Com Dev International‘s CEO gets fired but shouldn’t feel lonely since up to 5% of the firms labour force could be joining him on the unemployment lines due to ongoing problems with government satellite contracts. Meanwhile Carleton University sets up a Canada-India centre of excellence in science, technology, trade and policy and an ex-french paratrooper living in North Battleford plans to skydive from 120,000 feet. …

Our Prime Minister again endorses RadarSat Constellation, then reminds us that he increased Canadian Space Agency (CSA) funding in March 2010 so funding delays are now “a thing of the past,” just so long as nobody needs any cash until next year, which may or may not be good news for Com Dev International which warned investors on August 26th of continued cost-growth problems with …

The Winnipeg Free Press reminds us that the Canadian aerospace industry has always straddled a dense political minefield while European based independent advocate Catherine Laplace-Builhe promotes the Canadian Space Agency (or at least she did until US based Facebook shut her down) and the Canadian contractor for the upcoming ExoMars mission reminds me personally that they consider their Canadian contribution to be “significant” and something …

With the Wall Street Journal reporting that shrinking budgets and national rivalries are slowly undermining European space programs and the Asia Times noting that the cash strapped National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is still able to find US$30 million in new funding for Google Lunar X-Prize (GLXP) contestants and the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility (ISSF) opening it’s Canadian Arctic doors to collect data for …

Canadian Space Agency President Steve MacLean tells the Winnipeg Free Press that his cash poor agency is developing a space policy which lines up behind the Obama administration, the Washington Post tells it’s readers that the cash poor U.S. space policy is already lined up on “a collision course with itself” due to a lack of funding and cash flush private satellite operator SES publicly …

It’s the summer silly season and signs of life in Ottawa and at the John H. Chapman Space Centre in the sleepy Montreal south shore suburb of Longueuil are noticeably absent. So thank goodness for the joint European Space Agency (ESA)/NASA ExoMars mission, expected to hunt for signs of life on the red planet during 2016-2018, which yesterday announced a series of mission instruments for …

Thank goodness we’re not the American’s because US space competitiveness has eroded in each of the past three years according to the Futron Space Competitiveness Index, which considers Russia the big winner in space because of its recently doubled space budget and focus on monetizing national space investments but which also concedes that Europe, Japan, China and India are also expanding their activities. So how …

India launches a Norwegian micro-satellite built by a Canadian university without any help from the American space program, which insists that it’s “not dead yet” as the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee “unanimously” approves legislation adding an extra shuttle mission and development funds for their proposed heavy-lift rocket while the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) just might possibly have said something if it wasn’t …

Julie Payette ponders her possible future as an ex-astronaut while pundits and commentators speculate on whether current astronaut Chris Hadfield will return to space anytime soon and everyone else seems to want the Russians to launch more rockets. All that and more on this second day after Canada Day, this week in space for Canada.

Engineering job fairs proliferate all along the Florida “space” coast as the US shuttle program winds down, while in Canada alternative space propulsion gains momentum and I personally have to “apologize profusely” as the Canadian Space Agency becomes a paying customer to launch the upcoming “CASade, Smallsat and IOnospheric Polar Explorer” (CASSIOPE) satellite on a Falcon-9 rocket. All that and more, this week in space …