There’s good news for Canada’s nano/microsatellite developers as SpaceWorks Commercial has just released a study indicating demand for nano/microsatellites is increasing significantly.

NASA’s Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the “habitable zone,” the region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count.

The latest edition of Space Quarterly magazine is available. In this issue we’re focusing on space policy along with updates on Canada’s rover program, one of Canada’s next satellites to be launched, NEOSSat and COM DEV’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) satellite constellation. In our new Leaders section we interview Futron founder and CEO Joe Fuller who tells us about why he started his company and …

The government announced today after holding a roundtable discussion in Charlottetown, that further pre-budget consultations with business, academic and sectoral leaders will take place in the New Year at venues across the country, details of which are still forthcoming.

At 10:02 a.m. Eastern time on a beautiful fall day a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), otherwise known as the Mars Curiosity rover, was launched on its nine month journey to Mars. On board is a Canadian contribution in the form of the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument.

The following is an excerpt from an article that appears in the next issue of Space Quarterly Magazine to be released on December 1. Following the excerpt is the table of contents for both the Canadian and U.S. editions. Moon, Mars or Bust, Canada’s Space Sector at a Crossroads Again A little over three years ago Jim Prentice, then the Minister of Industry, named Dr. …

Expedition 29 Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov, NASA Flight Engineer Dan Burbank and Russian Flight Engineer Anatoly Ivanishin launched on the Russian Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft on November 14, 2011, (November 13 in the United States) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to begin a two-day journey to the International Space Station.

Expedition 29 has been given the green light for launch today at 11:13 p.m. EST to the International Space Station. Onboard the Soyuz spacecraft will be Commander Anton Shkaplerov, NASA Flight Engineer Dan Burbank and Russian Flight Engineer Anatoly Ivanishin.

The Canadian Space Agency is preparing for a possible budget cut, one which could significantly affect the agency. The possible cut comes as no surprise. After all, the government has indicated many times this year that cuts to all departments were possible. What was not expected is the possible size of the cuts.

The Canadian Space Agency released its 2010 State of the Canadian Space Sector Report yesterday. The report indicates that revenues in the sector were up 14% over the 2009 and reached $3.4 billion and that 692 new positions were added to the sector, an increase of 9.2%.