It should not have come as a surprise, after all everyone had been warned for months that the budget would see cuts. The fact that the government is spinning the cuts as “savings” still doesn’t change the facts, this budget is a tough one for many and in particular the space sector.

The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) has announced that Toronto will host the 65th International Astronautical Congress in 2014. This is a coup for Canada and comes at a time when the space sector is at a significant crossroads.

Today’s budget offered $5.2 billion in cuts and we now know that 19,200 civil servants will be cut over the next three years with the government asserting that 6,000 of those will be through attrition.

Today is budget day and the government has been clear that this budget will be about cuts to many programs. What does it mean for the space sector?

On his latest stop in Japan as part of an Asian tour promoting all things Canadian, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced several initiatives with the Japanese government that includes a new Canada-Japan Memorandum for Promotion of Space Cooperation.

Canada’s long awaited launch of the NEOSSat and Sapphire satellites will have to wait a little longer, slipping into a Q3 launch, with an anticipated earliest launch date of mid-July.

On the third day of RRM operations, Dextre stowed the Multifunction tool and Wire-Cutting tool inside the RRM module for future operations. (Video: NASA/CSA).

Day 2 of the initial phase of the joint NASA-CSA Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) ended with a historic moment for Dextre, the Canadian-built robotic handyman on board the International Space Station (ISS). Dextre spent the better part of the day successfully releasing 7 launch locks that fastened 4 tool adapters (built by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center) inside the RRM module during their flight to …

After completing operations with the Multifunction Tool, Canadarm2 repositioned Dextre to cut the first of two wires, each about as thick as four sheets of paper. With surgical precision, and only about a millimetre of clearance, Dextre captured the wire in the Wire-Cutting Tool (1:14-1:32). The Canadian-built robotic handyman then cut the thin wire (1:44-2:03) that fastened a mock gas cap to the RRM module …

The second day of Dextre’s most demanding mission wrapped up successfully on March 8 as the robotic handyman completed his three assigned tasks. Dextre successfully retrieved, inspected and stowed three of the four specialized tools built specifically for the Robotic Refueling Mission by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre.