Technology

The Canadian Space Agency has awarded two QEYSSat Phase A contracts to Neptec and COM DEV as Canada looks to establish a space based satellite quantum encryption capability.

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) released the first comprehensive Patents in Space report last week that indicates that Canadian companies, particularly SME’s, could potentially have a technical advantage in the global space sector.

Kepler Communications announced this week that they had partnered with the UK’s Satellite Applications Catapult on developing a third demonstration satellite and expanding their operations into the UK.

Last Wednesday the European funded RemoveDebris satellite, a space debris technology demonstration, was deployed from the NanoRacks Kaber deployer on the  International Space Station by astronaut Ricky Arnold.

Everyone was smiling at MDA’s Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue facility, not only because the government had just announced an investment of $26.7 million through the Space Technology Development Program (STDP), but also because the participants we’re about to see the three RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) satellites before they get shipped for launch this fall. All told, there were 49 projects funded through the STDP from two announcements of opportunities.

The 2018 Humans to Mars Report was released last week at the annual Human to Mars Summit held in Washington, DC. The report reinforced a notional date of 2033 for the first humans to Mars mission.

The Harwell Space Cluster in the United Kingdon is host to 80 organizations with 800 employees. One of those companies is Open Cosmos led by its founder Rafael Jorda Siquier.

This fall Canada will launch three identical large Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission. At the moment they are being integrated at MDA’s Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue facility on the island of Montreal.

Does it seem to you that satellite servicing and small satellites are more frequently in the news? It wasn’t always the case, but many believed it was just a matter of time when these business segments would begin to have an impact. This interview by Eva-Jane Lark from the September 2012 issue of Space Quarterly Magazine is with Jim Armor Major General (retired), one of those believers. A …

The Canadian Space Agency has awarded three contracts to universities related to last years Space Exploration Science Maturation Study and a robotic technology contract to MDA.