If you thought the space community was satisfied with the Space Strategy the Liberal government unveiled two years ago, think again. With MDA leading the charge from the industry perspective, CEO Mike Greenley called for a long-term space plan among the short list priorities government should be thinking about.
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (INDU) met this past Tuesday and yesterday for two meetings of a minimum four on the Development and Support of the Aerospace Industry.
On November 5, 2021 during an in camera meeting, that the committee decided to pursue the study “on issues related to the development and support of the aerospace industry.” At the end of the study, the committee will bring forward “its findings and recommendations to the House.”
Aside from Greenley, witnesses that focused on the space sector included Mike Mueller, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Aerospace Industries Association of Canada, and Dan Goldberg, CEO, Telesat.
A good portion of the two meetings were devoted to the aviation sector of the aerospace community.
The committee was clear during questioning that it actionable suggestions on how to support the aerospace industry going forward, both in the struggling aviation sector, and a growing global space sector.
Greeley, Mueller and Goldberg all responded to the topic of the hearing in their prepared remarks, though taking different tactics. Greenley and Mueller took part in the Tuesday, March 9th hearing, while Goldberg was the lone space advocate in yesterday’s hearing.
Mueller’s one suggestion
Mueller was the first to deliver his prepared remarks saying that the AIAC has been trying to get the governments attention for four years “to establish a long-term, nimble, sector strategy.” That strategy is based on their Vision 2025 report which includes space as one component of an overall strategy that is heavily weighted towards the aviation sector. This was to be expected as the AIAC membership is overwhelmingly aviation centric, doesn’t include Telesat, and no longer counts MDA as a member.
Mueller also stated that “we are one of the few aerospace nations WITHOUT such a strategy for our industry.” (Capitals and emphasis as per the AIAC written statement.) While this is the case for the aviation sector, there is a Space Strategy, though not what the community considers a long-term space plan. Mueller did mention the space sector once more in his prepared remarks saying “and with our our export intensity at over 80%, the aerospace and in particular the space sector are a natural fit to help drive Canada’s economic recovery.”
What struck me in Mueller’s prepared remarks is that the committee members will have heard all of it before. Yes, it’s important to reinforce your narrative, but the committee wanted actionable suggestions. That was clear in their questions. The only suggestion in the remarks, albeit an important one, was to create an aviation strategy.
Greenley and the three things
Greenley’s prepared remarks was punctuated by what he said as he finished them. And by ending his remarks the way he did, Greenley set the stage.
“For the continued success of Canada’s space sector and to position Canadian companies for the rapidly expanding global space economy, we need three things:”
- First – We need the Government of Canada to serve as an anchor customer to innovative space companies.
- Second – We need continued investment in technology development and demonstration.
- Third – We need a long term space plan that outlines the government’s planned investments in space, as well as a modern regulatory framework.
It’s worth pointing out that while Greenley did focus on MDA, he did bring the community along, mentioning them as he spoke. His narrative wasn’t all about MDA. This is similar strategy that was effectively used in the Don’t Let Go Campaign led by MDA.
MDA is providing some leadership for the space community, though not everyone appreciates its, or wants it. And with the AIAC going through leadership change, and space always playing a distant second act, there’s a need for a space first industry association to step in. Until that happens, you can expect to see MDA, and to a lesser extent the AIAC, providing leadership.
Goldberg was laser focused … on Telesat
It will come as no surprise that Dan Goldberg’s prepared remarks focused on Telesat and not the industry as a whole. After all, he’s trying to modernize a legacy business for the realities of today and the future of satellite telecommunications. And he’s trying to do it for one simple reason, to stay in business and be relevant.
So his remarks discussed Telesat’s recent commitment to move forward with its low Earth orbit Lightspeed satellite constellation.
The one topic he wanted the committee to pay attention to was the repurposing in Canada of frequencies Telesat has for the use of 5G. This would entail a sale of the spectrum to other parties and which Telesat would use the proceedings for the development of Lightspeed.
“But I’d be remiss if I didn’t raise again with this committee the importance of something we discussed when I appeared before you last November regarding rural broadband, namely the pending proceeding at ISED to repurpose for 5G use certain radio frequency spectrum Telesat presently uses across Canada to provide broadband connectivity to rural and remote communities, broadcast distribution, and important public safety applications for government users, including the North Warning System.”
“As we discussed, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission paid our much larger competitors approximately $16 billion to clear this same spectrum in the United States, spectrum the FCC just auctioned to AT&T and others in the highest grossing spectrum auction in history, raising over $100 billion. Our competitors are now using those funds to invest in satellites and businesses that are directly competitive with Telesat, both here in Canada and around the rest of the world too.”
It should be noted that Telesat “is eligible for US$344 million in payments from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) if Telesat respects the FCC’s deadlines for clearing C-band spectrum over the United States to make way for 5G terrestrial networks” according to a Space Intel Report story.
Not many questions … but a few good ones
Between the two hearings which ran a little over fours, I counted a total of eight questions directed to Greenley and Goldberg.
The first question of relevance was by Liberal MP Ali Ehsassi (Willowdale) who directed his question at Greenley and asked if Can ada is positioned to take advantage of the growing space sector. “You mentioned the new space economy and how it’s currently worth approximately $450 billion, but you estimate in the next decade, it will surpass $1 trillion. So is Canada well positioned insofar as that new economy is concerned? And how do we commercialize on opportunities that would become available?”
Greeley replied “I think that the the key thing is that to recognize that in Canada, we have a strong space sector. As the space sector is emerging and breaking out, the space sector shares a number of the supply chain participants with the aerospace sector, which means that with this rapidly taking off space economy, as we double down on success in that market, you know, we have, definitely the foundation to grow.”
“In terms of having key government programs in the areas of Earth observation in the area of space based communication, and the area of space exploration, as we now start to return to the moon, a society now goes to inhabit the Moon, in 2024, ensuring Canada’s participation and those anchor programs would provide the foundation for us to be able to then further commercialize the outputs of those programs into the market. We are seeing that on Canadarm3 with immediate commercialization opportunities for on-orbit servicing, and space tourism. And we would see that in the other areas of Earth observation, communications as well.”
Another topic was brought up by NDP MP Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke) related to defense and space and also directed to Greenley. Garrison who was sitting in the hearing in place of MP Brian Masse, and who is the NDP’s Defense critic asked, “has there been any approach by the government to aerospace and space industries, about innovative ideas on how we could replace the old radar system with something much more forward looking? And is this an opportunity for another sort of nationwide competition of best ideas?”
To which Greenley replied “so there has not been a lot of formal discussion yet around the replacement for the North warning. You get that in casual conversations and in the background and stuff. People obviously see that coming. Certainly there’s an opportunity there for ground based technologies central to the North , in addition to leveraging space based technologies in combination, to be able to have a solid solution. Canada was certainly have the capability in its industrial sector to deliver that firms like ours are in positions to lead that kind of a discussion. So it’s absolutely an opportunity for a program to be able to engage the engage the industrial base in this area.”
Liberal MP Majid Jowhari (Richmond Hill) asked a question directly related to Greenley’s “three things.” “Can you expand on the long term space plan, (and) with what specifically regulatory framework can we introduce.”
Greenley only had short time to answer but said “In a long term space plan, we would look at … a full space economy and ensure that Canada was was fueling that economy. Elements including Earth observation, space based communication, new markets, such as on-orbit servicing, space based assembly, and space manufacturing. In about 10 years, space based mining, all these things are building up now. So having anchor programs in these areas, ensures the continual evolution of the economy towards the economic growth. These areas would require adjustments to regulation to ensure that from operational control centres in Canada, we could operate spacecraft to service satellites, or assemble things in space to enable those things. That’s an example.”
On Thursday Goldberg answered a couple of questions, one in particular by Conservative MP Earl Dreeshen (Red Deer – Mountain View) on the spectrum issue that is important to Telesat. Dreeshen asked how the parliamentarians could deal with the spectrum issue as it relates to competitiveness. Goldberg had less than a minute to answer.
“Thank you very much for the for the question. And the implicit recognition in the question that we’re operating in a global industry, we don’t have the ability to, you know, have one set of rules that only applies in Canada and the rest of the game is played very differently outside of Canada. So I take two things on, on the spectrum file, we really need to see our government here in Canada, follow the direction that’s been taken, just south of the border, clearing the exact same spectrum our competitors clear the spectrum and received $16 billion and we clear the same spectrum and aren’t compensated, there’s no way Telesat’s going to be able to compete.”
The last relevant question came from Conservative MP Bernard Généreux (Montmagny—L’Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup) on space traffic management for Dan Goldberg.
“Telesat been a satellite operator for more than 50 years, we’re one of the oldest, most experienced satellite operators out there. And using space responsibly is essential. It’s not just good for humanity, it’s good for our business. We do things that are reckless and stupid in space, then we’re not going to be able to operate going forward. And we are concerned about these new entrants that are coming, that are launching thousands of satellites. We’re taking a very different approach.” At this point Goldberg was cutoff by Généreux who moved on to another question.
No dates have been set yet for the next two hearings.