The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has released its 2022-23 Departmental Plan which has planned spending set at $388.3 million for its upcoming 2022-23 fiscal year which starts April 1. That represents a 3.9% decrease in planned spending compared to the previous year.
Planned spending is set at $388,278,379. That’s down 3.9% as compared to its planned spending for the current fiscal year which will end on March 31. The CSA had planned on spending $403,630,672 in 2021-22.
As is the case in recent years, the CSA breaks down its planned spending into two primary sections, Canada in Space and Internal Services.
It plans to spend $329,883,029 for Canada in Space, its programs. Internal Services spending is being set at $58,395,350. Compared to the previous year, Canada in Space spending is decreasing while Internal Spending is going up slightly.
Planned results for Canada in Space
There is one item that caught my attention in the Planned results for Canada in Space section. In it, the CSA department result line item Canada remains a leading space-faring nation has a target of 27 to be achieved by March 31, 2023. That also happens to be the same result as 2020-21, the first year it was tracked. The indicator for this result comes from the “ranking of Canadian Government civil space budget as a share of GDP among OECD and BRIC nations.” Considering how Canada views itself, this target is too low if Canada is to remain a leading space-faring nation. According to OECD data, Canada’s space budget estimate as a share of GDP in 2019 was 0.016%. In comparison, and selecting a few other nations data, the US was 0.243%, India 0.064%, the United Kingdom 0.024% and Australia, before its large increase, 0.009%.
Open Data on authorities, expenditures and planned spending
In looking through the CSA’s 2022-23 Departmental Plan and referencing the links to Open Data, we came across these facts:
- Over the last 5 years, Canadian Space Agency has received average authorities of $438.96 million through appropriation acts and other legislation while actually spending an average of $340.47 million.
- Spending is planned to decrease to $310.49 million by 2024-25.
- Over the past five years, Canadian Space Agency lapsed an average of $98.5 million from 3 votes. On average, 23.0% of the spending authorities granted by Parliament to Canadian Space Agency through an appropriation act have lapsed compared to an average government-wide lapse of 12.0%. Lapsing funds is a normal and expected part of any budgetary process.
As the Open Data states, “lapsing funds is a normal and expected part of any budgetary process.” However, if funds are continually lapsing and not being spent, then it is safe to say that Canada is not spending 0.016% of its GDP on the civil space program. Therefore any discussion on a global context and as reported by the OECD or other organizations that use estimates or planned spending, are not accurately portraying what Canada is actually spending.
Now before anyone gets too pessimistic, there are a couple of other factors to consider. It used to be that much of Canada’s spending on the space file flowed directly through the CSA. That’s not case at the moment. Other departments spend funds on the space file. But more importantly, the Liberal government has bypassed the CSA and funded companies for innovative technology directly. Those funds have been coming from the Strategic Innovation Fund which so far has directed $127.2 million to five companies in the space sector. As well, and notably, both the provincial governments of Quebec and Ontario have in recent years been directly funding companies including Telesat’s Lightspeed Constellation and its partners including MDA. As well GHGSat and NorthStar Earth and Space have received provincial funds.
The other factor is mostly unspent funds for Canada’s lunar program. The bulk of the $2.05 billion allocated over 24 years has yet to be spent. It was just over two weeks ago that the CSA gave MDA the first big slice of the funding, $268.9 million for the Canadarm3 Phase B.
CSA 2022-23 Priorities
The Canadian Space Agency outlined its priorities as follows. They differ slightly from last year.
Priority 1 — Propelling space exploration through the Lunar Program
In 2022–23, the CSA will continue to lay the foundations for sustainable human and robotic exploration. Canadarm3, is Canada’s flagship contribution to the Lunar Gateway — a small space station in lunar orbit — and continues to build on Canada’s proud heritage and leadership in space robotics. Canadarm3 will transform the future of space robotics and will earn Canada two astronaut flights to the Moon, the first of which will be on Artemis II.
Canada’s participation in the NASA-led Artemis program will also open new commercial opportunities for Canadian industry in the new space economy. The CSA’s Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP) is designed to seize on those opportunities, create the jobs of tomorrow, and strengthen Canada’s role as a reliable, competent international partner in space exploration.
- 2021-22 Priority 1 – Lunar Programs
Priority 2 — Adapting to climate change with space-based data
Space-based data is a vital tool in building a cleaner and greener future. It is the cornerstone on which government departments, industry, and academia rely for monitoring vulnerabilities, assessing natural disasters, and engineering cutting-edge solutions to withstand today’s environmental challenges, and those to come. Adaptation supported by scientific knowledge, information and projections is essential to understanding and managing climate risks. Forecast-based action is key for preparing and responding to extreme weather events. In 2022–23, the CSA will pursue multiple Satellite Earth Observation (SEO) and climate change scientific activities. An example of these activities is the work with partners on WildFireSat, a satellite equipped with infrared technology to monitor wildfires from space. In addition, the CSA will work to maximize its 250,000 images acquired annually from the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) to enhance the government’s operations and services, and foster the innovative use of satellite data. To this end, the CSA will increase RCM data accessibility and exploitation. Finally, under the smartEarth initiative, the CSA will fund activities designed to develop advanced space-based products and solutions in line with Canada’s sustainable development priorities and challenges.
- 2021-22 Priority 2 – Engage Young Canadians: Junior Astronauts
Priority 3 —Leveraging deep-space health and food innovations
In 2022–23, the CSA will continue to leverage the innovations developed for deep-space health to deliver benefits on Earth. This work includes the planning of a demonstration site in a remote Northern community to address the common health challenges of terrestrial remote communities and crew in deep space. The CSA will also pursue the Deep Space Healthcare Challenge, a competition to develop new diagnostic and detection technologies for remote communities in Canada and crews on deep-space missions. The CSA will also continue to use humanity’s unique space laboratory — the International Space Station (ISS) — to perform scientific experiments on human health that will bring new discoveries that can yield health-care innovations for Canadians on Earth. The CSA will continue its contribution to the Deep Space Food Challenge, which is designed to tackle challenges related to access to safe, affordable, and nutritious food.
- 2021-22 Priority 3 – Space-Based Earth-Observation and Climate Change Science
Priority 4 — Building a resilient economy
The CSA’s investments in innovative solutions, such as for Canadarm3 and LEAP, will contribute to the diversification of production networks, increasing the sustainability of Canada’s industrial capabilities. Furthermore, investments in innovative applications under the smartEarth initiative will contribute to the advancement of Canadian capabilities in providing value-adding solutions capable of transforming space-based data into information products and services. This will enable Canada to benefit from the projected economic growth of the power of data.
Through the Space Technology Development Program (STDP), the CSA will launch another wave of investments to support the development of Canadian industrial capabilities in the area of space technologies for the purpose of expanding the commercial potential of Canadian space companies.
- 2021-22 Priority 4 – CSA’s Contribution to COVID-19 Economic Recovery
Spending by program
Since the government changed the structure of the Departmental Plans several years ago it is difficult to ascertain spending for each program. The lack of transparency is not consistent with the governments stated Open Data policy.
What we can report is the CSA will transfer $37,672,000 to the European Space Agency as part of its contribution under the existing cooperation agreement. In the coming year the CSA plans to evaluate the current agreement in preparation for a new agreement.
We can also report that the CSA planned spending for is Grants and Contribution Program is $47,908,950. Of that, the grants portion is $14,975,000 and the contributions portion is $32,933,950. The Grants and Contribution Program is used “to Support Research, Awareness and Learning in Space Science and Technology.” This includes programs such as the Space Technology Development Program.