Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation (CSMC) and Telesat signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Tuesday at the CANSEC defence exhibition, establishing a partnership to integrate Telesat’s Lightspeed low Earth orbit (LEO) network with CSMC’s planned Arctic microreactors.
The agreement focuses on using Telesat’s upcoming Lightspeed constellation to provide the secure, low-latency connectivity required for the remote monitoring, operation, and sustainment of CSMC’s nuclear systems in high-latitude environments.
“Telesat has a long history of delivering mission-critical communications for governments, enterprises, and communities, including in Canada’s North,” Telesat President and CEO Dan Goldberg said in a statement. “We look forward to supporting their deployment and operations with secure, resilient connectivity in remote and Arctic environments.”
While the official announcement outlines a broad framework for technical discussions and pilot activities, CSMC CEO Daniel Sax provided concrete operational targets during a subsequent interview on BNN Bloomberg.
Sax stated the company is pushing to deploy its systems at “fleet scale” across multiple sites by 2030. This aggressive commercial timeline is driven by immediate defence requirements and hard logistical ceilings in the North.
“We have maxed out our ability to bring diesel into the Arctic,” Sax said, highlighting the environmental and logistical limits of current fuel supply chains. “This is also about building infrastructure ahead of the need for the government.”
NATO integration and defence contracts
The technical core of the MOU centers on data integrity and cybersecurity. Sax said that CSMC has been developing “cyber secure operational software with NATO“. The objective of the Telesat partnership is to integrate this operational software directly with the Lightspeed network’s satellite and laser links to securely transmit reactor data.
The collaboration leverages the unique positioning of both companies within the Canadian defence ecosystem. Sax described Telesat Lightspeed as “clearly the choice for DND and the Canadian Armed Forces,” while noting that CSMC currently holds the “only DND contract in the nuclear sector in Canada”.
Aligning with federal infrastructure goals
The push to commercialize deployable microreactors is tightly aligned with broader federal policy. During the broadcast, Sax anchored the company’s efforts to the stated objectives of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s administration.
“If you look at some of the goals and ambitions that the federal government and Carney’s government has talked about building ports, infrastructure, defense infrastructure in the Arctic… That all requires energy,” Sax said.
To fund this rapid expansion, CSMC is actively raising capital and scaling its workforce, with Sax noting that an Initial Public Offering (IPO) remains an opportunity on the radar as a future option.