The North American Space Institute (NASI), Canada’s new space technician school, is reorienting towards a more continental approach.
NASI recently announced a new partnership with two American organizations, Learning Exchange Inc (LEXX) and Alliance Cyber, with a goal of standardizing their offerings across both the United States and Canada and helping space technicians to lend their skills to companies and agencies in both countries.
Certified space workforce
NASI is a space-focused educational startup founded by former Canadian Space Agency (CSA) technologist Michael Graham (NASI CEO) last year, and is seeking to become “the national platform building Canada’s certified space workforce.”
They’re running several courses focused on training space-related skillsets, but the most notable is their Space Systems Technician (SST) program, which is the first space technician program certified by the Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace (CCAA).
Graham realized the need for specialized technician training when he was working at the CSA, where he found himself training scientists and engineers on technician work, and learned from conversations with industry figures that space-related SMEs were looking for ready-to-go space technicians. So Graham worked with the CCAA to build the space systems technician certification, and founded NASI with Aaron Topple, COO and others to begin with the training.
Their first cohort of students in the SST is on schedule, Topple said, adding that “the cohort is on track.”
American expansion
The company has now made it clear why they chose the name “North American Space Institute,” with two new partnerships aimed at an expansion into the US market.
Graham described the expansion as “the integration of Canadian technical precision with American scale and defense standards.” In that light, Graham said, they would be “aligning our curriculum with [U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)] 8140 workforce frameworks, creating a single, interoperable standard for space technicians across the continent.”
Graham added that it would help to build the “human infrastructure for the North American aerospace sector,” through the “unification of the North American space workforce,” in order to resolve what he called a “space workforce gap” that affects both countries.
While integrating American and Canadian standards may seem daunting, the DOD 8140 frameworks are actually somewhat different than the CCAA standards NASI already works from. Instead of being focused on aerospace workers, DOD 8140 specifies a framework for training and accreditation of DOD’s “cyberspace workforce.”
They may seem unrelated, but cyber operations routinely involve the space domain and vice-versa, so the cross-training does make sense. And it underlines the role of LEXX in the expansion, as they offer online CMMC certification courses that are “aligned with DOD cybersecurity standards.”
As to Alliance Cyber, which focuses more on cybersecurity, Graham said that this was connected to NASI “deploying our VR-enabled ‘Space Systems Technician’ (SST) certification immediately into the U.S. market.”
When asked about this new VR-enabled offering and how it would enable this American expansion, however, Topple did not elaborate. He said only that we should “stay tuned.”
Topple said that there shouldn’t be too many issues with incorporating the DOD framework. He granted that there may be “small refinements required to aid in adoption” of the new standard, and some challenges related to “some bureaucracy where diligence is required.” Topple said that he still believes that this refinements will mostly consist of “developing the program and providing context to formal requests.”
Despite this expansion to the United States, Topple emphasized their commitment to the CCAA relationship, saying that the CCAA has a “world leading reputation for excellence.”
Topple did say, however, that this expansion was always part of the plan. “Our strategy is to capture the North American market,” he said, and that the expansion is aimed at “creating something that has been badly needed in an industry with limited infrastructure.” He said that these new relationships with LEXX and Alliance Cyber “add significant value and expertise to NASI and our mission,” and will be “instrumental” in the expansion of their curriculum across North America.
“The technology moves fast,” Topple said, “so the people need to as well.”
Ongoing question about worker mobility
A key question, however, is on worker mobility. Aligning the standards across North America would suggest that companies in both countries could take advantage of the broader international workforce. That would seem to be part of NASI’s plan: Graham said in the announcement that “we currently face a shortage of 58,000 qualified technicians across North America…NASI is moving to close that gap.”
Graham stated that companies will be able to draw on “day-one ready technicians,” ones that are appropriate for “NORAD modernization.”
But even leaving aside the question of “NORAD modernization” in light of growing strains in the Canada-US relationship, Canadians are still barred from a wide variety of American space sector work due to ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) restrictions. While Canadian companies can get some ITAR exceptions, Canadian workers are still largely barred, raising the question of how companies in the United States can benefit from these “day-one ready technicians” if they’re Canadian.
Topple didn’t comment on the ITAR problem, and said that, despite Graham’s comments about NORAD in the announcement, “we would prefer not to make any additional comments.”
Nevertheless, despite these questions about labour mobility, Topple did say that “space uniquely stand[s] as a sector that bridges nations,” and that he believes that “our programming enables the industry across the globe.” At the moment, however, “we are simply focusing on the North American market,” adding that they are “ensuring interoperability with the dominant nation in the sector.”