The Canadian Space Agency got the green light to go ahead with the RADARSAT Constellation Mission as reported earlier. The governments Economic Action Plan provided the Canadian Space Agency with $110 million over three years in last years budget. Of that, it was reported that $10 million had been committed while another $36 million will be committed this year. The $36 million for this year …
Read More »
Today’s budget from the government provides the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) with $397 million of new money to help fund the RADARSAT Constellation Mission over 5 years. Along with $100 million that the CSA already has, the CSA will have a total of $497 million for the project. The bulk of the spending will happen after 2011-2012. This project which had already been in the …
Read More »
The Conservatives Governments throne speech today, in advance of tomorrow’s budget, only hinted at possible increased funding for Earth Observation for Arctic sovereignty. The text of the speech which dealt with space was rather vague as you can see. “Canada has been a spacefaring nation for nearly 50 years. Our Government will extend support for advanced research, development and prototyping of new space-based technologies, especially …
Read More »On March 4th the federal government will release what is expected to be a frugal budget. This is in part is due to lower tax revenues. The December 2009 deficit was $3.1 billion with revenues down $19.4-billion and program expenses up $22 billion. With revenues down and the deficit climbing the government has signaled that there will be few new spending initiatives and that some …
Read More »This week in space for Canada is all about an American, Michael Swartwout, an Assistant Professor of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering at Parks College, St. Louis University who recently wrote a fascinating article on “The promise of innovation from university space systems: Are we meeting it?” for the October 12th, 2009 issue of the Space Review where he talks about university faculties launching space satellites. …
Read More »
The Ottawa Citizen article “Rocket Science” which appeared in yesterday’s paper was over simplified and got even some of the basic facts wrong. I do however agree with the message of the article that the Government, and in particular Minister of Industry Tony Clement, needs to be proactive and release a new Long Term Space Plan for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
Read More »Back in September 2008, when Steve MacLean became head of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), industry and science experts expected a long-term space strategy document would be developed and released almost immediately in order to provide a long delayed “way forward” and focus Canadian activities. Unfortunately, no report has ever been released (although one is still promised). Instead we have private citizens, individual organizations and …
Read More »Last week in space for Canada was all about watching the Americans figure out what they’re going to do with their broken, bleeding and bankrupt national space program. US President Obama has spoken and now we know his intentions so this week in space for Canada is all about beginning the inventory of Canadian firms and organizations that could benefit from this change of focus …
Read More »Pierre Trudeau, addressing the Washington, D.C., Press Club in 1969 said “Living next to you [the U.S.] is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt” and he was absolutely correct. In 1969. That’s why this week in space for Canada is all about watching the Americans figure …
Read More »The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada issued the following information for its members. Over the last decade the striking ethereal glow of Green Laser Pointers (GLPs) has become a familiar sight at astronomy education and public outreach (EPO) events, from star parties for beginners to sky-at-night tours around astronomical installations. With the beam of a GLP an astronomy educator can direct an audience unerringly to …
Read More »
SpaceQ Space news and analysis.