The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) wants to support more commercial projects in space. To that end it is preparing to announce an opportunity that would provide up to $2 million per project.
The CSA has posted this pre-announcement of opportunity (AO) to prepare companies for the upcoming AO.
Ahead of the AO the CSA is looking for organizations to submit their comments or suggestions by December 17, 2021 to pdts-stdp@asc-csa.gc.ca.
When announced, the AO will have $8 million in funding. The AO will be open until March 29th, 2024.
The CSA provided the following purpose for the announcement:
In the last decade, the Canadian space community has expressed, through forums, conferences, working groups, and more recently through the CSA’s Request For Information, the need for frequent and accessible demonstration opportunities for innovative space technologies. The space scene has changed in recent years as several new platforms and launch providers have appeared and the use of CubeSat as a cost-effective solution is increasingly used for space demonstrations and validations of new technologies.
Technology demonstration, for the purpose of this Announcement of Opportunity (AO), means to demonstrate technologies in space. A technology may require a specific demonstration: to gain flight heritage for potential commercial sales, for validation, for an eventual scientific experiment, to demonstrate a new product, service or application. More specifically, this AO will support the development of a proto-flight model, its adaptation, delivery, integration, launch and demonstration.
In light of the above, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is informing the Canadian space sector of its intention to proceed with the posting an Announcement of Opportunity to specifically support it with funds to demonstrate new technologies in space, before December 2026. This AO will award non-repayable contributions of up to $2M per project, that expect benefits in the short to medium term (e.g. 1 to 5 years).
The potential AO to be published is described briefly in section 2.
The objectives of this notice are the following:
- To inform the Canadian space sector of the planned posting date and content of this AO;
- To enable the Canadian space sector to comment on the described AO;
- To give the Canadian space sector the time to consider collaborations or partnerships with other firms, universities or research centers (not mandatory but encouraged).
- Comments and suggestions will not be used for a formal assessment; however, they could potentially be used in the final preparation of the AO. No additional exchange on the subjects raised should be expected.
The CSA encourages any interested organization to submit comments or suggestions in response to this notice no later than December 17th 2021; however, participation in this notice is neither a condition nor a prerequisite for participation or being selected for funding in any subsequent AO. This notice will not be used to establish a list of potential applicants for any upcoming AO.