Earth Observation

Among the 13 recommendations from the Canada – UK Colloquium report, Space: Obstacles and Opportunities, is the recommendation that “Canada should recognize Space as a component in its Critical National Infrastructure”.

After passing over North America, a crew member aboard the International Space Station looked back at the coastline and took this photograph of one of the world’s most famous bays. The image shows the upper 54 kilometers (33 miles) of the 220 kilometer-long (140 mile) Bay of Fundy, site of the highest vertical tidal range on the planet.

Defence Minister Harjit S. Sajjan announced today that National Defence had awarded a contract to MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd (MDA) to deliver the Polar Epsilon 2 system. The delayed project first issued a Request for Information in late 2013.

A Canadian demonstration small satellite, CLAIRE by GHGSat, is scheduled to launch on June 21 at 23:57 p.m. EDT (June 22, 03:57 GMT) on an Indian rocket as part of a secondary payload of smaller satellites to be launched. The primary payload is the Indian Cartosat 2C high-resolution earth observation developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

MaxQ Accelerator Inc., a new not-for-profit company based in Kitchener-Waterloo, today announced it is launching the first dedicated space accelerator in Canada with a pilot program scheduled to start in September.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has released the 2013 State of the Space Sector report. This is the last report that will be using the current methodology. Starting next year the report will use an updated Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) methodology which the CSA contributed to.

The advent of small satellites is not new. For several years small satellites have been on the rise. However, 2015 can be seen as the year small satellite constellations leapt to the forefront of the news with the announcements by OneWeb to launch 900 small satellites and SpaceX to launch up to 4,000 small satellites.

Just two weeks after being sworn in as Canada’s new Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, the Honourable Navdeep Bains, delivered his first keynote speech at the annual Canadian Aerospace Summit organized by the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada.

MDA is the latest high profile company to partner with OneWeb in its effort to build a constellation of over 900 small satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to provide affordable broadband services to areas of the Earth that are underserved.