Few will remember that on April 8, 1997, twenty years ago tomorrow, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced Canada would be contributing the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator, then called the “Canada Hand”, now known as Dextre, to the International Space Station (ISS). It was a time when Canada was in the “Critical Path” and it was important, let me explain.
Read More »Details Emerge on the New Space Advisory Board
SpaceQ has learned some new details about the forthcoming Space Advisory Board. The board will consist of up to 12 people, likely with representation from across the country.
Read More »The Canadian Space Agency Releases Lunar Surface Mobility Concept Study RFP
As expected the Canadian Space Agency has begun to release the first in series of Request for Proposals (RFP) related to future post-ISS human spaceflight, space exploration and space astronomy with the release of its Lunar Surface Mobility Concept RFP.
Read More »SpaceX Launching From Canada, That’s Wishful Thinking
Yesterday in the Globe and Mail, Micheal Byers floated the idea that SpaceX “needs a spaceport in Canada” to launch a constellation of several thousand small satellites for SpaceX. It’s wishful thinking, it won’t happen and here’s why.
Read More »Presser: In Their Own Words – Elon Musk on Historic Rocket Reusability
Fifteen years in the making. That was a comment repeated several times by Elon Musk during a presser, or press conference, shortly after SpaceX had done what no one had done before, reusing a first stage booster of an orbital rocket that had been previously safely returned from another mission.
Read More »Is the Data Breach by Orbital ATK of SSL Data on a NASA Server Corporate Espionage?
On December 6, 2016 Space Systems Loral (SSL), a subsidiary of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA), was notified by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center that there had been a data breach of their proprietary data on a NASA server. Orbital ATK was responsible. SSL is now suing them, and publicly, it looks bad for Orbital ATK.
Read More »Ex-Alta 1 Will be the First Satellite from Alberta to Launch Into Space Next Week
Next Monday, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida with the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA. The cargo will include the first ever satellite from Alberta, Experimental Albertan #1 or Ex-Alta 1, a CubeSat which …
Read More »MDA’s U.S. Subsidiary SSL RESTORE-L Mission Hits Presidential Roadblock
NASA appears to have been spared a major cut to its budget according to the NASA 2018 Fiscal Year (FY) Budget Blueprint. The Trump Administration’s FY2018 budget blueprint would see less than a 1% cut to NASA’s budget and is proposing it be set at $19.1 billion.
Read More »Video: Keynote Talk by Dr. Nigel Smith, Director of SNOLAB at the Western University Physics Undergraduate Conference
Western University recently held its Physics Undergraduate Conference (PhUnC) which included the keynote talk by Dr. Nigel Smith, Director of SNOLAB. The conference brings together students from Western University with other universities in Southwestern Ontario and some nearby U.S. universities. Undergraduate are provided an opportunity to present their work on a summer research project, honors thesis, or any physics topic of interest, including interdisciplinary physics research. More video from …
Read More »Exclusive: Maritime Launch Services Selects Nova Scotia Site for Spaceport Over 13 Other Locations
Maritime Launch Services (MLS) will announce today that it has selected a site in the Guysborough Municipality near Canso and Hazel Hill, Nova Scotia over 13 other prospective locations for its new commercial launch complex, or spaceport, and expects to break ground on construction within a year.
Read More »