Industry leaders urge Ottawa to accelerate funding for Canadian space sovereignty

Canada’s space sovereignty effort is facing a speed and funding challenge, according to several industry speakers at Space Canada’s SpaceBound conference for industry, but they are willing to pitch in to help Canada in its push to build sovereign space capabilities.”

The speakers are not pointing to something new; Canada is a smaller country, with a smaller tax base, which has created a successful legacy of making niche investments in space as well as collaborative investments among government departments, or with industry. This has been the approach for decades, and proponents say it has worked well with successes such as the Canadarm program.

But what might be changing is the urgency with which industry is delivering the message about effective speed, and industry involvement — as well as government support for industry to gain anchor customers for technology development. For one thing, the defence environment has fundamentally changed in the last few years; between space being identified in the U.S. as a zone of more active activity than ever, and tech providing capabilities such as centimetre-level imaging of satellites or newer PNT capabilities in denied environments, there are ample opportunities for industry to contribute.

There is, however, a large gap. SpaceBound quoted an RBC statistic last year saying that Canada trails at the bottom of ten OECD Space Forum members in terms of the country’s spending as a percentage of GDP. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA), despite periodic boosts of project funding, has seen its budget fall 18% since 2015 (per RBC numbers) to $414 million. (Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly has pledged repeatedly, including at SpaceBound, to put in a permanent CSA president and to provide more support, although details are coming.)

The following industry representatives weighed in at SpaceBound today, Oct. 20:

• Stewart Bain, CEO NorthStar Earth & Space
• Jacques Leduc, CEO Terrestar Solutions
• Patrick Houston, CEO Calian
• Marina Mississian, Senior Director of Global Space Systems at Honeywell Aerospace 
• Mina Mitry, CEO Kepler Communications

The opportunities

Space Canada stated they want to grow the space economy from $4 billion today to $40 billion in 2040, representing a tenfold increase in about 15 years, and invited the industry representatives to comment on possible opportunities.

• Leduc said telecommunications is currently “all about proprietary technology and niche markets, so we’re moving towards mass market and standardized technology.” For example, roughly 75% of Canada’s landmass is not covered, presenting an opportunity for AI-powered satellites.
• Mitry pointed out Canada is spending $26 billion on space-defence-related initiatives, presenting export opportunities, but the challenge is to be globally competitive against initiatives such as Germany’s €35-billion ($55 billion CAD) on its space-defence program (other countries, such as the U.K. and Japan, have also been looking to more military funding.) 
• Bain urged Canada to “be itself,” using technologies and resources with which it is already familiar. While he did not offer specifics, he pointed out that is the philosophy upon which Northstar is built (which does Earth observation and space-object tracking).
• Mississian said Honeywell’s optical communications presents another such opportunity, but what the company is eager to see is domestic launch capability, as well as more chances for industry to contribute instead of buying foreign (such as optical-communications products from Germany). 

Security

The newly released Defence Industrial Strategy has spurred items such as $200 million in spending over 10 years at Maritime Launch Services’ Spaceport Nova Scotia, as well as a funded pledge to support several Canadian companies in developing rockets. Companies urged for certain other directions with the increased funding.

• Houston said Canada should build a “sovereign capability that’s both for commercial and defence purposes,” focusing on boosting the industrial base so that it can sustainably contribute for decades—particularly for technologies with application to the Arctic, which would be a differentiator from other countries.
• Bain urged funding to close “time gaps between when we have an innovation, and we have a realization of that capability that can be commercialized.” He pointed to “bad actor” satellites as an example, with Canada — given its vulnerabilities in the Arctic—needing to invest in technologies that would deter GPS interference. 
• Mississian said space should not only be treated as a national infrastructure, but to be as a pathway for commercialization. The Canadian government should be involved not only in company-building for new contracts, but should find export opportunities similar to what the CSA is already starting to broker with the European Space Agency. While urging Canada to continue to be selective about technology development, Mississian said Canada cannot do it alone, and should use a strategy (which is already present on the defence side, and is coming for the CSA side.) “We do need to have global partnerships where we can offer different things, because I think it becomes a very lonely world if you completely isolate yourself and try to do everything on your own.”
• Leduc pointed out that sovereignty of signals also matters, pointing to SpaceX’s recent moves to buy Grain’s 800 Mhz spectrum in the US. Canada needs sovereign space infrastructure, he said, not only for matters such as wildfire detection, but to allow troops to spot incursions into the Arctic, among other applications.
• Houston urged more investment in sovereignty, so that Canada “should control what we can control” and for Canada to become magnet for attracting capital to scale businesses, similar to what is done in Europe. 
• Mitry pointed to a “global competition” in space, which is why Canada needs to be committed to invest a lot of money. “I think we need to invest very aggressively towards the acceleration where we already have an existing leadership position, and the world is looking to us as a leader in this regard.”

Canadian space strategy

The companies had these recommendations for the Canadian space strategy’s first year.

• Leduc says it should “make sure that we could use each of the component of the value chain because this is the strength of Canada … bring these players [companies] to all work together.” 
• Mitry urged a “commercialization pathway, [to] really enable the growth through the sector”, such as for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in the Arctic.
• Houston said Canada should be clear on the sovereign capabilities it wants, to give a clear signal to industry.
• Bain urged a “culture of how we want to get things done,” and more of an emphasis on putting the user of space tech first—even ahead of the military, if the case warrants it, because the civilian side “needs more support from the government to be able to execute on what the user knows they need.”