.

Rocketry teams from Canada once again won many awards at Spaceport America Cup including the McGill University rocketry team, which won the Genesis Cup as the best overall team.

Last Wednesday the European funded RemoveDebris satellite, a space debris technology demonstration, was deployed from the NanoRacks Kaber deployer on the  International Space Station by astronaut Ricky Arnold.

The federal government’s Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) has sent out notice that is now accepting submissions as part of its annual Pre-Budget Consultation for Budget 2019.

Canada’s mining sector is in need of a long term plan to maintain Canada’s leading position in the industry as well as prepare for the future. That’s what provincial and federal ministers agreed to last summer. That plan is called the Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan (CMMP) and consultations are ongoing.

A Science-Metrix Inc. evaluation of the Space Astronomy Missions (SAM) and Planetary Missions (PM) programs for the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Audit and Evaluation Directorate offers mixed results.