A week into her new job as President of the Canadian Space Agency, Lisa Campbell made an unexpected visit on a webinar hosted by SatCan which provided a fall update from the Agency. While her virtual visit was short, the “Autumn” update from Canada’s space agency was lengthy and informative. Here’s what you missed.
Hello from Prince Edward Island
SatCan Executive Director Michelle had a surprise for those in attendance at this past Monday’s webinar. Making her first public virtual appearance, new CSA President Lisa Campbell spent a couple of minutes saying hello from her home on Prince Edward Island. She said she was “eager to work” with the community and that she would be moving soon “closer to the Agency.”
She then spent a minute talking about the Agency’s role and her mandate saying “I believe the space sector can play a key role in Canada’s economic recovery and contribute greatly to Canada’s future digital economy” and that “my mandate will be focused on advancing the space program in Canada and on the international stage. As we look ahead, I want to ensure that our investments deliver significant economic benefits to Canadians that we enable leading edge science and that Canada strengthens its position as a key partner at the forefront of the fast growing space.”
And with that it was time for updates on five topics; SmartEarth, the Space Technology Development Program, the Gateway (lunar), the Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program, and Advanced Concepts and Future Exploration Missions.
SmartEarth update
SmartEarth is the Agency’s new take on Earth Observation and combines these former programs into one; Earth Observation Application Development Program, Government Related Initiatives Program, and Science and Operational Applications Research.
Steve Iris was the presenter. He provided background on the program which we’ve previously discussed and then went into the the investments including informing the audience that a new announcement of opportunity (AO) was forthcoming.
Here’s the list of announced and forthcoming AO’s:
- AO-1 Bridging the Information Gap with Space-Based Analytics (Enabler track) (Published – January 2020)
- 17 projects – industry lead
- $4.7 million budget
- 24 months duration
- Request For Proposals (RFP) smartWhales – Development of Space-Based Solutions for the Monitoring and Protection of the North Atlantic Right Whale (NARW) (Integrator track) (Published – June 2020)
- 5-6 contacts -industry lead consortia
- $5.4 million (co-investment with Department of Fisheries and Oceans)
- 36 months duration
- NEW – AO-2 Canadian Downstream Space Sector Delivering on Canada’s Better Future ((Enabler track. In preparation – Fall/Winter 2020-21 TBC)
- 20+ projects (TBC) – industry lead
- 30-36 months duration (TBC)
With respect to the upcoming AO-2, Steve Iris said “it will be aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals, benefits to Canadians, but also it’s linked to various types of projects. It could be agriculture, energy, clean ocean, clean water, or land monitoring. So it’s covering a very large portfolio of telematics that could be supported there. Again to be industry lead, which are getting a big goal, so probably 20 plus projects, and for 30 to 36 months duration.”
Space Technology Development Program update
SpaceQ has covered the CSA’s Space Technology Development Program (STDP) extensively, including many stories on recent contracts.
Providing the update on the STDP program was Philip Melanson standing-in for Walter Peruzzini.
Here’s what new:
- The next STDP RFP is planned for later this month or early October. Those interested will have six weeks to respond. Once the AO is available we’ll write an article on it.
- The last Contributions AO’s was this past winter and 50 agreements came out of it. We covered the announcements in these stories;
- The Canadian Space Agency awards $7.15 million in technology contracts (Aug. 4, 2020)
- The CSA awards another $4.5M in STDP technology contracts (Jul. 9, 2020)
- Canadian Space Agency Awards $9M in Technology Contracts (Jun. 30, 2020)
- The next Contributions AO is planned for the fall of 2021.
- The CSA also supports the government of Canada Innovative Solutions challenges technology program.
- The CSA budget for this program is $1.3 million per year. This is done in two phases.
- Phase 1: Multiple contracts – up to $150k each (proof of concept).
- Phase 2: Selected contract(s) – up to $1M each (prototyping).
- The first challenge was for Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics for Advanced Autonomous Space Systems.
- 51 proposals were received with 5 phase 1 contracts awarded in the fall of 2019.
- 1 contract, maybe 2 will be selected for phase 2 soon.
- The next proposed challenge is for Space Robotics. Here’s some background.
- Low mass volume and power, high reliability Short Range Proximity Sensor for space robotics collision prevention – Operable in vacuum, immune to direct sun light, and with low false alarm rate.
- Visual AI for space robotics end-effector and pitch plane Obstacle Detection. Currently performed by ground controllers for MSS. ISS model and MSS camera imagery will be made available to bidders interested in real life conditions.
- AI for auto-diagnostics and early failure prediction for space robotic sub-systems – MSS sub-system telemetry data will be made available to bidders interested in real life conditions.
- The CSA budget for this program is $1.3 million per year. This is done in two phases.
Gateway (lunar) update
Canada’s primary contribution to the NASA led Artemis program is the Canadarm3 for the Gateway. The Gateway, formerly called the Lunar Gateway and other names, is small outpost in cislunar space. Just don’t call it a mini space station, NASA doesn’t like that for a variety of reasons, primarily political.
Ken Podwalski provided the update. The biggest takeaway from the update was the confirmation that the Canadarm3 isn’t needed for NASA’s first phase of lunar exploration, that of landing American astronauts on the Moon by 2024. That’s not new, SpaceQ was the first to report on this in May of 2019.
To make that even more concrete, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine stated that there’s the possibility that the Gateway might not need be used for the first lunar landing in 2024 during an Artemis update with journalists yesterday.
During its update, the CSA included the slide above showing a notional schedule for the Canadarm3 which has a delivery date of 2026 and commissioning in 2027.
The CSA is planning to hold an Industry Day webinar at the end of November which will include MDA as the prime contractor. MDA will spend some time talking about the opportunities for SME’s to participate.
Podwalski also spoke about the technologies of the Canadarm3 and the challenges listed below.
Canadarm3 Robotic System
- Highly capable
- Next step in Space Robotics evolution.
- Compact
- Joints, Control Electronics, Materials (Advanced Manufacturing).
- Novel features
- Autonomy and AI.
- Self deploying, self-repair.
- Tools and Sensors
- Vision System, Proximity sensing, Inspection, Safety.
- Ground Segment
- Design, development, planning, training, operations, data tending tools.
- Communications & STEM
Canadarm3 challenges
- New challenges
- Radiation, thermal
- Contamination (Lunar dust)
- Landers, sample return, refueling
Podwalski ended his presentation by talking about the procurement process going forward including mentioning that the CSA had received Treasury Board (TB) approval in June for their procurement approach.
With TB approval Podwalski said “that will set us up for that first definition phase for the overall Canadarm3. That’s going to last about a year, what we hope to do is get a very thorough system definition there, get our requirements all in order, get our concept finalized, and then look at the overall procurement approach and the value proposition that I mentioned earlier. At that point, we’ll go ahead and we’ll set ourselves up for the subsequent delivery phases, or the definition phases and the implementation phase.”
The Canadarm3 should be delivered in 2026 in time for a launch on a “NASA logistics vehicle”, yet to be identified, late that year. Then in 2027 the Canadarm3 would be commissioned and notionally operational in mid-2027.
Download the Canadian Space Agency Autumn update presentations
- SmartEarth presentation ( Sep. 21, 2020 autumn update)
- Space Technology Development Program presentation ( Sep. 21, 2020 autumn update)
- Gateway (lunar) presentation ( Sep. 21, 2020 autumn update)
Part 2
In part two we’ll cover the Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program and Space Exploration Advanced Studies and Future Missions updates.