Earth Observation

Stratodynamics Aviation recently announced that its HiDRON autonomous glider had successfully completed a test flight in mid-December to an altitude of 25 km.

Prime Minister Trudeau participated in a live event with students from Rideau Hall in Ottawa this morning with Governor General Julie Payette acting as the moderator as the students posed questions to David Saint-Jacques on the International Space Station.

Canada’s only operational radar satellite, RADARSAT-2, has lost the use of its gyroscope and will now rely on the spacecraft’s three other types of sensors for attitude reference. And in just released news, Maxar announced today that the WorldView-4 satellite control moment gyros have failed and they don’t expect the spacecraft to recover.

When we look back at some of what was expected in 2018 with respect to significant Canadian space events, it’s clear they all delivered, just not always with the expected results.

The recent Canadian Science Policy Conference was an opportunity for those unfamiliar with the current state of Canada’s space policy to learn more.

The Department of National Defence (DND) has awarded $6.7M in contracts to eight companies for the All Domain Situational Awareness (ADSA) S&T Program.

While there are several space conferences of note each year in Canada, there is only one annual event at present that covers a wide range of issues in the civil, commercial and military sectors. That conference is the Canadian Space Summit.

You can add the Earth Observation (EO) community to the list of space communities that need a new long term plan.

In late 2003 the Canadian Space Strategy was published. It was designed to pivot from a Long Term Space Plan to a framework for Canada’s space program.

In today’s article, the fifth in this weeks series on What’s in Canada’s Long Term Space Plans, I’ll present the 1999 National Space Paper which some consider the third Long Term Space Plan.